Got My Advocare Distributor Kit

https://www.advocare.com/130617156/

I got my Advocare Distributor Kit today! Looks like fedex dropped it off at our house while we were at my inlaws. The packaging definitely catches your eye.

I opened it up (holding back two children and a dog that are all very interested in packages), and it’s instant Christmas! 12 bottles of Slam and 10 pouches (servings) of Spark! I grabbed one of the Bowl Berry Slams…hadn’t tried those yet…instant energy w/ a different vibe than Spark. I’m thinking I will try the Cherry flavor of Spark tomorrow AM.

Ok, so I lifted the level of products in my distributor kit…and there was a folder of info underneath:

– Advocare Sales Toles Folder

– pack of 24 Day Challenge pamphlets

– pack of Advocare Opportunity pamphlets

– pack of sales receipts

– 2013 Solutions For Your Success DVD

– 2013 Product Catalog

– Advocare Distributor Workbook

– Impact Magazine

The magazine is fantastic. It is going to be great to show to clients. It’s a special edition, celebrating Advocare’s 20th anniversary.I have only turned thru the pages, but I can already tell it’s going to be a good read.

I am not a big athlete. Not really a big spectator of sports either. HOWEVER, I am someone is concerned with wellness and energy. Did you know Advocare is AS MUCH for me, than any athlete out there?

HERE IS A LITTLE TEST TO SEE WHO REALLY READS MY BLOGS, AND WHO WANTS TO GIVE ME JUST A WEE BIT OF TIME TO LET YOU KNOW WHAT ADVOCARE CAN DO FOR YOU. FOR THE FIRST FIVE PEOPLE THAT CONTACT ME, STARTING NOW…I WILL MAIL YOU A FREE SAMPLE OF SPARK. IN RETURN, I WILL ASK YOU FOR YOUR OPINION AFTER YOU HAVE USED YOUR SPARK…THAT’S IT. NO STRINGS ATTACHED. FEEL FREE TO SHOOT ME AN EMAIL WITH YOUR CONTACT INFO.

Antonia

antonia.blakeney@gmail.com

https://www.advocare.com/130617156/

That Plankin’ Fiber!

https://www.advocare.com/130617156/

The first two days of my cleanse phase…I had a bit of trouble drinking the Fiber drink. Let’s just say, I did not find it to be as yummy as the Spark. I think in my first challenge blog, I said something like “suck it up…your poops will thank you”. Yesterday morning was WAY harder than the first day. Honestly, I put too much water in it. I searched around for tips on successfully drinking your Fiber drink. I stumbled upon a how to video, and the lady demonstrating recommended putting a bit of orange juice in with the water…when mixing up your Fiber drink.

I had to go to Target yesterday afternoon…I picked up some of their OJ. I was eager to ‘taste the difference’. However, I had to wait until this morning.

I had a good conversation with a friend last night…we ended up talking about the yoga position called plank. I think the official plank position has your front supported by your hands….I cheated with this pose and used my elbows to support. WOWZER! Just 10 seconds, and you feel it. My friend said it really works your core…just doing the plank throughout the day in bits and pieces….well, it can be great for you! I can handle that…I just planked.

This morning’s Fiber drink was AN AMAZING improvement from the previous two days. I did a little OJ, water (about 10 oz total liquid) and the Fiber packet. Mixed it up…chugged it. SO much better, so much easier to drink without cringing.

Happy Friday!!

Antonia

ps, have you checked out my Advocare store yet? Hmmmm??

https://www.advocare.com/130617156/

Merbaby

Merbaby aka Merlin aka Merfin, came to us with VERY dry skin. It seems that German Shepherds and mixes with GSD are known to have super alkaline skin…prone to doggy dandruff. I started off by giving Merlin fish oil pills in his food: that worked GREAT! Really helped to clear up the dander/dandruff etc.

Eventually, I ran out of the fish oil pills. I had a GIANT amount of vitamins left over from when I tried to make cat food…that failed by the way. Here’s what I started using instead of the fish oil pills….Solid Gold Sea Meal . I sprinkled the recommended amount in his food in the AM and in the PM. After a few days…I still saw a pretty big amount of dandruff.

Next idea came while I was at Trader Joe’s. I LOVE TRADER JOE’S BY THE WAY. I grabbed a bottle of spray olive oil. I remembered that my vet said I could saturate a piece of bread with oil and put it in with his food. The spray olive oil is something we can use in our kitchen, not just for Merlin…so it’s a great buy!

What I do now, gets good results….hardly any dandruff: Solid Gold vitamins and olive oil spray. The solid gold sea meal vitamins get sprinkled over Merlin’s dry food (Nutrisorce grain free lamb). Then, I add a bit of water. Last, I spray a coating of olive oil spray on the food mixture.

Merbaby is a happy boy!

I have to write a blog about his shedding issue too! I have made headway in that area, thank god!

Antonia 🙂

It’s Been A Good Day!

You know…I actually had a good day today! I had a good (tasty and healthy) breakfast, a snack, a substantial lunch, another snack…and dinner at China Buffet. I thought about everything that I ate today. By some grace of God, I didn’t succumb to the voice inside my head saying “eat your children’s chocolate that they got at a birthday party”.

I have been peeing like a pregnant race horse today…yep, drinking LOTS of water. I am trying to drink water constantly throughout the day. It is recommended during the 24 Day Challenge.

I have not magically lost 50 lbs in a day…but I can honestly say I feel good! I had a good day, all day.

Cheers to taking caring of your self!

Nite nite,

Antonia

Check out my Advocare stuff at http://www.advocare.com/130617156

On Another Note

I think Dish TV hates me. It’s been raining A LOT here in Rochester NY. I understand that the satellite will quite when there’s a giant amount of snow…but why does is die when there are just a few rain drops? Dish died on Sunday night, so we lost The Killing and Mad Men. Then…it died on Monday…lost again. We have another chance to get Mad Men tonight, and then we have to wait until Sunday AM for The Killing. Neither of them are on Dish’s on demand either!! I love the price of our Dish TV bill….BUT I think they hate me. 😦

MOTHER NATURE IS A BITCH

http://www.AdvoCare.com/130617156

Allow me to just say out loud, SHOUTING to the world…that mother nature is a bitch. Tomorrow, I might like her a bit more, but today she is a big old stinky bitch. I was advised against being completely truthful in this blog…by those that love me, and I do appreciate that. With that said, I am going to share it all.

It’s day 1 of my mini Advocare challenge! I am doing the cleanse phase of the 24 day challenge. I started my day with weight and measurements. What a fantabulous day to do that, because I am retaining as much water as the bleeeeeeeepin’ ocean. ‘F’ you mother nature.

Here’s me a in a nutshell:

– I am woman, hear me roar
– 6ft tall
– 176 lbs at this morning’s weigh in (I wear size 10 or 12 for the most part)
– Waist 35″, hips 41″ and center butt 43.5″ (I opted not to do all the measurements, just picked my most muffiny areas)

I have had two children, and I am generally very happy with the way I look. I think that every single woman on this planet (no matter what she looks like) has a few areas of her body that she is unhappy with.

I want to tone up. I want to trim down a bit. I want a few of my pants to feel better. I want to jiggle less. What do YOU want?

My first Advocare product of the day was my Spark! Yeah! Already love the Spark. I learned that I could put my catalyst pills into the Spark….clever. Oh. By the way….you may notice that I am not going into a lot of detail about the individual products. That is on purpose and because I have a wonderful website with tons of info from Advocare’s Sci/Med board. Trust me, check out my website at http://www.AdvoCare.com/130617156.

 So, I drink up my Spark very easily. Always a pleasure. 15 to 45 minutes after I finish my Spark, I am supposed to drink my Fiber drink! I got the peaches n’ cream flavor. I will admit that it is not as tasty as the Spark….but I guess that is just common sense. It’s not really supposed to taste like a dessert…I mean come on! It’s a freakin’ fiber drink. Suck it up and drink it up. Your poops will thank you.

That’s all I got right now. I am just about finished with my fiber drink….then, I will be making a ‘smart’ breakfast for myself. My kids already ate their delicious waffles with “extra creamy” butter and syrup :(.

Talk to you soon folks!

Antonia
http://www.AdvoCare.com/130617156

ADVENTURES IN ADVOCARE

My Advocare store:  https://www.advocare.com/130617156/

I am a coffee girl…I mean, I was a coffee girl. Love me some Starbucks! DO NOT love the amount of money I was spending on coffee outside of the house and at home. Very recently I was making a pot of coffee in the AM, drinking a hot cup, putting the pot in the fridge…then drinking iced coffee throughout the day. Guess what? I was still freakin’ tired.

My husband did the 24 Day Challenge from Advocare awhile back. While he was doing the challenge, I stole some of his Spark. I wanna say the flavor I stole was Mandarin Orange. #1 it was yummy, #2 does so much more than perk you up….#3 I felt charged in a good way! No coffee jitters, and no coffee poops (yep that’s right…coffee poops).

When my husband finished the 24 Day Challenge, we ordered more Spark. That ran out…and most recently, we ordered Pink Lemonade and Watermelon. Watermelon is FANTASTIC! I find myself looking forward to my Spark.

The day before yesterday my husband and talked about the possibility of me becoming an Advocare distributor. We were going to continue buying Spark, so why not get a nice discount? Timing was perfect, because there was a meeting yesterday at the Doubletree on Jefferson. I have never seen so many men at a direct sales meeting.

Direct sales is a dirty word…I have done direct sales before…and I feel like I have failed. So, why am I doing it again? I want more Spark! I want to see what else Advocare can do for me. If Spark made me feel good….maybe I should try some of the other products to feel even better.

That’s all I got right now. The adventure has just begun. I’ll be back!

 

Antonia 🙂

ps, here are some cool links

My store https://www.advocare.com/130617156/

detailed Spark info https://www.advocare.com/Microsite/Images/Store/Labels/A2912.pdf

The 24 Day Challenge http://www.advocare.com/24DayChallenge/default.aspx

Rochester Hope For Pets

Hi Everyone! Sorry I have not written for awhile. Nothing personal…I tend to be a sporadic person. I have accepted that…haha. Ok. A few things on my mind right now:

 

1) I love love love my petstore, PetSavers Superstore on Monroe Ave in Rochester NY. I went there a couple of weeks ago and they just happened to be having a little event to support the start of a local website. You should check it out! http://www.dogways.com. It is a very new website…think of it as facebook for dogs! You can make a profile for your pup, and connect with all sorts of resources.

 

2) PetSavers Superstore (fyi here is their link http://petsaversuperstore.com/) also helped me out with their awesome coupon program. Well, GRASP did too (that’s the agency we adopted Merlin from). So, because I adopted Merlin through a rescue group, I could be part of their Responsible Pet Owner program. I got a $10 gift certificate to use right away. And just yesterday, I received three $5 gift certificates to use in May, June and July.

 

3) One more time now! I love PetSavers because they helped me find a decently priced grain free cat food. Yes, that’s right…the whole making my own cat food thing failed. I wanted to find a grain free cat food that was comparable in price to their current food (Purina One, Sensitive Systems). The lovely lady that helped me out recommended Earthborn Holisitics (http://www.earthbornholisticpetfood.com/). They actually have two grain free options for cats: Primitive Feline and Wild Sea Catch. I had once tried a fish based cat food and it smelled SO FREAKIN bad to me. I chose the Primitive Feline. So far so good! It is pretty small pieces, so my goal to find a good dry food for dental health didn’t work out there. No worries! I add a few of the greenies treats for cats, problem solved. Check out the Earthborn Holistics site! If you register for their coupons and use your PetSavers coupons…its a big discount! Without coupons, is the important part…it’s the whole point! $14.99 for a 6.6 lb brings it right in there with the Purina One.

 

Not done yet. I want to give a shout out to my neighbor’s cat Dewey. As Tanya said, “Dewey joined the angels in heaven yesterday”. The poor guy was having trouble with with all sorts of stuff, and Tanya found out that Dewey had VERY aggressive cancer in his intestines. This all happened so quickly. Little Dewey seemed to enjoy our visits, and I know FOR SURE that he liked it when my son Xander fed him treats :). We will miss you Dewey!!!

 

Merlin our new dog has proved to be FANFREAKINTASTIC! He is wonderful. Such a sweetheart! I had his first exam at my vet’s office scheduled for earlier this week. I actually called to move it up a bit because I noticed a lump on Merlin’s leg. We ended up getting in to see the vet a few days earlier. I will skip all my primitive internet research. Turn’s out our Merlin has a Mastocytoma on his hind leg! 😦 It’s a mast cell tumor, and it is cancerous. There is a good news here people! The tumor seems to be just under his skin, not attached to any muscle or bone. So, they expect to be able to remove without problem. Merlin is totally unaware of his lump…thank god. I guess, if this had been left untreated, it would most certainly begin to cause him pain and problems. We are on top of it and I am remaining positive.

 

On the note of the possibility of Merlin getting other mast cell tumors in the future, I paid a lot of attention to a letter I recently got in the mail. Rochester Hope For Pets has an event coming up in June, a dog walk to raise money for their organization. RHFP makes medical care possible for a lot of doggies and cats in need. My eyes and ears are a lot more open to these things now.

 

Check out their website here (http://rochesterhopeforpets.org/).

 

I am registered for the event and I have set up a website to help raise donations…you can go to http://www.crowdrise.com/Merlin to donate. Thank you in advance!!!   🙂

Tootsie

I know for a fact that the movie Tootsie will be a topic of discussion again. I can wrap of this post quickly, I swear. Here are some of my Tootsie tidbits:

“I was a better man with you as a woman, that I was with a woman as a man.”

– my favorite quote from the movie! I found the pic above, which looks like it actually takes place right after Dustin Hoffman says the line to Jessica Lange. I think this picture is actually when Jessica Lange asks to borrow “Dorothy’s” Halston dress! Haha. This may be your first glimpse of me and my strange ability to remember random movie information.

– oh my god I cannot find a picture to paste in, but did you know Estelle Getty was in Tootsie? Quick, jump inside my brain! It’s the scene when Charles Durning and Dustin Hoffman are dancing. Estelle Getty come’s up to them on the dance floor…to compliment “Dorothy”.

http://www.hurleymountaininn.com/history.html

My Mom moved to Kingston NY in 2000. I think it was the following Spring, when I went to the Hurley Mountain Inn with her. It was St Patrick’s Day. I remember because I won a trivia contest: Which city in American has the highest Irish American population? Duh, it’s Boston. Ok. So, we get to this restaurant and what do you know, there are a bunch of pics of Dustin Hoffman and the Tootsie cast! Hmm…the bar looks familiar. Yeah! It’s the actual location where they filmed a scene with Dustin Hoffman and Charles Durning! So cool.

Another Tootsie, Kingston tidbit…I met a kid that lived in Kingston his whole life. Guess who he went to school with? Did you guess? Well, Jessica Lange’s character in Tootsie has a daughter named Amy. This kid I just met, went to school with the actress who played Amy!!! She was just a wee babe in the movie…her real name is Amy Lawrence.

Last thing, I swear…because my children have just found the markers. I love Dustin Hoffman as an actor and not only because of my obsession with the movie Tootsie. When I was in 4th grade, I was still at Dalton. I will NEVER forget the day when we went as a class to watch some performance that the 3rd grade was doing. We did all sorts of buddy activities like that, kinda nice actually. Anywhoo, I wasn’t watching Les Mis or anything of that level so I was a bored 10 year old. I was browsing around, looking at parents in the audience. Prepare yourself…Dustin Hoffman was sitting right behind me! I think I squealed. Turns out his son Jake was in the performance.

 

Later folks!

Desperately Seeking Saltimbocca

The picture above does not do Saltimbocca justice. Alas, I am not in the habit of taking pictures of my food before I eat it…so this canned image from Google will have to do.

I wanted to give a shout out, to two restaurants here in the Rochester NY area: Grandpa Sam’s in Spencerport and TBones Steakhouse in Penfield. I have eaten my recent favorite Saltimbocca dishes there. In fact, the only Veal that I’ve eaten in god knows how long. All hail the great Veal Saltimbocca!!! There is no ground breaking point or purpose to this little blog today…I just wanted to share some more yumminess with you.

Ok. Let’s start out with menu descriptions! Here we have Grandpa Sam’s http://www.grandpasamsitaliankitchen.com  Lightly floured veal, pan seared prosciutto, fresh sage, mushrooms, olives, and spinach all simmered in a buttery, white-wine sauce, smothered in mozzarella cheese and served over capellini.

Here we have TBones http://tbonesny.com/  Sautéed panko-breaded medallions of veal with garlic, prosciutto, kalamata olives, sage and fresh mozzarella cheese, served over house made pappardelle pasta.

Are you drooling yet? You can just nod your head…it’s ok. Saltimbocca in general is a good thing. If I think so, there have to be others out there, right? You bet there are! Check out these websites:

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-saltimbocca.htm 

http://www.theromejournal.org/2010/08/saltimbocca-roman/  

http://countrybred.com/countrybred/flavors-of-lazio-saltimbocca-alla-romana/

Thanks to looking through these websites/articles, I now know that the word ‘saltimbocca’ means to jump in the mouth. Just by that definition, you know you are in for something good. Saltimbocca (pork, chicken and veal alike) originated in Italy. Most likely not in Rome, but in Brescia, northern Italy. The groupies of Saltimbocca are prosciuotto, panceta, sage, olives, saltiness and tangy goodness. Countrybred.com called Saltimbocca alla Romana the king of all Italian Secondi, I am pretty sure that means Saltimbocca dishes are the best of the best in Italian main courses. 🙂