Happy New Year and an Update

Dear blogging community,

I have been absent from writing my blog for quite some time, 174 days to be exact.  Since then I have had some good times and some bad times, but for now, lets focus on the good:

My husband Kevin and I celebrated our 1 Year Wedding Anniversary.

I went on a weekend trip to Montana see my sister-in-law, Katie, for a girls weekend while my brother was out of town.  We had a great time going floating down the river, soaking in hot springs, enjoying a few bars in Bozemans quaint downtown, and watching roller derby. (I think the unintentional photo-bomb in the picture below is pretty funny.)

Kevin and I took a trip with some wonderful friends to Leavenworth, WA for Oktoberfest.

I moved from being a temporary employee to a full time permanent employee at my company (with killer benefits!)

My offer letter!

Kevin started student teaching for his Masters in Secondary Education and will be fully done with his masters program in two weeks. 

Cheers to that!

We found out that my oldest brothers wife is expecting twin boys in April/May, and my mom and I threw her a High Tea Baby Shower while they were in town for Christmas.  I made her two knitted foxes like this one.

Really!  What DOES the fox say?!

We moved from our tiny (seriously, tiny) one bedroom, dark, half basement apartment into a lovely third floor, two bedroom apartment with tons of windows, a laundry room (room! not laundry closet! room!), a large pantry, plenty of kitchen storage, a real-sized fridge, room for my yarn storage, and nearly twice the square footage of our previous place.  Did I mention that it comes with an indoor lap pool and hot-tub, all for only $15 more than we were paying at our last place?  Needless to say, I am much more relaxed and happy in our new place.

Kevin and I traveled to his hometown of Sequim, WA to have Thanksgiving with his family.  I successfully avoided cutting any of my digits like two years ago.

I finally made a homemade Christmas wreath that I can use for years to come.  I got all of the supplies from Michaels while all of their Christmas decor was 50%-60% off.  I put together the wreath myself and it cost about $18 (compared to the pre-made ones that go for $30+).

My biggest Christmas present this year was a surprise from Kevin for a Western Caribbean Cruise for our belated Honeymoon in May.  We are so excited to have something so fun to look forward to... 136 days cant go by fast enough!

Lastly, I had a wonderful Christmas and New Years with Kevin, and our friends and family.  We are so excited for the upcoming year to welcome two nephews, to go on a Honeymoon, and to go to Oktoberfest again.  We are also grateful for the friendships we have made this year.

Bring it on 2014!  This year is going to be great!

Please note that I hope to get back into a blogging routine of one or two posts a week.  I havent had too much time to seriously cook or make up recipes over the last few months, but Im beginning to be inspired again!  Thank you all for your patience in waiting for me to return.

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An Introduction to Low Carb Diet plans

Low carbohydrate (or low carb) fat loss programs have really increased in popularity over the last ten years or so. This is in large part due to the achievements of the ever-popular Atkins diet plan and the low carb diets that followed it such as the South Beach front diet. But you dont need the latest book or even high priced diet program to abide by a low carb diet. All you require is some basic dieting knowledge and among several other low carb free diet plans that could be found on the web.
Low carb diets are typically lacking in carbohydrates (duh!) and high in fats and proteins. How low the carbohydrates are supposed to be depends within the particular diet plan. Typically, low carb diet plans start you off intended for a week or two of very lower carbs. Meals typically consist of meats (lots of meat!) and vegetables with some zero carb sauces or dressings; not any dairy, grains, or fruit allowed. Next certain carbs are slowly added for the meals but never at a high percentage. Typically, carbs will be the cause of 5% - 20% of your calories on a low carb diet.
Why low carbs? When you consume carbohydrates it raises your blood mister level. This in turn causes ones body to release insulin. It is blood insulins job to get that sweets (glucose) out of the bloodstream and into your cells. First it tries putting glucose into muscles and in the event the muscles are full of glucose insulin shots pumps the remaining glucose into fatty cells. While the insulin is doing its work your body will shed the glucose in your bloodstream 1st before trying to burn your body fat. So, if you can keep the glucose level low in the bloodstream, insulin wont put that glucose in your fat cells and the body has very little glucose in the bloodstream to use for energy. Therefore, the body should use something else, like fat, burning for energy. This is the concept of low carb dieting.
So now that you know basic principles of low carb diets you know very well what to look for when searching free of charge low carb diet plans on the world wide web or diet books in the bookstall. The low carb diet plan must steer you far away from starchy carbs like white bread, white rice, and pasta and encourage you to consume leafy green vegetables to get your fiber, vitamins, and minerals your body requires without spiking the glucose levels.

One final thing to take under consideration is that a low carb diet totally goes against the USDAs food pyramid guidelines. Although low carb diet plans are popular modern research has not determined whether they ar healthy or not. There are difficulty with the increased levels of fat using up (particularly saturated fat consumption) and its effect on cholesterol in a low carb diet. You should do the research and check with your doctor to see if low carb diets are best for your family.

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