tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16159748230427084132025-10-28T14:45:45.458-04:00The Adventures of DashainaFinding myself the easy way...<br>
through Trial and Error.Dashaina Giggleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18359232172555005366noreply@blogger.comBlogger119125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615974823042708413.post-69801028942954636612013-12-20T08:04:00.003-05:002013-12-20T08:04:49.281-05:00Morning Wake Up Call...or Cry.5:30 a.m.
Sleepy, irritated, groggy, annoyed, angry. This is how I woke up to my almost 1.5 year old this morning, when she decided to wake up at the time listed above.
Man I was so tired from going to bed late, I just wanted to get a little more sleep, which has been alluding me lately. Just 30 more minutes, please?
Usually I would snuggle with her and hope that somehow she wouldDashaina Giggleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18359232172555005366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615974823042708413.post-64079481713583843602013-12-19T19:12:00.001-05:002013-12-19T19:12:50.885-05:00Week 2!! Motivating Yourself to SucceedI made it to Week 2 of my 21 day challenge to myself (and any of those who wanted to join me!).
During week 1, I began easy.
There were only 3 goals for each day.
Workout for at least 20 minutes
Take my vitamins
Eat better
That's it! And you know what? I did it!
The first 3 days were the hardest for me, getting myself motivated to do some exercise, remembering to take my Dashaina Giggleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18359232172555005366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615974823042708413.post-86860556977530174392013-12-12T13:25:00.002-05:002013-12-12T13:30:16.171-05:00Getting in the Groove of Working OutToday is Day 4 of my personal 21 day challenge and it is now going well. My long time friend Amanda and J are the two people who inspired me to start doing this exercise, vitamin, eating better thing in the first place. I just wanted to tell ya'll thanks! :)
First I didn't get much sleep last night because B woke up at just before 3am and didn't want to go back to sleep for an hour Dashaina Giggleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18359232172555005366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615974823042708413.post-24442454309286602552013-12-10T08:30:00.000-05:002013-12-10T08:30:17.496-05:00Opening your mind and Embracing our Potential as Human BeingsIt's Day 2 of this 21 day Challenge I've presented to myself and those of you who wanted to join me. This challenge is not meant for you to have to do the same things as I'm doing, it's about challenging yourself to start something you've been putting aside for the longest time, but something that you really need to start doing. Like that art project you've been meaning to spend timeDashaina Giggleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18359232172555005366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615974823042708413.post-22589612306443238862013-12-09T15:12:00.001-05:002013-12-09T15:12:36.273-05:00RV Life in the U-Haul Truck ConversionThis post has been a few months coming. Sorry for such a delay.
As some of you might know J and I recently put our property up for sale in Vermont and moved into a U-haul truck. It took about 3 weeks to get it into livable condition and is still a work in progress. Overall it's pretty amazing!! We have all the things we would need to be self contained as long as we have Dashaina Giggleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18359232172555005366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615974823042708413.post-80735912008752343102013-12-09T08:06:00.000-05:002013-12-09T10:05:36.105-05:00Chile!!! And Beyond.We are going to CHILE this winter!!! Yes folks, it's true. The string bean country in South America is calling our names and we are taking on the adventure.
Our roundtrip tickets have been purchased and we will be spending 3 fabously adventurous months in a beautiful country, experiencing a variety of climates and food. It's going to be awesome!
Our plane takes off from Dashaina Giggleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18359232172555005366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615974823042708413.post-31629794357904170762013-12-09T07:50:00.000-05:002013-12-09T07:50:12.539-05:0021 Day Body ChallengeI've decided to start getting my butt in gear in terms of regularly exercising, eating better and taking my B's, vitamins that is. I'm determined to do it at no cost and using stuff around the house. Which is totally possible with motivation. Motivation seems to be the difficult thing for me. I am constantly coming up with excuses and reasons I cannot spend 12, 15 or 30 Dashaina Giggleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18359232172555005366noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615974823042708413.post-18936768154242683702013-09-28T07:41:00.003-04:002013-09-28T07:41:43.686-04:00Super Summer, Fantastic Fall and Wonderful Winter Plans and Beyond!!
We have been up to so much this summer!!
After returning to Vermont in May, from our winter in the Bahamas (January-April), it seems like it's been a non-stop adventure. Jaimie and I celebrated our 38th and 33rd birthday's in May. (I know I can hardly believe it!) We kept it low key with just our local family. After investigating the outside of the dome, we found a few visitors had Dashaina Giggleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18359232172555005366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615974823042708413.post-81679879206024835532013-09-17T10:38:00.001-04:002013-09-17T10:42:14.223-04:00OvuView Review This is the best app for tracking your life moods, periods, various life symptoms. Totally customisable. I've been using it for a year. It's really amazing how much it helps you pay attention to your body.
I recommend downloading the free version first. Try it out for a few hours. It has everything you could possibly need to follow your monthly cycle. While it isn't necessary to upgrade, IDashaina Giggleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18359232172555005366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615974823042708413.post-33680899986675124262013-09-17T10:37:00.001-04:002013-09-17T10:37:10.711-04:00Knitting 101 at Craftsnob.com
Knitting! Knitting! Knitting!
I was wary, but after viewing the tutorial that Elisa McLaughlin put together a few years ago over at Elisa McLaughlin's Tutorial Knitting 101 Part 1,
Knitting 101 Part 2,
Knitting 101 - Part 3,
Knitting 101 Part 4....
I am officially hooked on knitting like I am on crochet. I whipped up this snazzy yellow headband for Dashaina Giggleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18359232172555005366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615974823042708413.post-10579313298920854162013-06-25T14:51:00.001-04:002013-06-25T14:51:10.097-04:00Spiritual but not Religious
Several months ago, I stumbled across a blogger who wrote about women living well. In fact that is the name of her blog. It's a great blog for the christian woman. Full of supportive, happy, encouraging bits of wisdom gleaned from biblical references and translating them for you! My sweet sister.
I've since passed this site on to lots of my girl friends who are christian andDashaina Giggleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18359232172555005366noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615974823042708413.post-52150259815428806552013-05-17T08:13:00.000-04:002013-05-17T08:13:07.949-04:00Compostable Floss?? Yay!!!
We've recently looked at our trash output and how we could reduce the amount of disposable items we produce from various product usage on a daily basis. Everything from out toothbrushes to that annoying plastic wrapping around the salad dressing bottle. It is amazing the things that we throw away into our landfills and oceans on a daily basis. Actually it is quite overwhelming Dashaina Giggleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18359232172555005366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615974823042708413.post-83821810471382361702013-05-17T08:11:00.001-04:002013-05-17T08:11:05.598-04:00Community Shared Agriculture - CSAOn the course of making positive everlasting changes in my life, J and I have also discussed making positive permanent changes in our daily use of things life. Mainly reducing our consumption of conventionally grown, gmo, pesticide filled food and our trash output.
The first thing we have done for the past 3, going on 4 years, is participated in what is known as a CSA, Community Shared Dashaina Giggleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18359232172555005366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615974823042708413.post-77483203720992699432013-05-17T08:07:00.001-04:002013-05-17T08:07:31.043-04:00Cognitive Behaviour TherapyI know it's been a while since I've been on here. There have been so many things happening that I could hardly find the time to sleep....literally. Today I thought I'd talk a bit about what has been going on and possibly share some of my journey with you, so that maybe it can help other mother's (father's, sister's, brother's, people) know that we are all in this together.
I want to Dashaina Giggleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18359232172555005366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615974823042708413.post-8252910961577414612013-01-24T14:30:00.001-05:002013-01-24T14:30:09.606-05:00Bahamas!! This winter we decided to book it to the Bahamas for a bit. The weather is beautiful. The people are kind, friendly and helpful. The cottage is adorable and cozy. We don't have Internet access at the cottage, but it's nice to not be plugged in for a bit. There is wireless down the street (like a block away), so I've just been walking within range and letting my tablet upload and download my stuffDashaina Giggleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18359232172555005366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615974823042708413.post-22614480229052579852012-08-04T20:26:00.003-04:002012-08-04T20:26:41.969-04:00Bellatrix Athena Mantzel
Bellatrix Athena Mantzel
Born: 10:04a.m., Thursday, 19 July 2012
5lbs 11oz, 19 inches tall
On Thursday (19 July) morning at 1 a.m., at 37 weeks 4 days gestation, I began having irregular mild contractions. I didn't really think much of it at the time, but then they began to intensify, but were staying pretty irregular (between 5-15mins apart). I called the hospital and Dashaina Giggleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18359232172555005366noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615974823042708413.post-75230869031913188372012-01-10T09:20:00.002-05:002012-01-10T09:20:45.551-05:00
England is going okay so far. J has been super stressed out with Toy designing deadlines and family life that is caotic. I've been super stressed out with a sick baby and now I am sick. It seems every time she gets better, a week later she has something new.
Playgroups. :( They are like this necessary evil. Aurora loves them, because she gets to play Dashaina Giggleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18359232172555005366noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615974823042708413.post-9691874597130017582011-12-18T09:19:00.000-05:002011-12-18T09:19:57.300-05:00England 2011So just a quick pop in to give you an update. We are in England. We just got reliable internet and I am going to start putting together my cookbook. Lots to update you on. LOTS going on. Will get to it over the next few weeks. Am going to try to get on this regularly....no...seriously. I'm gonna TRY! :)Dashaina Giggleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18359232172555005366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615974823042708413.post-73731209390384266852011-08-25T18:01:00.000-04:002011-08-25T18:01:54.661-04:00July & August Update 2011Sorry to be out of touch for a bit. Things have been a bit crazy around here. Here is a brief update on the "dome" happenings.
Aurora is now standing unsupported and walks around the room supported by random objects (tables, chairs, boxes, arms, legs, etc) as she tours the house. She loves the trampoline still and is getting more steady at jumping on it. She LOVES her Dashaina Giggleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18359232172555005366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615974823042708413.post-13309828341648010042011-06-01T22:19:00.001-04:002011-06-09T19:45:52.812-04:00Aurora's weekly update - Week 32 No Poppa Week :(
Tuesday we went to a playgroup in Norwich to hang out with my friend JM and her two adorable little guys Charlie and Gus. This is the first time Aurora has seen a little person smaller than her. It was quite the experience for her, she just wanted to grab him and stand up and look closer. It was so adorable.
Aurora also had her first time in a playground swing!! Dashaina Giggleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18359232172555005366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615974823042708413.post-72799504159660110532011-05-29T15:26:00.000-04:002011-05-29T15:26:35.196-04:00Photo booth Have you ever gone into one of those photo booth things in the mall with your bestfriend, mom, sister, significant other, etc?
My daughter Aurora and I had a photo booth session on my bed the other day.
I know its hard to resist the level of cuteness bursting forth in these photos...
I couldn't have planned this photo better. Matching expressions and everything.Dashaina Giggleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18359232172555005366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615974823042708413.post-63245840880035471512011-05-24T11:23:00.000-04:002011-05-24T11:23:36.525-04:00The CribI found a crib at Wal-Mart on Sunday. It was the last one!! It converts from a crib to a toddler bed to a love seat. Perfect!!
Guess how much it was?$60!!! Can you believe it???I was so surprised about the price I had to buy it immediately!
...because, lets be honest, How often do you find such a bargain?
I know...
Well anyway, Aurora is please as punch with it.
As you can see Dashaina Giggleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18359232172555005366noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615974823042708413.post-9909672255225138872011-05-23T22:05:00.001-04:002011-05-23T22:05:38.357-04:00Aurora - Weekly Check-in Week 32This is what Aurora did all evening. Just thought I'd share.Dashaina Giggleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18359232172555005366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615974823042708413.post-47225104830381512992011-05-20T21:21:00.000-04:002011-05-20T21:21:26.167-04:00Au Pairs Come, Au Pairs Go...Some of you may know that we recently hired an Au Pair to come stay with us. Two weeks have gone by and she has decided that it is not the "experience" for her "path" in life. J and I spent 20 minutes discussing what to do, we decided that her leaving immediately was best for all of us.
So now on for a new search or do we?? I'm not sure if having an Au Pair is the Dashaina Giggleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18359232172555005366noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1615974823042708413.post-54448379060378546972011-05-09T21:06:00.001-04:002011-05-18T06:25:24.715-04:00Tye Dye Love!!Today I decided that it was "Tye Dye" day!! What fun! A friend of mine from Jacksonville gave me a Moby wrap when we were there back in April. It is a cream color and just begging to be dyed something fabulous. On a quick jaunt through Wally World the other day, I stumbled across fabric dye!! So doing what any self respecting crafty woman would do, I bought two Dashaina Giggleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18359232172555005366noreply@blogger.com1