1-23-2010

I have had a busy week and haven't been able to blog much. I've had a successful week with my weight loss so I'm really excited about getting closer to my goals. It has been really inspiring to hear about some of my friends results as well. I am so proud of you!!

My week started out pretty good, but I was still getting frustrated because I wasn't losing any weight. On Tuesday night I was reading in the book of Exodus Chapter 12 where God is telling Moses and Aaron how to prepare for the passover. In Verse 15 God tells them to not eat yeast (unleavened bread)for 7 days. A thought came over me and I felt like I should also give up yeast for 7 days. It is very hard....yeast is in EVERYTHING! So my diet consists of fruit, veggies, eggs, and meat. I could eat Ezekiel bread but its too expensive so I'll do without for now. I can really feel the weight coming off. When I get cravings and want to give up I go right back to the Bible and read and pray. I told my husband what I was feeling lead to do and he decided he needed to sacrifice something as well....so he quit eating sweets. If you know Jason you know he LOVES his sweets so this has been really tough for him. Tyler also jumped in and gave up his favorite LIFE cereal. So the whole family is on board. We may keep this up until Easter. It's been great because we are all reading our Bible's and praying more.

I don't even remember exactly what I've eaten these last few days....but it's all good stuff so I eat as much as I want. I haven't been exercising as much. I need to be more consistent with working out. I was really sore from Wed's workout so I took Thursday off and don't have an excuse for last night. Tonight I am going to do P90x for as long as I can take it!

Good Luck everyone! Thanks a bunch for reading along.
Blessings,
Nichole

Food and Exercise Journal 1-18-10

I feel really good about my progress today. I didn't have my coffee but was still full of energy and did pretty well with my eating. I think I'm well on my way to my 5 pound goal for the week!

Breakfast:
Banana: 109 Calories (that seems like a lot of cals for a banana)
Dannon Yogurt: 80 Calories

Lunch:
Smart Ones 3 Cheese Ziti: 320 Calories
2 Fiber One Bars (yum): 140 each=280

Dinner:
Smart Ones Santa Fe Rice and Beans: 310 Calories
Dannon Yogurt: 80 Calories
Cheese and Crackers: 100 Calories

TOTAL CALORIES: 1279! I didn't feel deprived at all...as you can see I couldn't contain myself and had two Fiber bars...

Tons of water and 3 cups of green tea

Exercise: 30 minutes p90x...I'm gonna feel it tomorrow! I still can't get through an entire tape without worrying my back will go out, so for now I do as much as I can tolerate.
20 Brisk Walk
10 Kenzie Lifts
10 Kenzie Lunges

1-17-2010

We had a busy weekend. Jason cleaned the basement which took almost all day Saturday and most of the day Sunday. We also rearranged our bedroom furniture and it looks so much better. My candle making area is more organized so that's nice too. I even have an area to package and ship candles(I used to use the Dining room table)! The most exciting thing about my weekend was learning some new things about couponing and saving TONS on groceries. My friend Terri from church invited me to her house where she introduced me to a new site called mommysnacks.net. Now that I see how much I can save, I am totally addicted! I am going to blog more about this but for example: This week at Kroger you can get Gatorade, and Tennessee Sausage Gravy FREE! I will miss out on both these deals because I would have needed to save my Red Plum Inserts from December and the beginning of January (which I pitched not knowing). So it is involved, but if you get FREE groceries it's well worth the time. Last week at Meijer Lance Crackers, Dole Salad, Dannon Yogurt, and Chex Mix were all FREE! Andrea the creator of mommysnacks.net does all the guess work for you so that's nice too! So in the meantime check out her site! If you get stuck and can't figure something out, let me know!

As far as my weight loss goals go...my weekend was ok. It could have been worse. I did not work out at all. Saturday I broke out in hives and had to take a couple Benadryl which zonked me out most of the day..I was still feeling kinda fuzzy on Sunday. I did loose a pound. I was able to get a TON of weight watchers Smart Ones on Sale at Meijer so I will eat those this week along with my yogurt and salad. I am looking forward to a good week. Good Luck Teri and Catherine! We can do it!

Thanks for reading!
Blessings...Nichole

1-15-2010

Breakfast:
Large Black Coffee, 1/2 pancake
snack: Granola bar
Lunch: Skipped was really busy (bad I know)
Dinner: Brown Rice

Drink:Green Tea and Water

Exercise: Nothing Yet

Today was a busy day. I had so much work to do with candles that I forgot to eat lunch and have yet to exercise. I still may fit it in if I can between candles batches.

Getting your WAHM online business started today!

So you've decided to start your own business....You have a great product to sell and your all set and ready to create a web site and within a half an hour of trying to figure out where to start you get overwhelmed and the next thing you know it's been 6 months and you still don't have your website up. It took me forever and months of research to finally find a web host and design that didn't make me want to scream. I researched a ton of WAHM (work at home mom) sites and found a web host that I liked. After researching and reading their options I decided to start with the basic package. A one time start up fee of $50 and monthly fee of $10.99. This included the shopping cart website and tons of space (plenty for most of us).

I got frustrated at first because I didn't realize I had a wait a day to get all of my passwords to get into my store admin, but once I received that information I was on my way! You have to upload your photos and do pricing and pages yourself, but once you get the hang of it, it's a breeze! You can always contact me if your stuck!
As far as design goes....I'm in Love with Boutiquemama.com designs. I found them through the web host that I chose to use. The design I chose was 49.99....so 100.00 for everything! Not bad when most places charge thousands of dollars!

So....are you ready to get started?

1st step: Go to my website www.soylightcandle.com and scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the eco chic hosting advertisement! Choose your package, pick a domain name (for example I chose soylightcandle.com) and then you will be on your way. I do get some savings if you go through my site to sign up. Any extra savings helps when you have a home business!

I'm so excited to help you with your business! Please let me know what you think or if you have any questions. I'm here to help and save you time and money!

Thank You for reading!
Blessings,
Nichole
www.soylightcandle.com

1-14-2010

Horrible food day! We don't have much healthy food in the house and I got really hungry at lunch and ended up eating 1/2 a Tony's pizza. I felt so disgusting afterward;(
Breakfast:
1 banana
1 egg and cheese sandwich on wheat bread
Snack:
Granola Bar
Lunch
1/2 Tony's Pizza...blah
Snack
6 Saltine's
Dinner:
Brown Rice
Green Beans

We will go to the grocery Saturday, so until then I don't have very good food choices.

Exercies: 16 Minutes Advanced Ab Circle Pro Workout

Food and Exercise Journal 1-13-10

Food:
Morning: Large Black Coffee and Sausage and Cheese Sandwich (horrible I know)
Snack: Banana
Lunch: Lean Cuisine Chicken Tuscan Panini
Snack: String cheese
Dinner:
Salad with fresh romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, garbanzo beans, shredded mild cheddar, and lite italian dressing
Egg and Cheese Sandwich on whole wheat bread (we need to go to the grocery really bad)
Drinks: Water and Green Tea
Exercise:
Dancing with Kenzie 30 minutes
10 Kenzie Lifts (arms)
10 lunges while holding Kenzie
12 minutes ab circle pro

Food and Exercise Journal 1-11-10

Morning:
Egg Beaters sandwich on wheat bread, yogurt butter and pinch of salt
Snack:
Banana
Lunch:
Lean Cuisine South Western Style Chicken Panini
Snack:
Two Handfuls of Tostitos
Dinner:
Lean Cuisine Chicken Tuscan panini

Water and Green tea all day
1 teaspoon of Cod Liver oil

Exercise: 12 minutes Ab Circle Pro DVD

Want to loose 35 pounds in by June 24!

Ok...I'm 29, gonna turn 30 this year. I do not want my last memories of my 20's to be overweight, unhappy with myself and so on. I want to lose this baby weight (and the extra pds I put on before I got pregnant) by our 4th Anniversary which is June 24th, and I am hoping this blog will help keep me accountable. Here's a picture of me now:

Current weight: 186, size 14 (I can't even believe I am admitting that to everyone)
Goal weight: 140 will be size 7...I can't wait!

I will post progress weekly....feel free to follow along with me! I could use the support.

Old labels.....It took me forever to find a label design that I liked. I spent hours upon hours searching and trying to design something on my own. I knew I wanted something clean and elegant....sophisticated, but would go with any style.

New Labels! I finally found what I was looking for on www.etsy.com User alamodebride
This is just one variation of the label....each scent will offer a different label color. And she even customized other sizes for me and only charged me a small design fee. Now I can print them out myself at home! She saved me lots of $$$
I also have another label design. User name printyourparty She also did a great custom job for me and I will be using it for some of my products as well.

Exciting things for 2010!

Yay! My very first blog. I am so excited about 2010 and feel like so many great things are happening. My business is going really well, the swim team is doing great, the swim lesson program is improving and I have a wonderful family.

The purpose of this blog is to share with people all the things that I've learned about online business. From labels, to web hosts, to traffic reports. I have spent so much time researching and learning. I've made many mistakes and will make many more, but I've also finally figured some things out, and feel like I have something to offer other Work At Home Moms trying to be a success.

I also LOVE to try new products and write reviews. I think Etsy.com is wonderful and is a great way for many talented people to showcase their talents. For example, I found someone to design my candle labels for me, and she has done a wonderful job and her prices were great! Will post more about her later...

Thank You for taking the time to read my blog. Please visit me often as I will have lots of great things to read about.