Ultimate Blog Party '11 and CONTEST!!!

 It's time again for the Ultimate Blog Party!  This is my third year participating!  The first year I talked about myself- a basic introductory post.  Last year I told you a few more things about me plus a contest.  This year the Sisterchicks have an even better contest- a $100 Target giftcard!

So, what's new with me from last year?

-If you look at my menu plan last week, you'll see I'm on a new weight loss journey with the Maximized Living Nutrition Plan- eliminating ALL sugar, including fruit and grains!  Yowza!  I can tell you right now though that I am going to be breaking my diet next Friday when I'm at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!  Yes, that's right!  I will drink a lovely butterbeer and I can't wait!!!  I'm one of those Harry Potter obsessed people.  My chiropractor and diet guru tells me I'm going to feel terribly sick with all that sugar so to be prepared.  It will be worth it!
-Although I can't discuss school things here on my blog, I can say that this year I went from a regular ed kindergarten class to an inclusion kindergarten class.  About 1/3 of my class is special ed and 2/3 are regular ed. I always used to say, "I could never do that."  I volunteered on a whim and I am in love.  I don't ever want to do anything else.  Some of that is because of my fabulous kiddos and some of that is because of my fantabulous co-teacher who I just adore.  I can now call  her one of my bffs.  <3
-My husband and I have decided to separate and we have spent the past few months getting our house ready to list.  In the next few weeks it will go on the market and as soon as it sells, I will be on my own.  Scary.  Hopeful.  Sad. Honestly, it's why I haven't blogged much in the past few months, even after going to Blissdom. I've kind of lost myself in books, friends and tv, but hopefully I'll get out of my rut soon. So, if I seem absent, it's just an emotional time for me.  I'll be back- I promise.
-I can't wait to browse the different UBP '11 posts this year and hopefully meet new people! 



As part of today's party, I want to introduce you to some of my favorite bloggy friends! There are 10 of us who each have a word photo included in their post. These words make up a sentence. We will each link you up to the lady who has the next word in the sentence, which is Mary at Giving Up on Perfect —but keep in mind that I might not have the first word in the sentence!

Once you have the sentence, e-mail it to sisterchickies@gmail.com with “UBP11″ in the subject line. Each person with the correct sentence will be in a drawing to win a $100 Target gift card! The winner will be announced on all of our blogs on April 11 and the winner will be e-mailed. The winner has 48 hours to respond or we’ll pick someone else.

Menu Plan, Maximized Living Healing Diet Plan Style

Menu Plan, Maximized Living Healing Diet-Advaned Diet Plan Style

I'm starting the Maximized Living Healing Diet, Advanced Diet Plan this week. My goal is to stay with the Advanced Plan for as long as I can before going to the regular plan.  I decided this because of the insulin regulating properties of the Advanced Plan.  I'm also going to my bff's house in Florida next week for Spring Break and I know it will be easy to follow there as she lives a gluten free lifestyle! So, I just did some digging and found  a great recipe blog for the Maximized Living Nutrition Plan!  I have built my week around her site. For breakfast, I'll be having various egg dishes and for lunch I plan to either have leftovers or have things like meat, cheese and raw veggies. I'm only planning dinners through Thursday because we leave Saturday morning- we will probably have leftovers on Friday night.


Sunday- Fried Tilapia with Broccoli
Monday- Roasted Chicken Caesar Salad with homemade dressing and parmesan "croutons"
Tuesday- Chicken Soup using the carcass from the roasted chicken yesterday
Wednesday- Buffalo Chicken Wings  with raw veggies
Thursday- Tandoori Chicken with veggies and rice for the family

Kinect video game review and GIVEAWAY

 And the winner is.....
 
I was recently given the opportunity to review a new X-box Kinect game called Your Shape: Fitness Evolved. I was excited to try it out and wasn't sure what to expect.  I thought it might be somewhat like the Wi Fit, but for x-box.  While the concept is similar, it is definitely different.  This game was designed for adults, but the kids certainly enjoyed it too.  The best part is that the Kinect uses your image, so as you work out, you are actually on the screen in live-action. They call it full body tracking and it is amazing!  Instead of 16 dot tracking like other games, it uses one million dots on your body! This really helps you make sure you are doing the exercises correctly. Here's a picture from the Amazon site to show an example of how beneficial that feature is:

 You can see in the picture that you can compare how you are doing the exercises to the image on the left. You can also see that it tracks your calorie burning while you work out!  I really enjoyed playing the games!  If Your Shape: Fitness Evolved sounds good to you, why don't you enter to win!  In order to play it, you will need an X-box kinect. Just leave me a comment for an entry.  For additional entries leave a comment for each of the following:
- tweet the contest
-share the contest on facebook
...and the winner is...

Here are some key game features:

• Player Projection Technology - Instead of the 16-dot tracking in other games, using the Kinect sensor peripheral Your Shape Fitness Evolved tracks over 1 million dots on your body, meaning better tracking, no lag, and 100% player engagement
• Fitness Your Way – How you burn calories, have fun, and improve your fitness level is up to you, whether you enlist the help of a personal trainer, take a class such as Yoga, Martial Arts, or Tai Chi, or get the family involved in fun mini-games like dancing, target practice and more
• Interactive Visual Effects - As you master the fitness moves, the game responds with fun and surprising visuals such as such as paint, water, light, fire, confetti that match your movement and impact
• Unprecedented Feedback System Fitness Evolved gives you precise feedback on your every body part as you follow your coach's instructions and will help you correct your form by adding guidelines to the screen so you know exactly where your arm or leg should be placed and you can see it in real-time
• Cutting-Edge Workouts Created by Fitness Experts - The game contains workouts included a martial arts class lead by Michael George, who has trained celebrities including Reese Witherspoon and P.Diddy, leads a Martial Arts class and a special weight loss class lead by Michelle Bridges, trainer for all 5 seasons on Australia's "The Biggest Loser"
• Track Your Progress and Share It Online - All of your stats are uploaded seamlessly online and can be shared with friends and family allowing you to create challenges among friends and help each other reach fitness goals
• Never Do the Same Workout Twice - The game comes with hundreds of exercises, plus, enjoy regular downloadable content releases to ensure you'll always have new and exciting workout routines to learn.
• Multiplayer Support - Challenge friends using Xbox LIVE multiplayer

While Ubisoft sponsored this review, the opinions I've expressed here are solely my own and represent my honest viewpoint. Ubisoft, Clever Girls Collective and I promote Blog With Integrity.