Lindsay Detwiler's Blog, page 43

Must. Not. Eat. Cookies. : Diet Diaries, Part II

So we’ve made it past a week in our mission to be better, healthier, and skinnier.

And we’re still alive.

It’s been a rough one at times, and we’ve had successes and failures.

Successes this week:

My pants feel looser. Thank goodness!
I achieved my 10,000 step + goal every day except Tuesday
I exercised two times this week
I ate an entire package of grapes by myself. And a few apples. And I don’t even like fruit.
I stayed within my calorie range 6 of the past 7 days.
Chad left some pizza behind when we got takeout tonight. I know, right?!?
At Panera, I ate chicken noodle soup and a smoked turkey sandwich . . . two of the lowest calorie items.
We ate at Sheetz, but I got a grilled chicken salad with fat free dressing and no french fries. Ugh.
We drank water and green tea all week long. (No Mountain Dew this week! And I didn’t snap!)

Failures:

Domino’s Pizza tonight. With lava cakes. Sigh.
Coca Cola tonight. Are you getting the picture?
Funnel cake on Thursday . . . but I ate healthily enough all day that I had the calories left.
A few days under 10,000 steps due to schooling. But this still isn’t an excuse.

So yeah, we aren’t setting the world on fire. We aren’t perfect. But we did make it through a week without cookies in the house. We ate more fruits and veggies than we have all summer in just one week. Best of all? We’re being more conscious about what we are eating and about how many steps we are taking.

Baby steps, right?

Lindsay Detwiler, Voice of Innocence

The Beauty of Love

You are innocent, but no one believes you.

You’ve spent your life trying to do what’s right, trying to live a life of value and integrity. But now, everyone wants to make you out to be a monster. Old friends turn on you, and everyone suddenly “saw the signs.” Everyone is ready to throw away the proverbial and literal key, banishing you to a place where they won’t have to confront you or even think of you.

Your life is over. You’ve lost everything. All of your possessions, all of your dreams, and all of the people that matter to you are floating out the door, and you can’t stop it.

The worst part? You didn’t do anything wrong.

****

You want this nightmare to be over. You know he didn’t do this, he couldn’t have done this. But why won’t anyone listen?

You feel helpless, downtrodden. You want to scream from the rooftop, you want to be a woman on a mission and save him . . . but you can’t. There’s nothing you can do.

You feel bad for him, know he’s going through worse things than you can imagine. He’s the one on trial, he’s the one convicted, not you. Yet, you feel like with the slamming of the gavel, your life’s sentence has also been verified. Your life is over. You can’t recover from this.

He is the love of your life, your soul mate. He is your present, making you laugh. He is your future. Every dream you have involves him. And now he’s been ripped away, your future a shredded carcass of what it once looked like.

Your heart is broken for what could have been but never can be. At eighteen, you’ve learned that life isn’t even close to fair. How do you live with that?

****

Love itself is complicated. It isn’t roses and candles, sunlit walks by the beach and stolen kisses. It is tough, it is tested, and it is exhausting.

A wrongful conviction only makes a love story even more complex.

Emma and Corbin’s story isn’t your typical romance. It is a story of pain, of injustice, and of tragedy. It is heartbreaking, it is filled with sorrow, and it is frightening.

Yet, above all of the pain and the emotion, one things remains: the beauty and power of their love.

A story about first love, a story about real love. Voice of Innocence.

Available at:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Smashwords

Enter to win a copy for free!!! Click now to enter!

Where Are All of the Cookies?

Where Are All of the Cookies?

I’m pretty sure the cashier at Aldi today called an ambulance for us.

It was the first time in a long time that our conveyor belt did not have cookies on it. But that’s not all.

There were no frozen pizzas or corn dogs. There weren’t any packs of Kit Kats or ice cream bars. No soda, no brownies, no rice krispy treats.  Instead, there were grapes, apples, lettuce, fit and active snacks, and a whole lot of healthy.

Usually, summers are a time for me to do a body reboot. During the school year, the stresses of lesson planning, conferences, grading papers, and grad school dictates that the drive thru is our only feasible option for dinner. Exercise often takes a backseat to sheer survival. Summers are my time to cook for the family, to get in better shape, and to shuck off any extra pounds gained during the school year. Summers are my time to get my body back into its best form.

But this summer’s been different.

My husband and I have both fallen way, way, way off the wagon. With book promotions and writing taking up much of my time, I’ve spent more hours on the couch than exercising. Cheese sticks, hot wings, and ice cream have become staples in our household. We’ve been eating out four and five times a week sometimes, fried foods becoming an addiction instead of a treat.  I can’t even remember the last time I’ve cooked a vegetable for us. So, with the school year fast approaching, I think I’m heavier than I was back in June.  My clothes are tighter, we are miserable, and we have no energy. We’ve decided to face the music.

So we’ve decided to do something about it. We’ve come to the realization this week that it’s time to grow up a bit at the grocery store. Mac & Cheese and Minion snacks are not healthy diets. We need fruits and vegetables. We need to count calories. We need to exercise. We can’t live off of cookies forever.

I spent a few hours today making salad, cutting up fruit, and getting our refrigerator healthified. Am I excited to trade in the cookies for fruit? Hell no. I miss them already. Are we going to fall off the wagon this week? I’m betting on it.

But at least we’ve made the first important step; we’ve set ourselves up for success. Dieting doesn’t start at home. Who in their right mind is going to choose a carrot stick over a chocolate when given the choice? Dieting starts at the grocery store. By making better choices today, I’m hoping we can combat our terrible eating habits and our metabolisms that are slowing down.

So I’ll keep you posted on our journey. I’ll even fess up if we end up caving to our cookie cravings. But for now, I’m off to snack on some grapes (can you hear my sigh?).

Lindsay Detwiler, Voice of Innocence

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TMX826K

GIVEAWAY! Win a Diamond Candle and a Copy of Voice of Innocence!

Don’t forget to enter to win a Diamond Candle and a Copy of Voice of Innocence at my Facebook Page (click the link). All you have to do is enter the initials or name of your first love to be entered to win! You have until August 15th to enter :) You can see the video below for more information (and my husband’s ridiculous antics).

Lindsay Detwiler, Voice of Innocence

You could win this prize package! Yay! Tell all of your friends!

Just A Day At The Zoo

On Saturday, we went to the DC Zoo with some friends. It was sweltering hot, but we had a great time!! Who says grownups can’t have fun at the zoo???

Blogger Awards!

I am so excited and honored to be nominated for THREE awards today!! I can remember starting this blog back in January and having no clue what I was doing. I absolutely love being a part of the blogging community now because I have met so many awesome people! I just feel like my world has expanded so much . . . from beauty to books to travel, I’ve been able to experience so much more of the world than my tiny town has to offer :)

All three awards came from Beginner Beaute. Her blog is adorable and fun, focusing on makeup products (one of my fave things to read about!!) Check it out at https://beginnerbeaute.wordpress.com/.

Here we go . . .  off to the awards!

Award #1 The Premio Dardos Award

The rules are:

Thank the giver and link their blog to your post.
Pass the award on to other bloggers of your choice and let them know that they have been nominated.

Like Beginner Beaute, I am going to nominate for all three awards at one time at the end of the post :)

Award #2 Versatile Blogger Award

The rules are:

Acknowledge the person who nominated you by thanking them and posting a link to their blog.
Share 10 interesting things about yourself.
Nominate 10 more bloggers. (You may want to let them know that they have been nominated by commenting in one of their posts.)

Facts About Me:

I met my husband in seventh grade in art class. We were assigned to the same table.
I love reading absolutely everything . . . except mystery novels. I will read every genre except mystery! I have no idea why, either.
I have an accounting degree. I actually got my accounting degree first and then decided I wasn’t happy and wanted to teach. I then got my degree in Secondary Education/English. I’ve never really done anything with my accounting degree, which is okay with me.
I played the trumpet in the marching band in high school.
I hate, hate, hate seafood of all types. At Red Lobster, I’m the girl ordering the cheese stick and chicken tender appetizers.
I’ve never been out of the country because I am terrified of flying. I wish I could get over this fear.
I am terrified of needles. . . like crazy, can’t even look at a shot afraid.
I met Mario Lemieux as a child. My dad loved the Pittsburgh Penguins, so we were at a game. We stood by this entrance where he went in for hours in the cold. He signed my jersey, which I still have.
I am an only child (My husband claims this makes me bossy, but I disagree! Of course.).
I go shopping with my mom every Saturday. It’s been our tradition for a long time now. Yes, we are shopaholics J (But we do clearance shop, so that helps, right?)

Award #3 The Beauty Blogger Award

Rules:

1) State the name of the blogger that nominated you.

2) Answer the questions you were given.

3) Nominate 10 people whose blog is about beauty or fashion.

4) Make 10 questions for your nominees to answer.

5) Let the bloggers know that you nominated them.

My Questions:

You step into Sephora/drugstore, what section (brand/makeup item) do you rush for? . Urban Decay at Sephora, followed by clearance. I also spend a lot of time in the little section by the checkout because I love to try new products and they have great sample sizes :)
What is your favorite go to summer makeup product?  Lip stain. Even if you aren’t wearing anything, it makes you look like you tried.
 What is on your summer beauty product wishlist? A Clarisonic and the Naked 3 Palette by Urban Decay
 What is a makeup product/trend you are looking forward to for the fall? Dark nails and wine-colored lips
 If you had your own beauty line that consisted of one beauty product, which product would it be (i.e., lipstick, nail polish, foundation, blush, perfume, etc)   Lipstick! I would want to make a lipstick that actually lasts all day but doesn’t dry your lips out. I guess I better brush up on some chemistry, huh?
What is your favorite summer-fall transition nail polish color?   Magenta or Navy
 What is your favorite summer pedicure color? Hot pink, of course :)
 Summer eye shadows, shimmer or matte? Shimmer all of the time
 Bold lip, or ‘my lips but better’ for everyday wear (name the corresponding lipstick color)?   Bold lip! I love Urban Decay’s new lipsticks. I have this great bright purple color I love
 What is your opinion on the strobing trend, and do you ‘participate’ in this trend? I am still working on regular contouring, so I will have to come back to this :)

My Nominations:

Beauty Besties
The Rare Ruby
Claire Elsley
Polished By Amy
A Beautiful Whim
Beauty with Robyn
Beauty by Maeva Tarelli
srtbeauty
The Curly and the Straight
Make Up World by Veena

Here are my ten questions for the final award:

How long does it take to do your makeup on a regular day?
Smokey eye or natural for a special event?
What brand of makeup brushes do you prefer?
Do you ever go makeup free?
What is one makeup product you wish companies would improve and why (nail polish, lipstick, blush, etc.)?
How old were you when you started wearing makeup?
What’s your best tip for perfect eyeshadow blending?
What brand of foundation is the best?
Who is your makeup idol?
What’s your favorite mascara brand?

Thanks so much again Beginner Beaute! This was so much fun!

Lindsay Detwiler

Six Word Memoirs

Voice of Innocence: Remember Your First Love

Emma and Corbin:  two typical teenagers traveling the road of first love together, innocent hearts linked by an impenetrable bond.  When Corbin is convicted of a murder he didn’t commit and faces years in prison, though, their love is severed.  Decades later, Corbin is finally proven innocent and both are haunted by a relationship neither has forgotten. Lives irrevocably altered and time passed, Emma and Corbin must face a difficult decision: should they settle for the separate lives that have become their reality, or can they take the risk that the passion of a first love doesn’t fade with time?

“Magical,” Captivating,” “Emotional,” ~Amazon reviewers

I Believe in the Power of First Love

I believe in the power of first love.

Maybe it’s because I married my first love, or maybe it’s because I have my head in the clouds. Maybe it’s because I’ve been swept away by romance stories, or maybe it’s because I watch too many movies about love.

But I believe in the power of first love.

I’ve met so many people who think that first love is just the product of naivety or youth, that it isn’t made to last. I’ve seen people glower at teenagers who are holding hands in the mall. I’ve heard people say, “It won’t last,” or “They don’t know what love is.” I’ve heard people say that first love isn’t real, isn’t worthy, isn’t valuable.

But I believe in the power of first love.

There’s something untouchable about first love, something about that first time you give your heart away. There’s something scary, complicated, intense about the feeling, something unforgettable. There’s something beautiful, too. There’s something poetic about your heart, your inner being awakening because of a connection with another person. First love is the deepest connection you can make.

Because even though first loves don’t always work out, even though we sometimes outgrow those feelings that seemed like they would last forever, they still imprint us indelibly. They stamp something onto our hearts that can never really fade away, something that can never be replaced.

We are, in many ways, forever changed, forever haunted, forever reminiscing about our first love.

That is what Voice of Innocence captures, above everything else.

Lindsay Detwiler, author of Voice of Innocence

Available at :

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Smashwords

Bark in the Park!

Henry had a great time at his first baseball game! The Altoona Curve has a dog-friendly game over the summer, which happened to be Sunday. Henry got some fries, a hot dog, hung out with his best friend Holly, and even made a new friend–an English mastiff named Louie.