when you suddenly have 50+ hours of time on your hands each week.

you may be wondering what on earth i do with all of my time now that school is out {and has been for 3 weeks}. STOP. stop wondering. i'm going to tell you right now.


1. sleep. who would have thought that getting 8 hours of sleep a night really is necessary. and beneficial. and wonderful. and beautiful. girl needs her beauty sleep {i think it's helping, maybe?}. sometimes i even do this thing during the afternoon where i fall asleep on the couch for 20 minutes to an hour. it's called a nap. i think i love them.


2. run. gym. ripped. okay, so we know i love exercising. that high. {and that new ripped class where that high is bouncing around the room--intense intervals, good music {mostly}, and lifting. i love.} Now, i get to exercise stress-free. and when i want to, and sometimes i choose not to. then i read this article on one of my favorite sites, mind body green. it's called "why exercise and burning calories won't help you lose weight." which i already knew--80% nutrition, 20% exercise, sleep, stresslessness {i think i made that word up, tell mister webster}. anyway, you should read it. especially if you think that you need to run your booty off, in hopes that it will fall off. **note: you still need to exercise. it's good for your heart, muscles, bones, brain, and you get some endorphins, sweat out those toxins, etc. but. also. read this article and do it without stressing yourself out {like i was doing when i use to sacrifice sleep and wake up at 5 am to hit the gym before school. silly me.}
2a.  yoga. ohm. this obviously is not categorized with the previous. because, i get to practice yoga everyday. i still only go to my saturday morning class, but i get to practice in my living room or bedroom every morning. sometimes it's like 15 minutes just to breathe and stretch. and sometimes it's like 45 minutes to an hour {like monday's practice}. {just go to this mind body green website and you can read a bajillion articles on why yoga is SO so so good for your body in all aspects of your life}. namaste.


3.  do.mes.tic. goddess.  like you didn't see that one coming. seriously. last summer i was so incredibly burnt out from going non-stop for years--working through summers, and then a first year of teaching and being newlywed with steven being home a lot of summer, i just didn't get much done. at all. well, i did  get us all settled in and returned a ton of wedding gifts and bunch of new things and organized things. and i made bomb dinners almost every night. but this summer? i've gotten so much done already. organizing. i have some pinterest inspired crafts i'll be doing. i clean. a lot. so great.

4.  sprout it, juice it. seriously. now i have time to make more whole, raw food dishes. and i can experiment around with these things and different recipes. whole foods. that's the way to go.  did you know that i made those cinnamon rolls right down there? they were good. like, really good. and very healthy.


 
4a.  vitamix. OH MY GOODNESS. this get's its own point. my vitamix came today. like 2 hours ago. i opened it up, set it up, made a green smoothie, then made homemade almond butter. OH YUM. and then i made a little lemon-berry icy. i am so excited for this bad boy.

5.  temple & scriptures.  i have more time to read and study the scriptures, without feeling like i need to check it off the list. sometimes, when i'm so stressed with school and the fact that i'm not doing a b c d e f..., then it can feel that way. but now it's just beautiful. and i can go to the temple every week while steven is at work.

6.  classroom time. like i could seriously go through summer without doing anything for school or in my classroom. puh-lease. the past 2 weeks, i've spent about 5 hours in my classroom or working on things at home.  as you can see, my list is kind of long. and i did cross 3 things off, but then i remembered like 5 more things to add that aren't on there. it's nice having time to do things. although, i am so not looking forward to that whole "file 1st!" because that entails 2 large and 2 medium stacks of worksheets/activities that i need to go through and file for next year {or trash because they ended up being lame}.


7.  reading. so i finally finished the hunger games trilogy. i read the first 2 over spring break, but mockingjay had to wait until summer because i was a little bit overwhelmed and out of time at the end of the school year. i'm looking for more books to read--suggestions welcome. i'm thinking "the help" and...i need suggestions. i'm so out of the loop. also i have time to read more articles on mind body green and from kimberly snyder and other nutritional books/articles. which brings me to...
7a. blogging. sounds so lame. but it's true. and i mean like blogging about the recipes i make and things like that. which, by the way, my sister erin and i are in the works of a health food blog {to add to the hundreds out there}. i won't divulge too much now, but it'll be ready in a week or two. get excited. it's going to change. your. life.


and now it's time for date night with the boswells.