Mary Mary Quite Contrary How Does Your Garden Grow?

Like a beast.

Zucchini anyone? 

One guess what I'm having for dinner tonight...

Happy Saturday friends :)

mae

How I have crazy energy... finally! (Part 2- Where the energy comes from!)

Okay.  Yesterday I mentioned how ridiculously tired I have been (for years) and how no amount of “eating right” or “eating clean” was making me feel 100% better.  I was juicing, I was going organic… everything.  And then I read somewhere that in order to get the same nutrition you would find in an apple from 1976, today you would have to eat 12 apples.  Ugh. Well that's not going to happen... So that's when I finally turned to Carolyn and asked her what in the world she had changed in her perfectly organic diet to make her feel so much better.  I listened, I implemented and well today, 3 weeks later, I feel AMAZING- Absolutely, off the wall, clean, clear thinking, wake-up-energized, kind of healthy… all because she introduced me to Isagenix.  Many of you might have heard of this company, but if you haven’t- let me explain.  Isagenix is a solution based system that cleanses the body of toxins and then replenishes you with optimal health and amazing nutrition. The products are all natural, no soy, no GMO, gluten free, just incredible. My friend calls it “God’s food.”  And that’s what it is, FOOD.  It’s not just supplements and teas, it is actual real FOOD that my group is not only feeding their family but trying to get into the hands of orphanages and extremely malnourished villages.  In fact, I’m in a group specifically for parents who use this food with their children with special needs AND many doctors are suggesting it to their patients now.  Formulated by John Anderson, (maker of Bare Minerals) these products are true to their word and as clean as it gets.  I love that when I look on the back of my morning drink I see words that I KNOW like, “Wolfberry, Alfalfa, hibiscus flower, watermelon, kiwi, ginger, etc. etc. etc. “ REAL food.  Real  food.  Just amazing.

So, after listening to her testimonial of having lost 16 pounds in 30 days and feeling the best she EVER HAD, I decided to give it a try. After all, she is the parent to 15 kids (some with special needs), is the executive director of an amazing non-profit, Project Hopeful, (you may have seen her on the Today Show with Jenna Bush a while back) AND moving her entire family to serve at an orphanage in Guatemala. Surely if SHE was feeling amazing energy, I could too. So 3 weeks ago, I started the 30 day cleanse to jump start the program, and while many lose a lot of weight on the program, that is just a fringe benefit to the deep cleanse.  By releasing toxins and drenching your body with raw-real-natural nutrients, your body starts to function as it was INTENDED to- and MY OH MY is that something incredible! I posted this with the following picture on our group’s facebook wall a few days ago:

“I used to wake up exhausted and float through the day with one caffeinated beverage to the next. I could barely muster the energy to just get normal tasks done. 80% of my time playing with my daughter involved activities that required as little energy as possible... Reading books, playing the keyboard, watching a cartoon, etc. Today, almost 3 weeks into Isagenix, my daughter and I went outside and I put her in her stander. (She has CP and doesn't walk or stand on her own.) Then I pushed her while I RAN (!) up and down our long driveway for almost half an hour. She LOVED it! After that we gardened... This may not seem like much, but to us it's a very big deal. As she gets bigger and heavier I'm going to need more and more strength/energy to take care of her. Now I'm headed towards a stronger, healthier, more capable me-  Not to mention, Mama has energy to do the really active fun stuff now!!!!!!!!! Isagenix is such a blessing in our family already!”

I have NEVER in my life felt this good and I can’t IMAGINE what these products could do for Abi too.  I am in a group of 1,000+ parents who are meeting with their children’s nutritionists, doctors, neurologists, pediatricians, etc. and incorporating this FOOD into their children’s diet.  I’ve seen INCREDIBLE things happen through that group. One fellow mom, even had a family call her and say, “We see the same neurologist as you.  He said that whatever you’re doing is helping your child more than he is and that we should talk to you about it.” It’s real folks and I can’t imagine living without it now. I want EVERYONE to experience this.  I already have friends and family who have joined along side me and are gaining energy and shedding pounds like crazy - AND I would LOVE to have you join along side us too! If you’re interested or simply want to know more about the products shoot me an email at marysmcconnell@hotmail.com and I’ll explain away :)  I really can’t stop talking about it :) In the meantime, watch this video and see if you’re toxic :)

Why I have CRAZY energy... finally.

Guys, for the past... maybe forever... I have really suffered to maintain energy. So much so, that a few times I saw a doctor thinking "maybe I have a blood sugar issue?" or "maybe I have mono?" but NOPE.  All checked out.  I was just TIRED and basically wishing I could just do this all day:

Over the few past years, it just got worse and worse. I would wake up tired, barely making it through the day with one caffeinated beverage to the next, and then I would hit the bed exhausted. I thought, maybe if I ate really well I would feel better.  So I started juicing, which definitely helped.  But pretty soon juicing was too expensive and WAY too time consuming for my life.  So then I started buying raw freshly made juice and getting it delivered to our door. But that wasn't a substitute for a meal the way our homemade juicing was, and it was also getting pretty expensive. So I began buying only organic food and even started gardening, eating fresh fruit and veggies as much as possible. But nope, still exhausted. I figured since motherhood requires so much energy, this was just my destiny.  To. be. tirrrreed. But then my friend Carolyn, started talking on facebook about HOW MUCH energy she had and I was curious. I knew she was SUPER organic, making SUPER healthy eating choices, and yet even she hadn't been feeling great. So what had changed in her life that she now had a crazy amount of energy that she didn't have on her "perfect" diet? She was a mother to 15 children, many with special needs.  She was also the executive director of an incredible non-profit called Project Hopeful AND she was in the middle of moving her entire family to Guatemala to serve at Village of Hope.  How could SHE have so much energy and not me?  I called her.  I learned.  And now I'm DOING what she was doing and I can't. even. believe it.  I'm a different person. I'm still eating "God's food", only taking the best-rawest ingredients into my system and yet three weeks after implementing what I learned in our conversation I feel better than I EVER have. In my life. Childhood energy included.  I'll share with you what I'm doing differently tomorrow- and I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!

mae

Waiting Rooms with Glennon and Mindy.

Yesterday we had Speech Therapy for the first time and they took Abiella into the room without me.  That was a first and I wasn't expecting it. So I just sat in the waiting room and twiddled my thumbs with the other parents.

30 minutes to do whatever I please? What?? I didn't come prepared for this!  Now I know better. Bring a book.  Always bring a book.

Speaking of books.  I've read some pretty amazing ones lately.  Let's start with this one:

Carry On Warrior, Thoughts on Life Unarmed

Please tell me you've read this. I really can't even speak about this one because I just loved it too much.  No words would do it any kind of justice.  Just get it, and love it, and laugh, and cry, and then sit stunned at how much beauty and hilarity and honesty can be packed into 200 pages. Oh my.

Next, is this little diddy- a book my book club read together.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

This book hooked me from the beginning and a day and a half later it was all over.  I wished there was more to read because anything less than 48 hours with Mindy is unacceptable. She's just too good. "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me (And Other Concerns)" is a memoir of sorts and definitely one of the most FUN books I've ever read. Somewhere on the cover it likens her to "Tina Fey's cool little sister" and I think that's a pretty accurate description.  If you're into things that are funny and honest- get it.  Also, you get sneak peeks at what it was like to write/star in The Office, guest write on SNL, and be around Amy Poehler :) I'm also pretty obsessed with the show The Mindy Project, so this was a great thing to read while they're on break.

Okay.  Go buy, go read, and enjoy.  Any books you've been loving?? I'll need something for the waiting room.

---

Love Outside the Lines

My amazing talented, brave, dear, hilarious friend Megan is on a unique journey.  

She is adopting four children, advocating for hundreds more in Sierra Leone, recently got married on a beach in Africa, and has now put out an amazing EP.  (Did I mention she's an insane singer and songwriter? I was actually a major fan of her music before I ever even knew her.) The EP is amazing and all proceeds from Track 1 go to the orphanage her children are currently living at, and the rest will help fund her adoption(s).  The song, "The Best Yes" was written and performed with my husband, and the day they came down from the studio and played me that song was one of the most real moments of my life.  Holding my precious daughter and hearing them sing, "You were the best yes" was almost too much for my little heart to take.

So, go to her blog, read more about her story, and get the EP off iTunes (link is below).  You won't regret it.

Love Outside the Lines

mae 

Abiella plays the keys...

Abiella has been working hard (or should I say playing hard) at learning the keys :)  Abi is a natural "kicker."  She's always been really active with her legs and one of her incredible teachers suggested we put the keyboard at her feet instead of her hands. You'd think I would come up with these ideas on my own!

She seemed to catch on immediately and has been having a blast.

Forgive the blurry photo... She plays pretty quickly :)

Cheers to a new week and new skills :)

mae

When Daddy Comes Home

My husband was out of town this weekend and when he got home this afternoon Abiella was pretty darn happy about it :)

Hope you had a good weekend. 

It's 9:44pm my time so this successfully completes Day 4 of the 30 Day Challenge. 

Wahooo!!!
PS: This post was originally uploaded last night with a video. However, the link wasn't working this morning so I replaced it with a snapshot from the video.