Fashion, Fitness & Food

It is finally time for me to announce the them for the rest of the month. I am really excited about it! It pretty much covers everything I have been about for the past few months- fashion, fitness, and food. I am learning to and loving dressing my new figure. I am also learning to get really creative with my health conscious food. My diet is very restricted, but I refuse to let it stay boring!

Throughout January I will be posting

• fashion looks
• reviews of fashion friendly apps
• tips
•  meal ideas
•  simple fitness videos (things I do!)
• reviews of helpful kitchen products

Its a lot to cover but it will be fun!I can already tell you that I am loving it so far. I hope you will join me for the fun. Join on Twitter and Facebook with the hashtag #dolcedellavita and tag me @dolcedellavita on Twitter! This month promises to be a great kick off to a full year!

I Don't Like Green Beans Anymore

Source

As I continue on my weight-loss journey, I realize why it is so important for people who lose weight to make a lifestyle change. I also realize how hard this is for me. Although I am doing well and don't "cheat," my mind is still making this  phase. Somewhere deep down, my brain is saying "a little longer and you can eat all the bread you want!" Which is far from the truth. I will spend the rest of my life from here on out being careful.

I don't think I was fully prepared when I took all this on. I also didn't know how boring food can become with so many restrictions. I have come to a point now that I don't want to even look at cauliflower and I don't like green beans much anymore. Its not that either are bad, I just have had SO much that I don't find them appealing.

However, out of this food darkness comes a silver lining. I am happy to report that I am down over 40lbs and I have gone down about three pants sizes. I feel like that is all worth celebrating. I know all this will be worth it in the end. I will be glad to put my daily life of pain aside for a more active one. Although I do not really mind my size, I have been made aware how important it is for my severe arthritis that  lose it weight quickly.

I would love to start sharing and collecting a few healthy recipes. Please feel free to share or link up below to some of your favorites! Help me get out of my boredom rut!

Life Update

I finally started my diet! Its kind of been crazy since this whole whirlwind related to my arthritis began. I have to make a lot of changes and one of those changes was my diet. On Sunday I went out and purchased all the food I was supposed to have in order to do this diet they prescribed to me. I bought a weeks worth of food... for myself... and it cost me $75. That in itself will be a big adjustment. That like half a month's worth for the who family! Yikes!!!

Anyway, they say the first three days are the hardest. However, since I was at work, today wasn't so bad. Dinner was the worst though. I made spaghetti and meatballs for the family while I had salad. I will tell you something, I don't know that I like this  "no calorie" dressing they recommended. Taking the calories away took all the goodness. Hopefully I will get used to it because this is 6 weeks of my life for now, and really its several months of my life in the end.

I got a membership to a gym and started working out a little bit. I can't do a lot, but I will do what I can. Next week I hope to start some water exercise programs. They will help reduce the pain I am in when I do traditional workouts.

Now I just need some motivation to get me through. I would love to hear some motivational stories, quotes, or even health tips below. I've always found the blog community to be the most supportive and I look forward to having all of you on my journey!

Location, Decoration, Entertainment and Food

You know how many people you are inviting, you've picked lovely invitations and you know what your celebrating. Now it is time to get into some specifics! Places, food, entertainment, and decorations are the fun part of entertaining if you ask me! Once you have narrowed down how many people will be attending it is easier to start planning these things. 

The first on the list is location. Without a good location the best and most important parties can fail. However, I have found that with a little help and a lot of creativity, you can make any space into a good one. The only rule that can not be broken in my opinion is having enough room with seats for everyone in attendance. People will feel uncomfortable and will lose enjoyment if they can not even find a place to take a seat.

I currently live in a rather small apartment but I love to entertain. So when I have a party pushing over ten people I get creative with my space. I will move furniture around, rent or borrow chairs and utilize the outdoor space that I have. This allows me to entertain a little larger group even in my small setting.

If you have the money to rent a location, go for it. It helps with the clean up but can make set up a bit more challenging. It also gives you a restriction on length and time for your party if you do no rent for the entire day. Hotels, churches, libraries, and banquet hall are all options to consider when planning. Always choose one that fits the purpose of your event. (I would not likely put a cocktail party in a church or a dance party in a library!)

Once you have chosen a location you can move to entertainment and decorations. Nearly every party requires at least a little background music. Some parties require much more like a DJ or band. Look at the size and budget for your party. Remember when choosing a band or DJ you are paying for so much more that a night of entertainment. You are paying for their set up, equipment, and take down. Decorations are the fun part. Once you have a reason to party it is usually fun to chose a theme as well It makes buying invitations and party supplies easier. A few of my favorite themes include:

• New York City
• Luau
• Masked Balls
• Colorful

There are hundred, maybe thousands of themes to choose from so don't feel limited. Do a little internet searching and if you have the time play around with a few ideas before settling on one. You can find ideas on my Pinterest boards: Unplanned Party Plans and Renew and relive I DO.

Last but certainly not least you have FOOD! I feel like I could have spent an entire post on this subject alone. I love to prepare the menu for my parties. I always look to find creative ways to serve and prepare my food. The only rule of thumb here is to keep it simple enough when you are cooking that you are not spending your whole party in the kitchen. Other options include pot lucks and catering, all depending on the formality of your party.

If you are looking for a few fun party food ideas you can check out my Pinterest Boards: My "Julia" Project, Cooking Crafty: Nummies, and Cooking Crafty: Starters.

Exciting News!

I have some exciting news to share with everyone. It seems like that this time of year is a good one for my family! As most of you already know, my family moved over the past two weeks. It has been nice to have a place of our own. However, with moving comes stress.  I am trying to keep the excitement of it above the stress level. 

Speaking of stress, job hunting is still full time for my hubby! We have high hopes considering recent interviews and contacts. Perhaps we will be seeing a turnaround for the better before Christmas. We will be glad to take financial struggles off the stress table.

Anyway, on to the most exciting news of all! I was recently contacted by Food Lion to join their “Food Lion Frugal Cook-Off”! They take a select group of local bloggers, put them on teams and set them up on a challenge! This is a great opportunity to share my blog with others and meet new friends. Beyond that, if my team wins our dish will be featured at a local restaurant for a whole week and our team will be featured on our local news channel! 

The competition takes place next week on November 6^th at 6pm. We will be given a $15 budget, 45 minutes cook time, a team of bloggers, and access to a restaurant kitchen! I have high hopes and I’m super excited.

So, if you are a local reader… please let me know if you would like to join the audience for this event.  I would love to have a few readers cheering me on. Please see my contact information.