Whole30: Why?

30 days.

No sugar. No grains. No alcohol. No legumes. No dairy.

That means.. No coffee creamer. No glasses of wine on a Friday night. No Chipotle burrito bowls. No dark chocolate kisses every night. No fun.

But why?

Everyone chooses to do Whole30 for their own reasons and I'm doing it for more than one. 

• I am tired of feeling like crap every Sunday night after a weekend of eating and drinking whatever I want.

• I've never done anything like this before. I've done Atkins. I've done Weight Watchers. I've counted calories. I am curious what Whole 30 could do for me, and everyone's success stories intrigue me.

• I've finally been exercising regularly and I am beginning to see results. I wonder what changing my diet would do, if it will amplify my results.

• Sugar after every single meal isn't normal. Lots of people do it so it feels normal, but its not. Not at all.

• Most of all, I am a slave to my scale. Up a pound? I'll have a terrible day. Down two pounds? Life is good again. I'm controlled by my weight and what I see in the mirror. I grew up as an overweight child then lost 60lbs in middle school. I finally got attention from boys, made friends with girls who never talked to me before and my mind was made up. I had to be skinny to be loved by those around me. This later transformed to 'I have to be skinny to love myself'. 

By God's perfect grace, I grew from this. During my years of college, I began to see myself as a woman of God, drowning in God's love. A Love that wasn't contingent on my weight or my sin. A Love that is freely given. I was swept away. I didn't own a scale at any time during my college years. It was a beautiful thing. 

Then, a handsome man also swept me off my feet and asked me to be his wife. Despite his unconditional love for me, I wanted to be a beautiful Bride. Thanks to the help of my Mama and dear friend, Sadi, I joined Weight Watchers, dropped 20 pounds and was decently satisfied with how I looked on my wedding day.

But my struggle was still there. I managed to work the weight watchers system by making sure I had enough 'points' everyday to still eat chocolate or drink on the weekends. I lost weight, but the demons still had a stronghold on my life. I was conscious of every move I made, so very aware of every ounce of food that touched my lips. I was back on that scale every single day. Letting it dictate who I am and who I am not. Because of my cloud of sin, suddenly God's immense love seemed distant. It also didn't matter that my Husband found every inch of me to be beautiful. I was trapped. 

That brings us to today.  On a daily basis, Nick and I eat fairly healthy. We live off of Skinnytaste.com recipes and exercise regularly.  Considering we are both people who love food, have a background of being overweight, this is good for us. But..I know we can do so much better. I know I can treat my body with more respect and more like the temple that it is.  I know that I obsess over food more than God sometimes. I know that I have an addiction to sugar. I know that I eat my emotions. I celebrate with food. I cry with food. Food is my idol.

And that's not okay. Our God, who has given His son so that we may freely live, is so much greater than this entire struggle. He is worthy of my entire life. My life, my words, my thoughts should reflect the immense grace He has shown me and give Him the glory He deserves.

Do I think Whole30 will complete solve this issue? No. Only God can do that. But Whole30 is taking that sin and shoving it right in my face. As I am doing Whole30, I am face to face with each addiction and stronghold it has on my life. It is forcing me to give every temptation, every hard day, every minute of everyday over to Christ so that He may be the only thing I live for. I share this with the virtual world because it's my deep, dark secret. Sin grows in the dark. It gets stronger, and deeper..and eventually consumes you. But sharing brings sin to the light. And God is light. God is freedom. 

"God is light; in him there is no darkness at all " - 1 John 1:5

"Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy." - Proverbs 28:13

"Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed." - James 5:16

House Tour - 'During' Pictures, 2nd Floor

Second day of the house tour.  Again, a few rooms are missing as they are completely empty :)

Hallway going upstairs:

To Do in Hallway:

- change giant, gold chandelier 

- paint trim and possibly staircase

- add more pictures to wall

Guest Bathroom

Towels: Target 

Shower Curtain: Bed Bath and Beyond

Artwork: Hubs

To do in Guest Bathroom:

- Frame mirror

- get rid of medicine cabinet

-paint??

- redo cabinets?

- take off towel rack, add shelves

Guest Bedroom

To Do in Guest room:

- hang window treatments

- paint? decorate more?

- paint trim white

- possible dresser

Master Bedroom

 I am obsessssssed with this paint color from Behr. Sometimes its light grey, sometimes it looks charcoal. Its calming, romantic, and perfect.

 One of my favorite flea market purchases. Every girl needs one of these.

 Curtains from Target.

 Bedding: BBB

Pillows: Crate and Barrel, Target

Lamp: Target

To Do in Master Bedroom:

- paint walls

- add pictures

- purchase lounge chair

- paint trim white

- purchase floor length mirror to lean on wall

Master Bathroom

To do in Master Bathroom:

- hang window treatments

- frame mirror

- change chandelier

- Future: expand/redo shower

- paint, decorate!

Oh man, some of these lists seem so daunting! But I wouldn't trade it for the world. I love owning our home and being able to create and express ourselves through our DIY projects. Even if it means running to Loew's 3 times in one night and making a few expensive mistakes along the way :)

House Tour - 'During' Pictures, 1st floor

Finally. An update on our house! Look below for 'before pictures'.

And first..the kitchen.

(ignore our living room, its a tad 'under construction')

To Do in Kitchen:

- remove terrible backsplash and paint behind stove

- change hideous light fixture (both)

- buy appliances!

- fix backwards faucet

- change countertops (No more green!)

- paint stools

- change knobs on cabinets

- add backsplash

- paint trim white

- window treatments

- buy hood for stove

 As I said before, our living room is in an 'in between stage' so we'll hold off on those pictures. BUT! I am dying to share this little accent table my handsome Husband and Pops made for me.  Its beautiful and sturdy, and I am 100% obsessed with it. The brown bins hold m'Hubs' record collection.

Candle holders: Pier 1

Mirror/glass canister: Thrifted

Brown Bins: Target

Lamp: Ikea

Silver Balls: Homemade thanks to Landee See's tutorial :)

Just some foam balls and thumb tacs..Landee is a genius.

And a little preview of the lampshade that inspired the living room, thanks to Target.

Kitchen Eating Area

To Do in Eating Area:

- Change light fixture (Ikea)

- add gallery wall (Ikea)

- sand and stain table

- buy new chairs

- door covering

First Floor Bathroom (inspired by this post):

To Do in Bathroom:

- paint wall

- add towel rack

- hang picture

- add shelf for decor

- paint trim

- change light fixtures

Laundry Room

To Do in Laundry Room:

- buy washer and dryer

- paint wall

- add motion light

- hang cabinets and tension rod

- decorate!

Few more pictures from the first floor:

Tomorrow: Update on the second floor!

House Tour - Before Pictures

A lot of what inspired this blog (besides my Husband) is our beautiful new home in Wisconsin. We have fallen in love with life here in Wisconsin and turning our house into a home. We've lived here for 3 months now, but I wanted to share all of the 'before' pictures.  This is how the house looked the day we closed.  I apologize for the blurry pictures and un-pictured rooms. I didn't want my realtor to think I was super obsessed with a house that wasn't ours quite yet. Even though I definitely was.

This is the view when you walk in the front door.

 To the left of the door is a den. At first we thought we'd make it into an office, but now I'm thinking a super fun play room like this.

To the right of the door is what my family always called the 'front room'. One day it'll be another living area, hopefully with a comfy couch so we can use that fireplace!

As you keep walking, thats our formal dining room.  Ugly chandelier is now gone, thank you Hubs.

 To the left of the formal dining room, you walk into the kitchen, eating area, and living room.

 White knobs, green countertops, and a horrible backsplash. We had our work cut out for us.

 Is only one wall painted? You betcha.

 Laundry room, which leads to garage.

 Main floor bathroom

 Upstairs - This is our bedroom. LOVE the windows. Hello breeze.

 Master bath, with the side of the tub just hanging there. 

 My Our closet. I was literally speechless when I saw this when we first saw the house.  It was love.

 View as you walk out of our room.

Guest bathroom and one bedroom to the left.

Two bedrooms to the right.

 Guest bathroom.

Guest bedroom at the end of hall.

Not pictured: 2 guest bedrooms

This week -- update on a few areas of our house and why my family is amazing.

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Challenge: Accepted

About once a week my Husband asks me why I haven't started a blog yet.  "I don't know" is always my response followed by a mumble of excuses.

Truth is, I've wanted to start a blog for years but never knew where to begin. Any great blogger always recommends to future bloggers to find their passion and blog about that one thing. If you love cooking, blog about that. If you love fashion, blog about that. But stick to it! Nobody likes a random blog.

Which is exactly my problem. I don't have any one passion and I'm definitely not a fan of any one type of blog. I read health blogs, baby blogs, fashion blogs, gluten-free blogs, travel blogs, Christian blogs, decor blogs, everything. And I love them all.

I could write a health blog since I love to find healthy recipes for my husband and I. But the reality is that I indulge way too often (see above) to gain any sort of repore with my readers. Plus, lets be honest - all my recipes are from Skinnytaste. 

I could write a baby/mama blog since those are my favorite to read. But having a baby would probably be helpful.  Someday.

I could write a fashion blog since fashion blogs were my first-blog-love and what started me on this adventure.  But I'm only really proud of maybe 1 outfit a week and my wardrobe consists mainly of clearance racks from the local Gap. (Not that the Gap isn't completley amazing and stylish, because it is. But there are people in this blogosphere with much better fashion sense than myself.)

I could write a gluten free blog because, well, I've been gluten-free for years and love to help people out who are attempting to go GF. But..thats a little boring. And I'd probably gain m̶o̶r̶e̶ weight 'testing' out things for the blog.

I could write a teacher blog since that is one of my greatest passions and I love my little DHH preschoolers so stinkin' much. But that may make me feel like I'm at work, even when I'm at home. Yuck.

Travel blog? I'm a young newlywed. Young newlywed = tight budget.  Since our honeymoon in Mexico we've only been on roadtrips in the Midwest. Some of my most precious memories, but not thrilling enough to blog about.

I could write a decor blog, especially since we just bought our first house. But remember how that tight budget thing I was talking about?  Definitely not enough DIY action around here to keep readers interested everyday.

So this is me, breaking the cardinal rule of blogging, and just blogging about life.  Sometimes about decor/DIY. Sometimes about travel. Sometimes about being GF. Sometimes about the classroom. Sometimes about fashion. Sometimes recipes. And hopefully someday about my own little tiny babies.

So Hubby..Challenge: Accepted.