I left my camera at work so I was not able to share these photos when I got home last night and had my sister in law take photos of dinner, which I don't have a cord for so I will post those in my next entry.

Yesterday was special because I had cheese and butter that was purchased directly from the farmer that produced it. When I started Local Thursdays I went around to my normal stores in search for the "local" sticker and figured that cheese would be hard to come by. Most of the dairy and cheese that I do find, while they are from small sustainable farmers, seem to be in Pennsylvania or other local, but not to me places.

I spotted  block of goat feta at the Harvest Moon and was delighted to see that Sterling Bridge Farm is located in Willis about 13 miles from the town of Floyd. I found their website online at localharvest.org and sent them an email asking where I could find more of their cheese and so I was invited for a visit.

I met Randy Wednesday afternoon with Josh's sister and our nephew Dylan and he gave us the grand tour of Sterling Bridge Farm. There was so much to soak in and learn that I regretted not taking paper with me. You know when you meet someone and you are just amazed at what they do and why they do it that you just stand there staring at them listening? That was me, I tried to keep myself from saying "no way!!" over and over. I am impressed and grateful for what he does with his wife and son every single day. I also love goats even more, they are so curious.

I purchased mozzarella, soft cheddar, goat feta and butter. You can visit their website here. I hope to include more posts with in depth information about their farm, which I think you'd be interested in reading why they do what they do, where they came from before this, cheese production and the importance of what they do.

This is my only food photo for yesterday, but for breakfast I had eggs (15 miles), toast (flour, 30 miles), butter (from Sterling Bridge Dairy Farm) and bacon. The bacon is from mocksvilla, nc about 111 miles away. Still looking for bacon in Floyd.

For lunch, I wasn't hungry until about 2 so I had half of a whole wheat sandwich (local bread) with tomato (20 miles), bacon (111 miles) and cheddar from Sterling Bridge Dairy. So good!
For dinner I made bacon and onion pizza. Homemade dough by me, homemade tomato sauce, local garlic, local bacon, local onions, and mozzarella from Sterling Bridge Dairy Farm. I also had cucumbers and tomatoes from our garden and a red pepper from about 15 miles away.

There is a truth about me, that I like to deny because I always have stuff to do, but I am not a workaholic. And sometimes I wish I was and I'm not totally sure why.

I need sleep, I need time where I do nothing, and I need time alone. Those are three things that I require to function. Despite knowing this, I will pile things on my to-do list, get six hours of sleep, and continue going until I can't anymore. Why do I have the need to be lazy? Why do I need do-nothing time to sit on the couch and read?

Part of me, believes that this is normal and needed and so many people deny this aspect of themselves. And then another part of me resents it and wishes that I could do something during every waking hour of the day. I struggle with time management, which I've mentioned before, and know I'm not alone.

My before work and after work time is precious to me, but it seems that is flies by at lightening fast speed. If I get up at 5:30am and exercise until 6:15 that gives me until about 6:45 to get ready for work if I want to be there by 7. And then leave at about 3:45. Get home at 4 and have seven hours before eleven, but really should go to bed at 10.

In those hours, I always hope to accomplish: cleaning, blogging, making art, sometimes more exercise and various other projects that I like to work on. And sometimes all I seem to get done this week is: exercise, work, cooking dinner and reading. I'm trying to not feel guilty about this. I have all of these ideas about what I don't want my life to be like and a time waster and tv watcher are not one of them, yet I get tired.

I'm rambling, but to say that when I'm not blogging, I'm resting. I have so much to blog about. This week is beauty week, and with that I made my first all-afternoon salon appointment for today, which of course, I will share. I never go to the salon. I'm also taking a tour of a local dairy farm. I have pending fall fashion posts that are coming. Most of my weekend was spent creating for the arts and crafts show that is coming up in a week and a half.

So I'm here, I'm just moving at snails pace this week and taking time to do nothing which despite wishing I had boundless energy, I know that I need. Today is day nine of Jillian's 30 day shred, we're on level two. Its crazy! My scale is broken, I went from 265 to 313 to 298 to 251 this morning. I have a lot I want to share about the daily exercise, its coming too

Hey! It's here, better later than never, right? I was feeling super lethargic last night, which I will get to in a moment.

Yesterday I started my day with  Jillian Michael's 30-day shred. woot. And when I got to work I was ravenous so I peeked in my local ingredients bag and decided on eggs and locally baked whole wheat bread made with local ingredients. And then I ate it without taking a pictures, so I ate it again this morning. All in the name of taking a picture.

here it is Minus the cheese and jam that I had today and not yesterday, they are not local. The cheese is amish, but that could mean anything.

And then trouble starts, I had lunch with my co-workers, which was not at all local. Well, a local restaurant, but not local food. I caved and ate rice and beans with a guacamole salad about 10 tortilla chips. And then, I bought local ice cream and ate way too much. What was I thinking? Seriously? I actually had to melt it in water and dump it in the drain to stop eating it. The worst part? It was only partially local. It had high fructose corn syrup in the french custard base that they use. The nerve. Its my own fault though for not checking first.

For dinner I made homemade pasta with meat sauce and a side salad. If there was a book titled "how not to make tomato sauce" my sauce would go on the first page. And while it wasn't horrible and tasted (to me) pretty nice and fresh, it was not authentic in any sort of way. It was more like...salsa...heated with Italian seasoning. I used local tomatoes, garlic, and parsley blended in the food processor with a little organic olive oil, oregano, salt and pepper. The parsley was from our garden, yay for that. I cooked the meat and then added the sauce in and let simmer. Put the noodles in and there you have it.

I wasn't bad. I didn't mind it. Josh on the other hand didn't care for it at all. But, he doesn't like spaghetti or ground meats, so there's that.  For the salad I mixed dark lettuce with spinach and made a dressing of olive oil, local garlic, local pimento pepper, salt and pepper in the food processor. I really liked this and would make it again.

I also had a little local unpasteurized apple cider, but didn't take a picture of it. So that's my somewhat wobbly day of local eating.

I have a surprise for next week though...I'm visiting a local dairy farm and will have a chance to take photos, ask questions, and buy cheese and butter. I'm so excited about this and can't wait to share the experience on local Thursdays. I will definitely be more planned with my meals next week as to avoid some of yesterdays mistakes.

Cooking this way has allowed me to be more creative and inventive in the kitchen. I'm making up dishes with the ingredients that I have rather than buying the ingredients after I have a recipe, which is a fun challenge. I feel like I'm on one of those reality cooking shows. And find myself thinking "okay, I want dressing on my salad, this is what I have, how do I do this?" It's hit or miss, but fun.

Fall fashion week is not over! I still have plenty of posts coming, I just need to sit down and start churning them out! And getting ready for beauty week next week. I also finished day four this morning of the 30-day shred and have to say that I'm feeling great. We both have more energy and the movements are becoming more fluid.

Here are a couple of outfits that I came up with today using some of the inspiration from yesterday's post. I received a lovely necklace in the mail that I ordered off of etsy a couple of weeks ago and wore that all day today and based my outfit around it.

My hair is looking crazay in this picture.

I love pencil skirts! They are definitely a staple in my closet. Why? They are comfortable, flattering and I enjoy tucking shirts into them. I got this one from old navy (of course) and love it because of the wide waste band, dark denim and two button closure. I'm wearing a size 22 in this skirt and find it to be fitted, but also roomy in the waste which I like. It seems to be a little stretchy too. You can find it here.

This shirt I got recently  from avenue.com which is very hit or miss store for me. Sometimes I love their clothes and sometimes I hate them. I love this shirt though. I ordered it online and really enjoy the small gold rose buttons and somewhat fringed fabric in the ruffles and sleeves. I love the collar too. It has an old romantic feel to me which I like. This shirt is a size 18/20 and could stand to be a bit looser on me,especially in the bust. Nothing Jillian's 30 day shred can't help with. You can find it here. (ps: if you ever order from avenue.com, google "avenue coupon codes" and you can get 20% off of every item you order)

Here is a close-up of my necklace. Disregard my creepy eyes here

This is definitely a "statement" necklace, to say the least. This would go in the category of things that I think are awesome. I bought this off of etsy from a lady in canada. Her website is here. I've got my eye on her bird cameo too! If you can't tell from the photo, it is an illustration of a fox. The original sale page is here.

Here is another outfit that I put together using a new-to-me accessory: a belt! I never wear belts. ever. Actually I could make a public stance against belts. They are silly to me. Well, jeans with belts and tucked in shirts are silly to me. Or wearing a belt with jeans and your shirt tucked out seems silly as well. Then again, wearing a belt over a tank top could certainly go in the category of weird as well. Anywho, I'm liking this look a lot!

It does for me what the pencil skirt does- accentuates the waste. This tank top was purchased at old navy a couple of summers back and its very loose and flowy. I think this belt brings it in and makes it look more polished in strange way. This is a size xxl. And the belt came with a skirt that I bought about three years ago. You can see the pants, but I am wearing these skinny jeans in a size 20. They fit and are comfortable and don't look bad with this outfit, however I would think they would look just a bit better with a 10-15 lb weight loss. My camera died before I could get a better full length photo, but will take another tomorrow.

I got this sweater in Chicago at Filene's Basement. I love the mustard color and big buttons. It is a size xl and fits pretty good. I like fitted clothes, what can i say?

I'm still working on a lot of my fall fashion ideas this week so bear with me, they're a comin'! I will keep posting them as I get them done and will post ideas if I have any. If you guys are trying out new outfits, please feel free to send me an email and I will post it here.

PS: I've started the Jillian Michael's 30-day shred with my sister in law and we are heading into day three tomorrow morning. I am so sore, but it feels really good to have someone to be accountable with. She is good at sticking to things and I don't want to let her down, so it pushes me to keep with it.

I also wanted to start posting my food, I did take a couple of pictures, but will probably post them tomorrow. Today I ate: a small salad (lettuce, eggs, broccoli, tomatoes) with light ranch dressing, banana, rice , beans, salad with guacamole, salsa and about 10 tortilla chips, for dinner I made homemade pizza (the crust) with sauce, fresh mozzarella and lots of onions. I had three small slices of that.

Tomorrow is local thursday's!

I'm not sure why I call these my cabbage shoes, but every time I wear them I say "these are my cabAGE shoes from Turget!" like the Target lady from SNL. It cracks me up. I wore these yesterday and have another pair in a dark purple/pink color.  I've been wearing them with pencil skirts and jeans. Do you have a favorite pair of shoes for fall?

This is a loaded question, one that I am still figuring out for myself. It's hard for me to think that I have true personal style when a good portion of my clothes come from Old Navy or Target. Sure, I add accessories to the mix, but overall I sometimes feel that my style is dictated by what is available in my size and the amount of money I'm willing to spend rather than what I truly choose to wear to represent my personality.

That aside, I'm still working on expressing my style at any size. I've been doing this for as long as I can remember. Dressing my barbies and wishing her clothes would magically morph into my kid sizes so that I could look just like her. Good thing for me that didn't actually happen, my barbie was kind of slutty. What I have been doing for a very long time is experimenting with my clothes. This pursuit has not always been without flaws, embarrassment or misguided direction. But, bless my adolescent and adult soul, I sure have tried.

I remember in Jr. High dressing like the boys I had crushes on. What did this mean? Band t-shirts, dickies uniforms, ball chains, and airwalks. I figured that in order for them to like me, I had to dress like them. Needless to say that did not work out. In high school I got a little better with personal style, but the plus size clothing of almost ten years ago does not compare to what we have today, not even close.

Internet shopping was still catching on and I was still way too embarrassed to shop at the fat girl stores in the mall. I would end up wearing the same outfits over and over and planned on buying new clothes when I lost weight.

I don't think it was until college or even my short stint in nyc that I really started to figure out how to dress myself in a way that represesnted who I am, and made me feel proud. This was and still is not easy as often times plus size clothing tends to be like finding a needle in a haystack filled with polyester blend tops with slits in the sleeves or glitter thread running through the woven plaid button ups or the excessive details and the, well, you get it. And its not just plus sizes, its short gals and tall gals and those who gain more in the middle or those who gain more in the hips. Its really, all of us.

Where did I start? A few years back, around my junior year in college I bought a small bright fushia spiral notebook with blank pages (my favorite kind) to fill with all of the images that inspired me. Delia's catalog and glamour magazine cutouts filedl out the first few pages, later on I added images from jcrew, anthropologie, lucky magazine and toast. Every look was an idea or inspiration. What did I like about these outfits? Was there a common thread between them? Had my tastes changed over the years?

There was and still is a common thread between what is and is not my style. What isn't my style? Anything mod (1960's go-go, bold colors etc.), logos or obvious branding on clothing/accessories, sorority style (demin cut-off skirts, a polo or american eagle/abercrombie/holister tee), holiday/seasonal themed clothing, or pieces that look like the accessories should have stopped five or ten steps ago. Figuring out what I don't like has always been much easier. And there are things that I certainly wear that someone else would go out of the house wearing, and that is how it goes.

Today's challenge (or tomorrow's, or whenever you have time) is to get a notebook, a stack of magazines, scissors and a glue stick and set some time aside to sit down and find inspiration. Try to tear down your comfort zone and outfits that you normally wouldn't wear and think outside of the box. Don't worry about "it won't fit" , "it won't look good on me", or "I can't afford it" and just really pick things that speak to you.

Maybe you like the way an outfit it styled, but maybe you would change the patterns or colors. Maybe you like a scarf, or the way they wear leggings with a short dress, anything. If it speaks to you, cut it out and paste it in your "dream outfit" notebook. Maybe you like one aspect of an outfit, but not another, or maybe you find outfit ideas in unexpected places like kids clothing catalogs, advertisements or even movies and tv shows. Stay open to were you find inspiration. It can be at an art gallery, in your garden, or simply people watching at your local museum.

You can also do this online. I have folders online under topics such as "art", "home", "food", "clothing", "makeup/hair" etc. and when I see an imagine online that I really like, I save it for future ideas and looks. There are so many fashion blogs and daily wear websites that you are bound to find looks that really appeal to you.

Once you've gathered several outfits in your style journal start looking to see if you notice a theme in your choices. Can you see a similarity or divide between your dream outfits and current attire? Are there gaps between the clothes that you dream of wearing and the outifits that currently fill your closet?

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday assignment:

Look through your style journal and see if you can replicate an outfit with the clothes you already have. Don't worry about an exact match, the colors may be off, the fabric may be different, but start thinking about your dream outfit in terms like "fitted blazer, jeans, white t-shirt" etc. Start looking through you blazers, see anything similar in shape? What about jeans? Do you have shoes that could transform this outfit into your own? Do you have accessories or a new twist that will make this outfit feel special to you?

I'm participating as well and will pick out an outfit tonight in my "inspiration" folder and recreate it tomorrow for work with a photo. If you do this, feel free to email your inspirational outfit and your translation. I will include a link to your blog and an entry in a chance to win a one year subscription to Lucky Magazine.

In need of some inspiration? Here are some of my favorite places to look online for ideas:

coquelicot on flickr

wardrobe remix

darling dexter

some girls wander

what i wore

the hidden seed

melissa loves

I created a tentative schedule for this week, but there will be a lot more going on around here. I still plan to discuss food+exercise this week and will tend to things as normal (will be doing local Thursday's too!), but wanted to create a basic outline of what I've been working on for this week.
I will be doing giveaways and contests throughout the week as well as my old wardrobe remixes, daily outfit challenges etc.

Today's challenge is to clean out your closet, which can be done all week in your spare time. My plan is to empty out all of my drawers, closet caddies and other places where I've stashed clothes away over the past few months. I'm stacking them into sections: skirts, jeans, t-shirt, tank tops etc. and then sectioning off those sections into "definantly will not wear", "doesn't fit", "love", "has potential" etc. and will move on through the week from there.

I am excited about the "has potential" pile because these are items that I have, but I don't know how to wear. Maybe they need some little detail sewn on or a new way of wearing it. I will be back throughout the day and will update via twitter when I have a blog post up.

We made it back from Savannah Tuesday night and now I'm just getting things back in order around here. Slowly, I might add. Today is my scheduled blog event: Local Thursdays a day where all of my meals consist of foods that are grown right here in Floyd. I thought about my rules, what would be considered local?

Sure I could buy a bunch of groceries at Food Lion and technically it is a local store, but the food did not come from here. I've looked around, there isn't anything grown locally for sale at Food Lion. But for me local means: grown within 100 miles to where I live. In most instances, almost everything I need can be found well within 20-50 miles, except for grain mills. I was most excited to find food as close as seven miles away.

I did leave room for bending the rules a bit, I would allow butter (but, organic and purchased locally,  will continue to hunt down a local variety), olive oil (again organic and purchased at a locally owned shop), salt (organic sea salt, i use the sandy colored variety), pepper mill, one spice of my choosing, and limited amounts of organic milk, yeast, baking soda etc.

I started my shopping yesterday afternoon at the local Good Food-Good People and purchased the following: 2 lbs 10 mile grown potatoes (95 cents a #), 1 peminto pepper (15 miles, about $1.25), 2 lbs. green granny smith apples (approx. 20 miles, 1.25 a #), 1 bag mixed greens (10 miles, $4.00 for 1/2 #), watermelon (approx. 15 miles $4.00), elephant garlic (local, $1.15) and 1lb. small tomatoes ($3.00). And then I went to Sweet Providence Farm after work and purchased local green concord grapes for $1.99# and over 3 lbs. of fresh chicken $10.53 total. Today I quickly went to Harvest Moon to pick up a dozen eggs for $4.19 (can typically find them for $3.75 elsewhere) and local goat feta (about 15 miles away) for $5.30 and a 5lb bag of flour from a mill about 30 miles away ($3.50). Total: $44.86 for 9-10 meals (not including chicken at every meal or the cost of oil and butter)

I forgot my eggs at home so for breakfast I decided on watermelon. Prep time: 10 minutes to cut into wedges. This was pretty filling and I did not get hungry again until noon. I ate this around 8am. The watermelon was fresh and delicious.

For lunch I decided to have an egg, potatoes and salad. For the potatoes I simply cut them into cubes and cooked them until soft in a skillet with butter, pimento pepper, minced garlic, salt and pepper. I fried the egg until no longer runny. The salad had a little goat feta on top, tomatoes, minced garlic and a drizzle of olive oil. Cracked pepper on top. And a few slices of a granny smith apple.

For dinner I decided to roast a chicken with salt, pepper, garlic clove and olive oil. I just heated the oven to 375 and rubbed the chicken liberally with sea salt, pepper and garlic and then drizzled a thin coat of olive oil on all sides of the chicken. It took about two hours to fully cook. With the remaining potatoes, I boiled them with garlic and mashed them with about 3/4 C of potatoes water (what the potatoes cooked in) and 2 T butter, salt and pepper to taste. I had another salad exactly the same one as lunch. With the remaining pimento pepper I sauteed it in olive oil and garlic until tender.

For  a dessert I made a cardamom and honey apple tartlette. I made this recipe up as I went along so my recipe is not exact. I made a simple pie crust with flour, butter, salt, raw organic sugar and ice cold water and pulsated in the food processor until a dough formed. I let it cool in the freezer whileI prepared the apples. Peeled and cubed apples and cooked on medium heat (in a cast iron skillet) with butter, cardamom, honey, raw sugar, and a dash of salt. I let cook until soft, but still slightly firm. Lined a muffin tin with the dough and filled with the apple filling. Topped with a small patch of pie crust and baked at 350 for about 12-15 minutes. Drizzled with honey. Honey used: sourwood from savannah bee company (locally made in savannah.)

All in all, I had a really delicious day. It was hard at times because I had to take time to prepare food, plan ahead and couldn't just quickly grab what looked good. Having these rules made it easier for me to stick with throughout the day. I wasn't even tempted to stray, and why would I? This food was delicious, I was satisfied and I was never starving.

I loved that I was never tempted to overeat or to eat junk food. Having set rules made it easier for me to focus, which is a small lesson in itself. I even had dessert after dinner and felt satisfied with the portion I ate. I have leftovers in the kitchen and I'm not even tempted to eat them. I know this is so basic, but for me not eating them until they are gone is huge. The act of baking and cooking is very soothing and stress relieving. It is comforting and pleasing in a way that overeating food has never been despite countless times doing so. I trusted myself today, and I followed through.

My portions were smaller than normal and I allowed myself to have what I wanted and how much I wanted. I just didn't want to eat a lot after taking the time to prepare this food. It wasn't disposable like a box of thoughtless donuts, or a sleeve of hard boxed cookies. This food was thoughtful and satisfied me beyond the feelings of full, but emotionally and mentally I felt good with what I ate today.

I didn't feel guilt over anything I ate and didn't feel the need to stuff myself with leftover potatoes, meat or dessert. When I was done, I put the food away and moved on.

I used websites like www.localharvest.org to help me local outside sources for locally made food and will continue to use that as a resource.

I interupt this regularily scheduled post to say that we are headed for the beach tonight! We decided to drive a couple of hours this evening, stay in a hotel and then drive the rest tomorrow so that it won't be a full on travel day. hoorah!

I will be back on Wednesday and back to my blogging schedule.

I spent some time yesterday coming up with simple goals for the month. I was really tempted to go the number on the scale route this month, but asked myself "what can i do this month, to bring me closer to my health and fitness goals next month?" For me, staying consistent this month will be huge.

I chose action to be my goal, rather than result.

This weeks exercise schedule:

• Tuesday: walk 5k if it rains do 60 minutes on the elliptical
• Wednesday: morning: go to the gym for strength training
  evening: elliptical, tae bo, or 5k
• Thursday: morning (before trip): do 10-15 minutes of stretching and a quick warm up
  Evening: vacation at isle of palms!! go for a walk on the beach, swim etc.
• Friday: vacation!! SWIM!
• Saturday: vacation!! (yes, exclamation points are needed) swim, walk on beach!
• Sunday: vacation!! swim, walk etc.
• Monday: vacationnn swim and walk
• Tuesday: last day of vacation traveling home. do 15 minutes of warm up and stretching