Fruit & Juice Cleanse Part Deux

Back with my end of the week report about my fruit cleanse! I am now 6 pounds and 2 ounces lighter 5 days into my cleanse. I followed a strict fruit/organic juice only cleanse and let me tell you, I do not have the boundless energy I was supposed to have! hahaha!!! I am actually finally not feeling delerious though! I will continue with the rest of the day, but dinner tonite I will most likely have a salad or soup as it is my Fathers birthday today and we are taking him out to dinner! I am really thrilled with the results and hope that this truly did jump start the rest of the weight I have to lose! I will admit that I do feel 100% healthier and I definatly did not think twice about having a fresh baked chocolate chip cookie this morning that the kids were having! It was so easy to just grab my banana and fresh squeezed orange juice! This is definately a good way to drop those stinky 5 pounds that are hanging around, as long as you continue to eat healthy! Otherwise they will just jump back on :) I hit the gym every morning along with the fruit cleanse, but I was already doing that and just getting frustrated at the lack of results!

The Eart Team

This Thursday we are talking about the Eart Streat Team and what brought us to the team. The Eclectic Artisans Etsy Street Team is just what it says, a group of Eclectic Tastes in Artistry all brought together with 2 common goals; Friendship and Promotion. It's an amazing group of ladies that I am proud to be a member and leader of. What brought me to this team? I was a seller on an old site awhile ago, that seemed to just crumble beneath us and many of us had become friends there and still wanted to be in touch. Jenn, our former leader decided to start a Street Team of people from that site, but we wanted to also open it up to new people too! I joined straight away and became the co-leader. As Jenn got busier and busier with her shop, family and wholesale orders, she passed the reigns to me and here I am now! Trying to find a balance between shop online, shops in the real world and a family of 3 children under the age of 5 is sometimes hectic. Especially in times like this month where right after the stomach flu hit all 5 of us, we moved straight into Ear Infections, not even missing a day in between!! The good thing about this team? They all banded together and the team is still running smoothly!! Everyone works together and stuff always gets donw! I'm proud of each and every member! They try so hard and it shows. If you are ever looking for a team to join, I highly encourage you to look in EART, we are a fun, friendly group of ladies!

Interested in knowing what brought other members to EART? Read about them in our blog ring and start with the EART TEAM BLOG!

Healthy Eating?

I have spoken before of the weight I have been losing and the success I have had thus far. I have lost about 50 pounds and am so thrilled with it! I am in a size 6 pant and I never thought I would see the day again! I still have 25 stubborn pounds that don't seem to be leaving me at all lately. I am working out every morning and still eating 1000 calories a day. I decided to try something in the past 2 days, since I have been incredibly sick and full pf negative energy. I have decided to try a 3 day fruit cleanse and see where that leaves me. I am eating nothing by FRESH fruits and drinking tea, water or organic PURE juice. There is a good article on a cleanse here.
This is my second full day on the cleanse and let me tell you, I am feeling a bit lightheaded and out of it! haha! I hope the 'energy boost' comes tomorrow, I will keep you posted!!

Off the Net?

YIKES!!! A full week has gone by without an update? Now I know just how crazy my life has been this week. I really need to get my act together and get moving on this shop! This Thursday we are talking about selling offline. YESSSS!! I do it and I do more of it, than I sell online. The craft show circuit is alright for me, but it's my Wholesale accounts and word of mouth selling that works best for me. I seem to have ALOT of plates spinning right now, but I totally advise you to take the leap off the net if you have not done so yet.

A few tips:

Paper the town with your business cards and or flyers. Grocery Stores, bulletin boards, business card walls etc. You never know whos eye it may catch!

Wear or carry samples of your pieces! Too big? Carry a small portfolio of photos or a brochure with contact info!

Do several small craft shows so that you can wet your feet first.

If you find shops or boutiques in which you think your product would really it in, then set up a time to meet with the owner/buyer after you have researched the company. Be prepared with hard copies of your product and price lists, contact information etc.

Take the leap! You won't regret it!

Working It!

This thursdays blog ring asks what are we working on? This photo about sums it up for me. My kids are getting busier and busier, so I am driving around alot more, I am cooking 100% more and I am constantly making or buying something for school. Pretty much my shop has been neglected and I have barely had time to eek out new things! I am far from complaining as I love what I do with my kids and I love being a stay at home mom, it just seems my focus has shifted a bit this year! Have no fear, the shop is still up and running and I am trickling in new things as much as I can! I am in fact adding in new pieces today!!


Read about the blog ring at the EclecticArtisansStreetTeam blog!

Giving It Away!

It's time for another giveaway!! This time I am giving away a 15.00 gift certificate to my shop!
Just leave a comment here on my blog or send me an email with the subject title: GIVEAWAY at MichellesCharmWorld@Gmail.com . Everyone can enter and there will only be 1 winner! The only comment I need? Tell me what else you would like to see in my shop! Have a theme? A color? what do you want more of?! Thanks a bunch and good luck!!! Giveaway Ends on February 20th!

Be Mine....

As the Valentine holiday approaches, everyone begins to make or finalize their plans. Romance is on the agenda for some, fun for others, girls and guys nights out, parties and dances and the like. Others call it a Hallmark Holiday and choose to treat it as any other day. As far back as I can remember, I would wake up on Valentine's Day and have a gift basket of goodies waiting for me outside of my bedroom door. My parents are such awesome people, that to this day I still get something for Valentines Day! haha! They just include my husband and our kids now! I knew right off the bat, that I wanted to be the same kind of parents, so we treat Valentines Day just as the other big holidays. Balloons and little gift baskets of goodies and fun. We will also be heading out to dinner as a family, most likely Japanese (our favorite) and then off bowling (our daughters favorite activity) and back at home to watch a movie (our oldest son wanted to do this). Pretty much we just do whatever the kids would like to do for fun!

It's a Holiday of Love and we are spending the day with the people we love most in the world :) Eachother and our children. The following weekend, husband and I are going out for a romantic and sweet dinner at the Signature Room (our favorite getaway location) and my parents will be watching the kids and spoiling them rotten as always! haha! This way, we still get a our date night, but spend the main day with our family. What are your plans?

This was the topic of this Thursdays BLOG RING, to read about what others had to say, please visit our team blog and start the ring there!

http://www.EclecticArtisansTeam.Blogspot.com

Vote For Me & Featured!

This week I was lucky enough to be featured in 4 treasuries! Thank you so much to all that featured MichellesCharmWorld items!! I am so lucky to have so many fans! Thank you!!!

The Eclectic Artisans Team Blog is having a Vote-Off! Head on over to the blog and PLEASE Vote for me!! My bracelet can be viewed right here. This is my entry for the Hearts and Love contest! You can view all the entries right HERE. Then you can scroll back up to the top of the page and on the right you will see the voting window. I am number 1! Vote!!!

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On a side note, todays workout was BRUTAL. Seriously brutal. I was still aching in places I didn't know I could ache in and it took ALOT of force to get myself out there. I can only hope that as my muscles get used to this, it will get easier! hahaa!! I am trying to run everything that they do in fitness bootcamp along with some other things that I read about in last months HEALTH magazine, but let me tell you, I want my old treadmill and cycling routines back :)

LOST last night was fabulous, it reminded me why I HATE that show! hahha! You know what I mean? You hate a show so much, you love it!! I get so frustrated and I just want to see the entire season all at once, that I just can't handle not knowing!!! Favorite line of the night?

Jacob says something about how he just died an hour ago and Hurley says:

"Oh man that sucks"

HAHAHAH!!! This guy steals EVERY scene that he is in and also has the BEST delivery of his lines! LOVE him!

I'm beginning to think my dad has the right idea!! He stays away from the television on LOST nights and then at the end of the season when the DVDs come out he watches each episode after the other to not have to deal with the frustration :)

Fitness Tuesday and GET LOST!!!

WOW! I'm up super early today! Why? Because I am in training for a new fitness bootcamp class I am thinking of signing up for! I am in the process of transforming my life with better eating habits and overhauling my entire familys eating habits. We have made an entire lifestyle change starting in October and we have not looked back! My husband weighs what he did in Highschool at 6ft1 and 185lbs!! He has lost 15 pounds and looks fantastic! I have lost an incredible 45 pounds and have surpassed what I weighed on my wedding day, I have 27 pounds to go and am hoping that this fitness bootcamp is just the thing!! It's Monday-Wed-Friday 5am - 6am. Since my husband leaves right after 6 for work, I figured I can 'practice' and see if this works for our schedule. I started today at 445am and hit the gym for an hour. I feel GREAT, Energized and Breakfast and Lunch for my husband are ready! I have breakfast ready to go for my kids when they wake up and their snacks for the day prepared. It's an amazing feeling to get up and feel like you are alone in the world. Stay safe everyone today in the area as it is SUPER SNOWY out there! I will keep you up to date on how I am doing with my goals so far, but I really am happy with the results I have seen to this point!

Now onto the highlight of TODAY!!! LOST IS BACK!! I cannot wait for tonite to begin!!!!!!

JOIN US NOW!!!

8:30 pm Central Time!! We are in the GALLERY VIRTUAL ROOM on ETSY! Get Freebies, Deals and all kinds of fun stuff!!!! I am even offering BUY ONE GET ONE FREE IN MY SHOP with the code you can ONLY get at the show!!!