There seem to be two reasons why people don’t eat grapefruit.

1. They don’t like the taste. If this is you, ignore the rest of this post.

2. they are a pain in the ass to eat.

I’m here to address #2. YES they are a pain in the ass, BUT they are so delicious and nutritious if you do it right. People at work are constantly commenting on my grapefruit eating habit, and more often than not, noting the way I eat them. I do not eat any of the grapefruit skin…yuck! I also do not do that weird thing where you cut it in half and scoop out the tiny bits with a spoon….this is pointless. So I decided to make a silly little video about how I do peel a grapefruit, in hopes the others will add them to their diets, and enjoy them more thoroughly.

So here are a millllllion photos. xoxo

love this color scheme!

From Urban Outfitters

But that’s not really what this post is about. This post is about ME drinking more water. Because ME never drinks any water. I know that sounds crazy, but its true. I am never thirsty….ever. This lack of thirst started when I move back to Washington from Colorado. It was soooo dry there, and its so damp here. It’s like my body absorbs water from the air (I’m not scientist….is this true?) However I know that is ridiculous, and I need to drink water with my mouth…lol.

So to help me do this I downloaded the WATERLOGGED app on my phone. Its free, and got a high rating. It seems pretty basic.

There are a slew of reasons why you should drink more water. The two I’m focusing on are that

1. It keeps you full, and helps to reduce the amount you eat at meals (if you consume a large glass of water before eating)

2. It flushes out toxins and other buildups.

I’m re-reading Skinny Bitch, and while I don’t have any Vegan plans, I do love that overall Clean, Natural diet that so politely push on you…jokes. Including MORE WATER. You should read it too! I also bought the Skinny Bitch in the Kitch about a year ago, and have never used it, this needs to change. I’m also super curious about their Skinny Bitch Bun in the Oven book. Although we do not have a bun, I do like the idea of staying fit and healthy during pregnancy.

This morning I’m making Kodiak Cakes for breakfast. I found them at Haggen, and I love their message, ingredients, and now I’ll find out if I love their taste! Anyone ever tried these?

February has a been a pretty crazy busy month so far. I feel like I check my email 100 times a day. Tonight though, as I was driving home from meeting with a bride, I realized that my life has taken a pleasant turn in a positive direction.

There were a few hard months there. Financially, emotionally, it was getting to me. I told Mr. Gaunt a few weeks ago that I all needed was a few positive things to happen, to keep my spirits up. I really feel like I FEED off of positive reinforcement. I like when things work out, turn out well, when people are happy with me and what I’ve done. I kind of think everyone feels this way, but I know I really strive for this.

I’ve been working really hard on a few projects, and I think I’m finally seeing results. Although our new business is not going to bring in enough money for me to quit my job, it has allowed me to go down to a 32 hour work week. I now spend my Fridays at home working on weddings and future projects, its awesome. Yesterday we also hosted our first Speed Dating, and it went shockingly well! At first I thought it was going to be a total bust, but it turned out great. I might even do another one, or more.

I’ve also booked a number of weddings this month, and I’m feeling more and more comfortable meeting with people and selling our service. I’m on top of my emails and finances, I’m scheduled and prepared, and I feel like it shows. Our website is pulled together, and every day our marketing gets a little more refined. All in all it’s feeling really good, now I’m just excited to actually work these weddings!

This month I also started a book club with some friends on Facebook. This is a really good step for me to socialize with other girls my age, and read…duh.Our first book is “Villages” by John Updike, I’m pretty excited.

I also got two new pairs of jeans at Target and I love them! This alone makes for a good month.

My job is also slightly more interesting these days. It’s not great, but I at least have more freedom and sometimes get to use my brain. I’m also planning to join the Whatcom Young Professionals this next month in hopes to socialize and network with young professionals in Whatcom County.

So I feel good. I feel good about my job, my business, my pants, my plans, my husband, my family, my yard. Everything feels good, which is rare for me, but I’m rolling with it.

I leave you with photos from our Valentines day. Unfortunately I was super busy, but Mr. Gaunt and I did get to have a nice dinner together, he made our traditional heart-shaped pizza. I love him.

Mostly I just love the light at the end of the tunnel. The mud drying up, the trees budding, all of it. It makes me motivated and happy, and ready for NEW and CLEAN!

Sad thing is, it’s only February 11th, it’s still like a month and a half until winter is over, but I see the signs! There are most definitely Crocus sprouting up in my yard, and the sun has been showing its beautiful self more often these days (even though everyone says it’s not gonna stay) and I am taking full advantage of it!

On Friday my mom, Mr. Gaunt and I went to the Northwest Flower and Garden Show in Seattle. It’s a huge yearly convention for gardening, I’ll blog about it probably tomorrow. Anyway we bought a few awesome new gardening tools, and today I decided to use the morning sun and put those new tools to work.

I wont lie, the summer burned me out on gardening, and we have hardly touched the yard since we got married. Needles to say, it looked like crap. So today we did the following:

-Raked all the pine needles and weird pine cones off the front lawn.

-Weeded the front beds.

-Dug up the 3 gross rose bushes from the front beds.

-Hacked back the big nasty corner bush (we need to rent a chainsaw to get the stump out)

-Edged the sidewalk

-Cleaned up the porch

-Pruned to side roses and cleaned up the brush

-Pruned our big evergreen tree.

On top of the front yard we also did a ton of work to the NASTY back yard. It was kind of a disaster. There was like old dead plants, wedding milk glass succulents everywhere, rotting pumpkins, garbage, oh lordy, embarrassing!

Things we did:

-Weeded all the beds, and completely cleared out the larger center bed. We actually have plans to lay grass over this bed this spring (more on this later)

-Cleaned up the mess of wood my brother left when he moved out.

-Transplanted all the Succulents from their Milk glass into their barrels, and drilled drainage holes in said barrels.

-Pruned the grapes.

-Pruned and tied up our prim rose-bush on the fence.

-Cleared out old dead Morning Glory vines from the fence.

-Threw away garbage, leftover pots, and other such nastyness.

-Hosed down the patio

-Hacked back the old dead blueberries (this will also be removed when we rent the chainsaw)

So yeah, the yard is looking way better. I mean, November-May everyone’s yard looks like muddy crap, but at least it’s cleaned up now, and we have a good start for Spring. We have some smaller scale plans for the back yard this year, but what we really want is to focus on the front lawn. I’m planning on re-shaping the front beds, edging, mulching, and planting some new shrubs. Also replacing the stepping-stones to new non broken ones. I would also loooove to dump some gravel on the driveway, as it’s a slip and slide mud fest right now, but we can’t afford that.

I also have two big blisters on my thumb, which is the only way you know you worked hard in your yard…duh. (:

All the linens are from Target, specifically this line. The paint is Martha Stewart, but GAH I’ll have to check with my mom on the color. Trim is Ultra Pure White. The one thing we still need to do is raise the curtain rod, as this shower curtain is super long.

However, I’ve decide to be done with the daily eats. To be honest it was boring me, and boring my blog up. I do however think doing it for 30 days really helped me lock in a good routine, and I will continue to eat as I have been. I’m still shooting for 30 pounds lost. I’m only down 8 pounds, but I’m positive Ive lost some inches. I’m gonna keep working out regularly, and I will probably continue to do daily updates on stuff.

This week I start working at 6am. This is a little early for me, but it means I get off at 2, and the Gym is soooo much slower at two! Plus Mr. Gaunt gets off at 1:30, so he can just drive straight to the gym and wait a little bit for me. Plus with Sunset at 5:30pm, that means a solid 3.5 hours of daylight (and hopefully sunlight) for me!

And I’m going to make an honest effort to use my REAL camera and not my cell phone more often. I still love a good high quality food shot…

(breakfast this morning)

Lean Cuisine. Wine. English Muffin with jam. Veggie Soup.

I also had some shake n bake chicken but forgot to photograph it.

Today felt like SPRING (despite that dumb groundhog) all day long. I woke up to extra sunlight, and the sun didnt set until 5:30! Which is an hour later than it was last month. I love it. So we skipped the gym and walked around Lake Padden instead, it was the fresh air I needed.

Or better yet 1/3 of the way DONE with food journaling.

Special K. Half my leftover salad from yesterday. Raw Almonds.

Greek Yogurt (a new kind I HATE!) with Granola (also a new kind, its high fiber pumpkin Granola).

At work we had a Bake Potato bar with all the fixings, butter, cheese, sour cream chilli, bacon, etc. I only had a steamed potato with broccoli on top and salt and pepper (no butter…nothin) and a salad with fat free raspberry vinaigrette.

Rice Pudding

Dinner was Organic mac n cheese with collard greens, onions, peppers and chicken sausage.

We didn’t do the gym today, because I was feeling blue. Tomorrow we will go.