PonchoMeg: The Modern Bohemian's Guide to a Happy New Year

The new year is almost here!  Oh the excitement!  Oh the anticipation!  Oh the fear of those new year resolutions!
To help get you all ready for the new year, I have some great resources for you.  Enjoy!

New Years Eve Entertainment

The Top Five New Years Eve Movies

The Top Five Movies for a Girl's Night

The Top Five House Music DJs

Make Money Online in the New Year

Ten Websites to Write for and Make Money

The Top Five Writing Websites to Make Money On

Why I Write for List My Five

The Top Five Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Blog or Website

How to Get More Traffic to Your Blog: Ten Tips that will Help

The Top Five Ways to Earn Money Online

The Top Five Websites to Join When Making Money Online

Making Soap for Fun and Profit

Work Towards Your Fitness Goals

How to Work Out Without Going to the Gym

The Top Five Tricks for Toning Your Body at Work

The Top Five Drinks for Weight Loss

Lose Weight and Tone Muscle at Home with NO EQUIPMENT!

Be ALL About Self-Improvement

50 Ways to Be a Better Human Being

The Top Five Things You Should NEVER Do Online

How to Make a Good First Impression 

How to Be Positive in Your Interactions with Others

How to REALLY Love Yourself

How to Become More Involved in Your Community

Improve Your Singing Daily

How to Manage Stress: Ten Tips That Really Work

Go "GREEN" in the New Year

How to Make Small Changes to Make Your Home More "Green"

How to be "Green" When You Clean

The Top Five Things You Should Know About Better World Books

Happy New Year!

Peace and Love, 

Meagan

P.S.- I thought I'd share a few of my favorite pics from the blog this year as well.  Are any of these some of your favorites too?

My baby Ava!

Baby L. at the March for Babies

My first REAL Tigers game! (As in... not on TV)

Grand Rapids' Electronic Music Night

 My homemade Halloween costume.

Yay, Squirrels!

Poo Poo Paper!

PonchoMeg: The Modern Bohemian's Top 5

My latest endeavor: List My Five.  I am curious to know what you all think of my lists, so please, check it out and leave a comment (maybe with YOUR top five picks).  Thanks!  And have fun!

The Top Five Exercises For Losing Weight and Toning Muscle at Home

The Top Five Drinks For Weight Loss

The Top Five Movies For a Girl Night

The Top Five Swoonworthy Fictional Male Movie Characters

The Top Five Actresses on the Rise

Peace and Love,

Meagan

Gluten-Free: Not Just an Annoying Dietary Demand

So I have been almost 100% gluten-free since the end of 2009 due to health problems and gluten intolerance, and now that I am in 2010, I am trying hard to avoid all contamination and be gluten-free, healthy, and happy.  In addition, I have been wanting to be more active, lose weight, and tone up before my sister's wedding in November.  Luckily, these two things have gone hand in hand.  Since being gluten-free and becoming more active, I have lost 29 lbs!!! Yes!  Amazing!

The most important thing I feel like I have gotten out of all of this though, is the true appreciation for healthy eating.  Basically, eating things that make your body feel good as well as look good.  I have always loved organic food, veggies, fruit, things like that, but now I am coming up with so many more uses for my favorites, as well as introducing new foods I hadn't really eaten before (Quinoa, polenta) and loving it.
Another added bonus: just cooking gluten-free, healthy meals for me and my house family and friends.  I love to cook, and I am an experimental cook anyway (meaning, I rarely make the same thing twice because  I never really follow recipes and I just go with what feels cool) so it has been exciting to make up new dishes and new methods for cooking certain dishes.

Some of my favorite things to do:

Southwest casserole (Rice based)
Steak and veggie kabobs (peppers, squash, onions, etc.)
Summer Salad (Fresh greens, veggies, and a light olive oil dressing... with asiago cheese)
Drizzle Dream (a yummy dessert)
Soup/Chili (Easy, fun, and experimental. haha)
Oven baked lemon/butter/garlic Tilapia
Green beans in garlic and olive oil
Tacos
Beans and Rice

And so much more.  It's just fun.

And a little less work now that I am 29 lbs lighter... :) haha

If anyone out there wants any more information on gluten intolerance, celiac disease, gluten-free living, or going gluten-free as a method of weight loss, please let me know.  Leave a comment or send an e-mail to ponchomeg@yahoo.com and I will tell you more about my personal experience and direct you to some fantastic resources.  Just put "Gluten-Free Questions" in the subject line.

Peace and Love,
Meagan

Healthy Living and Weight Loss... Or Something Like That...And Other Antics

So, for awhile now I have been limiting my gluten intake for health reasons, trying slowly but surely to get on a gluten-free diet. Now, my roommate K. is being forced to do the same for different reasons, and as much as I feel bad for her, it's nice to have someone share this battle with me. Today we went to Foods For Living and picked up a bunch of gluten-free food, as well as some organic fruits and veggies. Well, let me tell you... eating gluten-free is NOT easy OR cheap. But luckily, the lovely people at the store gave us a list of gluten-free foods, so that we can try to pick them up other places. AND a very helpful older man who is also on a gluten-free diet gave us tips on what's good and what's not. He was a total stranger and just another customer, but he reached out to us with such generosity and kindness that it really brightened my day.

In addition to this gluten-free thing, I have been meaning to try to get back into shape and lose weight. I have had several health problems over the past few years that have made it hard for me to work out, but I am sick of letting that hold me back. So my goal is to start doing more activity and have at least 2 structured work-outs a week to start. Plus, I want to eat a good amount of calories, so I am tracking all of this on LiveStrong.com, and hopefully... I'll make something happen.

I figure, if I talk about it on here it will help to keep me accountable. We'll see.

Anyway, in other news...

I nominated myself for an award! I figured, why not? So I did it.

Also, the animals have all been alternating between super cute and sweet and just plain naughty within the last few days! So that's been interesting. For example: Sam and Binks were cuddling and being all cute, licking each other and being good. Then I decided to give the cats tuna, and Ava came too, and they all shared and it was adorable. Then Sam knocked over the kitchen trash can and got garbage everywhere. The worst were the coffee grounds, which Jezebelle (J.'s puppy) kept trying to eat. Annoying. Then they were all being pretty good, until Sam went outside and sat in the driveway right in front of Will's car... while Will was trying to pull into the driveway! So I got him back inside, where he and the other cats were tormented by Jezebelle who wanted to chase and bite them. Then, Jez took things to a whole new level of naughty by peeing on the couch... in my favorite spot. Grrr....

But then just a few minutes ago, Jezebelle and I bonded in the kitchen. She followed my commands: sit, lay down, stay... and then we played and snuggled. And Sam was laying in the bedroom with Will, while Ava and Binks cuddled with A. as he napped on the couch. So that was all very sweet.

But now, as I write... it's all going crazy again.

That's what we get for living in this crazy Bohemian zoo though, I suppose. And honestly, I wouldn't trade it for anything... not even the ability to eat gluten. ;)