Welcome to my story!

Thank you for visiting my blog! Here I share my ups and downs of being a mom who has tried working from home, but most importantly wants to be healthy and share it with others. If you can make money while doing it...AWESOME!

I have a passion for LIFE and that includes my family, working out, eating healthy, and sharing what works and doesn't work with others.

I LOVE working with Xango and their new product Favao, it gives me the opportunity to mentor others to reach their health and wealth goals!

Sunday, February 12, 2012

It's Important to Celebrate!

Again...I should be doing homework, but this is more fun!  Actually, the assignment is one I'm interested in, it's putting together a lesson plan to teach 11th graders about what they need to do to prepare for college.  It's one of the reasons I decided to be a school counselor, so I better do a good job!  It was interesting, I was visiting with our baby sitter who is a junior at our local high school and told her what I was working on.  She said she wishes I was her counselor because hers has been NO help at all.  Fortunately for my sitter, she's a very smart girl and will figure it out...but she shouldn't have to!  She said her parents didn't go to college the "traditional" way straight from high school, so they also don't know a lot about what she needs to do.  Hearing this makes me want to get through and help some kids out!  I hate hearing of anyone who doesn't do their job...especially when others are relying on them!  So I told her I'll help her out in any way I can...great practice for me, and help her at the same time!!

This truly was a GREAT weekend!  Started off by celebrating my wonderful husbands' birthday on Friday.  My youngest daughter picked out a cute monster cake for daddy and then after we picked my other daughter up from school, we sang happy birthday.  This is always a little bitter sweet for us.  Scott and I don't have any family here, his live in Connecticut and mine are in New Mexico.  So when we have birthdays or holidays, it really makes us miss all of them.  We make the most of it, but it would be so much more fun if they were all here to celebrate with us, like if we lived closer to them...like they all get to with each other!  But it was still nice. 

Scott and I went to this AMAZING restaurant at the top of TheHotel at Mandalay Bay called Mix.  This place was beautiful, all white with this amazing chandelier made of clear glass bubbles that went all the way up to this HUGE high ceiling and around it were floor to ceiling windows overlooking the strip.  The food was SO delicious I can't even explain it.  We started with a tuna tartare appetizer that was great and then we decided to try something new for dinner.  We usually split, but I had a special deal so we had to each get an entree.  I'm glad because we got to try two amazing dishes!  He had a bison filet that was so juicy and tender...WOW!  And I had this fish called Barramundi, the waiter described it similar to Mahi Mahi...whatever...it was FANTASTIC!!!  And everything that came with it was superb.  Our waiter was a little annoying (can't stand bad service when you go to a place with these prices...but he made up for it).  He would seriously leave mid-conversation with us when this other table called on him...I couldn't believe it!  So I noticed they got this yummy looking drinks at the end of their dinner and asked what they were.  Something that came with their dinner, but he brought us 2 on the house.  So his tip was quite nice for that, and the drink was so YUMMY!  After dinner we went to their bar/lounge that's connected to the restaurant but ALL black!  Pretty cool.  Yummy drinks and the bathroom was awesome.  Two of the stalls had floor to ceiling windows with the most amazing view while doing your business!!  We just had the most amazing time together and that was the most important part!

I love that I can still go out with my husband after being together 14 1/2 years and not care if anyone else is around...sometimes prefer it that way!  We just have the best time together and always look forward to having more time together.  The night was PERFECT:)

I have to share one story...I had purchased a new dress to celebrate losing 10 lbs and for a special night out.  I was so excited when I bought it because it was a size small (can't even tell you the last time I wore this size of anything other than a golf glove!) and it was fitted to boot!  I put it on and was feeling pretty good, Scott of course said it looked good.  As we walked up to the elevator to the restaurant, this woman says, "I have to tell you that dress is gourgeous and it looks amazing on you!".  Oh my gosh, she had no idea how that made me feel!  I was definitely on cloud 9 now. 

We attended a baby shower today for one of Scott's co-workers.  It's fun how it reminds you of your own baby shower and just so crazy how you look back and it goes so fast!  Reminder, it's so important to celebrate all of the small things too.  Life is full of surprises, so enjoy the journey and all those along with you!!

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

My Why's Help to Reach My Goals!

I found this old post and it's always inspiring when I look at my "Why".  It's how you achieve goals, success comes from within yourself. So I'm reposting some of the old post here, but have made changes to fit where I am today!  If you really want to accomplish something in life for yourself and be successful, YOU MUST KNOW YOUR WHY! I've heard this before, and I've heard it work for many successful people. 

In order to stick to your goals, you really need a strong "WHY" and need it to be written down somewhere you will often see it. This is how you keep going no matter how tough times may get. So for this blog, I wanted to share my "WHY's"!

Why I want to be successful in my home-based business (while still finishing my Masters in School Counseling):
My #1 "WHY" is definitely my family. The reason I was drawn to network marketing before, was to have more time with my family. I want to be able to be there for my girls, they grow up so fast! They are now almost 4 and 6 years old, I don't want to miss a thing. I also want to have a lot of time with my husband, alone and with the girls!

My #2 reason is to be able to take some of the pressure off of my husband as he has been our only income since I quit my last sales job in August of 2008. He does well enough that I am fortunate enough to not work. But I've always worked, before kids I was a work-a-holic! Always sales, but I got burned out on sales. I wanted something that would give me more flexibility to be with my family, but still give me a way to help bring in extra income and in a way that I could feel good about doing it.  Selling products and healthy weight loss systems that are truly healthy are what I can be passionate about.

My #3 reason is to help other people be successful for themselves. I would love to learn to be a great Mentor to others.  The "heavy hitters sales" approach I have worked with before never felt like the right fit for me. I like the idea of a coach MUCH better! In fact, as one of my earlier blogs told, I found myself lost in the last couple of network marketing companies because I felt their way of doing it didn't fit me and I was not successful because of it.  I then looked into becoming a personal trainer. I LOVE working out and learning about health and wellness. I thought that might be a great way to help others feel better and be successful...however, I realized in order to be successful I would have to work a lot of hours, therefore going against my #1 Why!  This is when I made the decision to go back to school to be a school counselor, something I've thought about many times (also told about in a previous blog).  It gives me time with my family...but, it doesn't get me a job for 3 years! 

So, re-writing my top 3 reasons "WHY" brings me back to network marketing. However, it's with a different company who has a different approach! The leaders and company are there to mentor you to your success to reach your "WHY". They have created a comp plan and system that truly seems to help part-timers make money too, not just the top 2% leaders! Therefore, part-timers also see success. That's where I fit in for right now...long-term, I want to make a lot more money. But for now, I'm a part-timer looking to make extra money each month for my family, spend more time with my family, and build some awesome relationships within my company and those who join me!

So there's my "WHY's". Where will they take me in 5 years?  Who knows...but I'm loving the journey they've taken me on so far and am VERY excited to see where it goes from here!  I've put my "WHY's" in writing and put them out there for others to see, so you can see how passionate I am about them! I'd love to hear, what's your why? Email me at mnicholsonww@yahoo.com

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Excited to see Changing Lives! People I Love and People I'm Just Meeting!

Welcome to a BEAUTIFUL Tuesday!  I should be finishing up a homework assignment for my class tonight...but I'm TOO excited about what Favao is doing.  So...I had to share it on my blog!  I'll finish the homework after:) 

Favao has been doing some amazing things the last few months.  It is most definitely a lifestyle reset, however, what I really love about it is it is a reset that you can stick with for life!  As you've read in my previous posts, I have been on a long journey to find a way to get results from my working out and eating healthy.  I'll say it again, I have never had a problem working out.  I LOVE working out.  In fact, my husband has many times told me I become a little too obsessed with it!  But it makes me feel good and gives me that special time each day for myself!  If you're a mom, you know how important this is!  However, it started to get SO frustrating when I was doing this, but did not see a body when I looked in the mirror that I thought I should have after working out all week burning 800-1000 calories per work out.  With Favao, I'm excited to look at the body in the mirror and ecstatic to say, "that's me"! 

I am even more happy with Favao now because I have family and friends who are starting to try Favao and see results!  I cannot wait to see them after their 12 weeks.  I'm so excited for my parents who have started it and are already getting great results.  My dad has dropped below a weight he's struggled to get to for years...it's so wonderful when you hear your parents are feeling good and knowing that very soon they'll be looking better than they knew they could! 

I have friends who are starting or who have started.  Some who have struggled along with me for YEARS!  I cannot say how excited I am to see their results.  I've told one in particular, we'll be hanging out at the pool when she's here in April...both in bikinis!!  That's a good goal, don't you think?  I'm actually getting excited to go shopping for that bikini!!

I know so many people who struggle with getting weight off.  We all have tried how many things to lose it, the magic quick ways or even the healthier ways, but they don't stick.  If you can commit to this 12-week lifestyle reset, it will be so easy to keep it going.  And it's not just good for me, it's good for my whole family.  I have healthier food in the house for my kids.  I can teach my girls how to eat healthy, so hopefully there will be NO reason for them to worry about their weight in the future...no reason to look for easy fixes or unhealthy ones! 

Let me know if you would like more information.  Here's a motivating picture I found and wanted to share:

Hope you have a wonderful day!  Time to eat my yummy egg white breakfast burrito and baked apples with Favao whipped topping!!