Crazy Brain Syndrome (CBS) - It's An Epidemic

And it's hit me pretty hard today...

You're probably wondering to yourself "What the heck is Crazy Brain Syndrome?!" right about now and this is my explanation:

It's the way your brain chooses to react to things on a day when you are running on very little to no sleep. 

It's like you're awake, but your brain is still struggling to wake up. That's probably the best way for me to describe it. Let me just break it down like this: Days like these are when Brett and I practically break into tears from the absolutely ridiculous s*&! that comes out of my mouth.

For instance, this morning Brett left for work around 6:00am and I, of course, wake up with him. For those of you who don't know, I am a light sleeper for the most part and can be woken up fairly easily so this happens every time he has to get up early. Well unfortunately, I wasn't able to fall asleep until about 3:30am last night because of some insane bout of insomnia so at this point, I had literally only been asleep for 2.5 hours. After he kissed me goodbye and then started to put his shoes on, I yelled to him from the bedroom,

"Just leave the light on babe - I'll figure it out!"

WHAT??? This is exactly what was going through both of our heads after I realized what I had just said in my half-awake, half asleep stupor. What I meant to say was "leave the light on, I'll turn it off" as I always follow him out to chain the door and lock it {I'm a complete and absolute freak about this because I'm an avid watcher of I Survived on the BIO channel and it terrifies me since the episodes I end up watching just so happen to be the ones that involve home invasions}. We both knew what I meant to say and instantly started laughing - hysterically.

Reminder: This is only ONE instance of my CBS today...hopefully I'll crash early tonight and catch up on some zzzz's so my brain can recover from this insanity {although these days are gems for my fiance when they come along lol!}. I can confidently say that my close friends have witnessed me going through CBS at one time or another and it has created some very funny memories for us all. 

I'm just lucky that the man I love most in this world see's the humor in my flaws and that we can crack each other up as easily and as much as we do ;)  Wouldn't have it any other way...

Readers: Please feel free to share your own stories if you've had any cases of CBS that were "ones for the record books". I would LOVE to hear them so I can laugh even more {Laughing is what I do - it's food for my soul}.  

Wishing everyone an early TGIF!!! 

Just call me Chef Trysta :)

I have been quite the little chef around here lately and am very proud of some of the things I've made! The Tuna Avocado Egg Salad turned out well, but needed the apple cider vinegar that the recipe called for {I excluded it as that is not an item I have in my kitchen cabinets} because it was a tad bit on the thick side.

Here's the end result:

I threw a little celery and put some spinach in the wrap to add some cold crunchy goodness to the mix :) I will definitely be making this again for 3 reasons:

1. It's SUPER healthy and tastes really good! 

2. It's VERY easy to make

3. It combines quite a few of my favorite things all in one sandwich/wrap...

The best part about it was the leftover avocado. Why? Well, since I only used half the avocado for the egg salad, I sat here pondering what I was going to do with the other half. My solution? 

a homemade hair treatment 

Yep - an all-natural, organic hair treatment. I was so excited! My mind was racing with the different types of ingredients I was going to use, but I'll be honest, I had no freaking clue where to even start other than just mashing up the avocado - so my instincts led me to google. I typed in "homemade hair treatments" and found this article. After reading through it, I decided to use honey, egg yolk, avocado, and olive oil. I mixed it all up in a small bowl and this is what it looked like....

Ew, right? I know. Not exactly what I had in mind, but I was more than willing to still give it a try. I realized after staring at it for a minute that I was going to need to apply this to my hair inside the bathtub. And trust me, I'm glad I did because it was not a pretty sight. After rolling my disgusting-looking hair up in a plastic grocery bag and clipping it onto the top of my head, I sat and watched an episode of Reba {one of my all-time fav shows} while I waited for the stuff to do it's magic. My hair felt very a little weird once I rinsed it all out, but I ran a smidgen of conditioner through my hair and that was all she wrote!

My thoughts: A mess, but worth it for the "vitamin shot" my hair just received :)

One other thing worth mentioning....

I cooked this the other night and my fiance didn't even sit down before he ate the entire thing

This is broccoli and cheddar stuffed chicken. I can't put into words how good this turned out. Let's just say I will absolutely be making this again as I can see it becoming a Jackson family favorite :)

I Survived!

Sorry for the wait guys, but I'm happy to report that after 8 whole days {yes, 8 days - originally thought I could do 20 days of this stuff, but I totally broke down close to halfway through} of lemonade hell...

I'm 5 pounds lighter!! :) 

Now that may not seem like a lot to you guys, but to me, it feels like a very good start. I already feel like I've gotten a good chunk of my energy back {which sparked up motivation for a light jog around the neighborhood with Brett yesterday afternoon} and getting much better at being all-around healthier every day.

I may not have reached my goal of 20 days, but I still feel extremely proud of myself that I made it as far as I did.

My final thought for the lemonade diet: I recommend it ONLY if you are serious about a lifestyle change, but it's definitely not for the faint of heart. The worst part of the whole thing was towards the end when it got physically difficult for me to choke down anymore of the lemonade concauction because I really {a complete understatement} missed the taste of food.

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On another note...

I have been a domestic goddess around our household since I quit my job and I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually LOVE it!! :) Not only do I clean more now, I also cook and really enjoy it! When I was working, I couldn't even think about doing small loads of laundry, vacuuming, cleaning out the dishes piled high in the sink or scrubbing the toilet without anxiety instantly taking over. Both Brett and I would be so tired after work that any of these chores were lucky if they got done during our only free-time on the weekends {if I wasn't working that is}.

Now, the place looks nice on a daily basis and smells great! Not that it didn't smell great before, but it didn't actually have a smell at all. I'm the kind of girl that loves good smells VERY much, which explains my obsession with candles and recently rekindled fondness for incense. I love that when Brett comes home from work, he comes home to a clean house and a nice home cooked meal. It's pretty awesome to say the least. I never thought this stuff would make me happy, but it does, so I'm going to stick with it ;)

In case you're wondering, here are some of the things I made over the last few days...

-Kale Chips
-Chicken Fajitas
-Mediterranean Vegetable Soup

I'm going to make a tuna avocado egg salad today so we can make sammiches for dinner tonight {a recipe I found on Pinterest of course}! I'm so excited!!!! Going to get the stuff to make it right now and tomorrow I'll give you guys a little play-by-play on how it went. Seems easy and delicious, but we'll see soon enough if that holds true.

{P.S.} The business idea I've thought up {the thing I mentioned at the end of my last post} definitely involves food, but the kind of food that won't clog your arteries and give you double the risk of any types of illness or disease {don't worry, it will still be VERY tasty and delish food}. I'm already formulating menu ideas so stay tuned!

{P.S.S.} I promise to try my absolute hardest to update this thing more often then just once a week :P

End of Day 1 - Not Dead Yet...Thank G.

I want to let you guys know that before I started this all-liquid Lemonade Diet, I secretly doubted my will power...

I did NOT think I would make it to the end of my first day on this thing without sprinting to our refrigerator for some tasty treats the first time I got hunger pains, but in all honesty, Day 1 was not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. The lemon concoction is bearable and definitely keeps that "so hungry I'm almost absolutely certain my stomach is eating itself" feeling at bay {at least most of the time}. When I first researched the different at-home detox diets and found this one, I was initially thinking... 

What the eff am I doing??/Why do I want to do this crazy s*^& again??

Then I immediately remembered {when I caught a glance at my wedding to-do list lying next to me} - I'm 200 15 pounds overweight and need to fit into my wedding dress before August 31st rolls around...

EXTREMELY crucial. 

However, my wonderful fiance has been relishing in the fact that he can eat food as he trots around the house shoving Doritos and chicken nuggets into his mouth. I do believe this is a good time for me to mention that Brett {the love.of.my.life whom I'd die and do anything for} - is one of those people that has an incredibly high metabolism so anything he eats, it comes right back out. It doesn't stick ANYWHERE on him, thus, he basically eats whatever the hell he wants without any of the weight gain fun {and this makes me beyond jealous}. But it will not phase me - my determination is on fire right now! 

Moral of the story: I'm VERY happy and proud of myself for making it through Day 1 without a hitch! Crossing my fingers for another smooth day tomorrow :) 

Day 2 - Bring.It.On. 

Motivation. I will get back to this...

{P.S.} On a side note - I've been super psyched about all of the time I have on my hands lately and it's helped me spawn some really fun and doable business ideas... Stay tuned! :) 

Turning.a.New.Leaf.(a healthy one).

I admit. For a reeeeaaaally long time, I have known that my health has been, let's just say - less than stellar/not in "tip-top" shape/out of sorts - you get the point. I realized that the last 2 years of my life have included more changes (some good, some bad) than you can count and I've gotten more things stacked onto my plate than I know what to do with - this in turn has caused me to neglect the very real damage I've been doing to my body over those years. I've had my hand on the "I'm ignorantly putting food into my body I know I shouldn't" button for a while now and also going through all of my work weeks at full-speed. Needless to say, it's definitely taking it's toll. Trust me when I say that after I became officially "unemployed" as of two weeks ago, it felt like a giant elephant had been lifted off my back and life as a whole has improved dramatically. Let me explain...

After a few years of 70+ hour work weeks which included lots of late nights, chaotic days, insane demands, and too many things out of my control variables to count - it just didn't make sense to continue what I was doing with my career after realizing that the work/life "balance" didn't really exist at all in a corporate environment. I basically gave up my life for my career and couldn't justify it any longer - so, I quit. I refuse to wake up and dread every single day that I have to go in to the office for the rest of my working life. Deciding to do things on my terms and in my own way by following my heart instead of the money (with my fiance's unwavering support - love him <3) has by far been one of the best choices I could've ever made. 

I'm taking charge over my mind, body and soul - trying my hardest now to get all 3 aligned. First step - my health. I know I need to get serious about this (especially when our wedding is less than 5 months away) so after MUCH google surfing and A LOT of health article reading, I'm 99.99777878980% sure that I found the best solution to kick-start my "new leaf" - The Lemonade Diet. Here is an article if you want to read a little about this crazy thing I speak of. I will be starting it tomorrow and keeping it going for at least 10 days straight, but my goal is 20 - keeping you posted the whole way. 

Alright Lemonade Diet, let's do this!!! ;) 

My First Time...

Let me just start off my very first post by saying that I've never done this before... 

I started this blog as a therapeutic outlet for my creativity during this reorganization of my life (I'll explain this re-org to you in my next post) and to give people insight into my world. Seriously... even just that first line felt good to put down on this thing - almost feels like a great proclamation of sorts. I can promise you right here and now as we start this relationship together that I will not be a boring read. I promise to give you an honest and true look into my life as I see know it.

Please be aware: It's guaranteed that you will see me get incredibly vulnerable - showing lots of different emotions the whole way through - as I hope with all my heart that it will resonate with my readers and make it easier for you all to truly connect with my journey. It will be quirky, it will include wordplay - annnnddd it may get a little inappropriate at times. I'm nowhere near perfect and may not always be grammatically or politically correct, but that's just me. I refuse to sugarcoat or change anything.

This is the adventures of my life as I start a brand new chapter with my wonderful fiance by my side... join me won't you?