Monday Musings

Last Wednesday night I couldn’t sleep. I thought that my world was over so I picked up my bible to see where it would lead me. It lead me to this verse:

For the past week, I have been trying to reflect on all of the actions of Wednesday. How everything went from good to bad so quickly and I went from planning my future with someone to being alone. I don’t understand and I don’t think anyone really does when they get their heart broken. There is no easy answer to ending a relationship, but there is always a reason. While right now I don’t fully understand, one day it will all click. One day I can find meaning in the sadness. Let’s just hope that day is sooner rather than later.

#IDoVoxBox

I was lucky enough to get the #IDoVoxBox. Let’s see what I got!

Can’t wait to start using these products and let you know more about them!!

I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.

#WipeforWater

Last week I started using Neutrogena Naturals make-up wipes. Did you know that you waster 5 gallons of water every time you wash your face?! For Earth Day, Neutrogena is pledging to help conserve water with their #WipeforWater campaign. I was lucky enough to get to test Neutrogena’s make-up wipes from their new Naturals collection. Here is a break down of my first three days.

Day 1: 

I was running late for work so I was only wearing mascara. My face was feeling gross by 8 p.m. so I grabbed a wipe to take off my make-up and all of the dirt from the day. Right away I love the smell of the product. After using it my face felt clean and super fresh.

Day 2:

I wore a full face of makeup on Day 2 to see how the wipes stood up to actually taking everything off. I was very surprised that one wipe got all of my make-up off and my face feeling fresh again. I was afraid of breakouts, but my face is still clear!

Day 3:

Today I noticed my face was less oily than it had been lately. I think using the wipes instead of my normal face wash is helping to keep me from breaking out which is always appreciated. Today was another light make-up day but I still used my wipes before bed.

Overall, I loved these wipes and am totally going to keep using them. I feel fresh and clean and have noticed my skin is starting to glow. I would defiantly recommend these wipes to my friends, especially if you have delicate skin. There are no harsh chemicals so they don’t dry you out! I am one that is picky about my face products because I tend to be very oily but I love these!

I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.

Failed.

 

Well, I failed. It wasn’t some traumatic failure or anything, I just failed. I went into the 21 Day Fix strong. I was doing the workouts every day and eating all of the proper foods. The first week I lost five pounds! I was so excited and then life stepped in.

I should have looked at my schedule before starting to see that “oh look, you have a big event at the end of the 21 days and it will probably be difficult to stick to the diet” and that it was. What you aren’t told when you are starting something like the 21 Day Fix is that life happens. Your friends want to go out to dinner or for drinks, or you work late and you just really need that Diet Coke to make it through the day.

At first I was mad at myself. Why spend the money if you aren’t going to complete the full program? But then I decided that I could be mad and angry and go back to my old self, or I could keep pushing forward. So while I have another crazy week this week, I am still making healthy choices and starting next Monday I am starting my second round of the 21 Day Fix!

If you want to make a change in your life, you need to accept your failures and use them to push yourself. While it was hard to admit that I wasn’t perfect, I am going to use that to make me even stronger is my next 21 days!

Girl’s Night!

Friday night was a much needed girl’s night! It is always nice to have a lazy night with a friend. Instead of ordering out pizza or something greasy, I decided to make tacos!

The best part was this was all apart of my diet! I used taco meat (recipe below!), lettuce, avocado, fresh pico de gallo, greek yogurt, and shredded pepper jack cheese. It was 2 greens, 1 red and 1/2 a blue! Plus a La Croix Peach/Pear was a nice little treat from just regular water!

For my taco meat, I used a recipe that I had received at a party and let me tell you, it was healthy and tasty! It comes from melskitchecafe.com/tacos-supreme. I used ground turkey to make it healthier and I didn’t add the jalapenos.  Enjoy!

The Best Ground Beef Tacos

 YIELD: SERVES 4-6

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 3/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 pound ground beef or ground turkey
• 1 to 3 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and minced fine (alternately, you can add hot pepper sauce to taste or canned jalapenos OR just leave out the heat altogether, although I think the meat really needs a little kick and adding the jalapeno without seeds didn’t make the dish overly spicy)
• Taco shells
• Additional taco garnishes

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large skillet over medium heat, add the oil and chopped onion. Cook, stirring often, until the onion is softened, about 4-5 minutes. Add the ground beef and cook, breaking up the meat into smaller chunks, until it is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Off the heat, drain the grease from the meat.
2. Return the skillet to the heat and stir in the garlic, chili powder, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper. Cook for about 30 seconds and then add the tomato sauce and jalapeno. Turn the heat to low and simmer the meat mixture for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve in taco shells with your choice of toppings.

Recipe Source: adapted from the Joy of Cooking

21 Day Fix Prep

This afternoon I spent prepping for my first week of the 21 Day Fix!

Can you believe all of that delicious food (plus some that isn’t there) was all less that $40? This will be a week plus of food! I always thought that eating fresh meant eating expensive, but if you prepare, it really isn’t that bad. I am doing the 1,200-1,499 calorie target group which equals 3 green, 2 purple, 4 red, 2 yellow, 1 blue, 1 orange container and 2 teaspoons every day.

If you are not familiar with the 21 Day fix, you are supposed to spread out your containers over six meals. I read through the eating plan that came with it, but I also used one of my favorite sites, Pintrest, to see what others were eating. Most meal plans I looked at were only five meals a day which made more sense with my schedule so that I what I decided to go with.

This is a sample day for me. Now this isn’t perfect. The eating plan says you can swap out a yellow container 3 days a week for certain drink items such as the unsweetened almond milk that I like to use in my shake. Personally, I don’t like the shakes with water, so I will just use a yellow a day for my almond milk.

Can’t wait to start this journey tomorrow!

2015. New Year. New Me.

In 2014 I decided to do something that I hadn’t before, so I ran a half marathon. For someone who really wasn’t athletic, this half-marathon gave me the bug.

I am already signed up for a triathlon and 2 half-marathons in 2015, but how do I prepare for them?! I became a Team Beachbody coach after I started doing PiYo. The mixture of pilates and yoga has been great for my strength and flexibility and I am excited to get out and start running again.

But, I wanted to make sure I was starting 2015 the best that I can, so I am starting the 21 Day Fix on Monday! I will be blogging about my journey, workouts and recipes to keep myself accountable!

Hope that your 2015 is off to a healthy start too!

What Comes Next?

I did it! I completed my half marathon at 2:54:24. I was sobbing when I crossed the finish line. I have never been more proud of myself.

A short race recap: Race day was cold. After spending all summer worrying about the heat and humidity, I was not fully prepared to run in 20 degrees. My first two miles were strong, but they were fast. I had found a fellow Team in Training teammate and stayed with him. By mile three, I knew I had to slow down or I was never going to finish. Along the way I made a new friend. We pushed each other to walk less and to keep going knowing that we had to finish it. Around mile 5 I ran into Melissa, which was exactly what I needed. We chatted for a few miles and I could feel here getting me through that hump of “why am I doing this?” We hugged as we split so she could take the marathon route and I headed to finish 13.1. Once the sun was out, I found my stride. I also found pain. I kept moving until I crossed that finish line. I told myself under 3 hours and that is what I did. It was a high that I could never imagine and I was so excited to have finished and completed a pretty big goal in my life and raised over $1,300 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society!

So what comes next? For six months I focused on training. I have written about the highs and lows of training and moving out on my own. The past six months have been the biggest learning experience of my life. Standing here today, I look back and I realized that I have been launched into my something great. The past six months have had growing pains, but I could not be happier with where I am today.

I am a workout freak now! I have already planned on two more half marathons and a triathlon next summer.  Right after my half, I started the PiYo program and fell in love. Well now I want to give back and I am excited to say that I will be starting my training to become a Team Beachbody coach!

I am excited to see where this something great goes!

The Last Push

Saturday I completed my last long run. My favorite part about these runs is that each time I finish, I surprise myself. I never would have guessed that I would enjoy running for 2 hours straight, but that is exactly what I did.

My runs are also turning out to be beautiful as the leaves change. It helps when you have ten miles of beautiful scenery to look at. You forget what you are actually doing and you just enjoy your time out there.

But like the title said, this is the last push. The next two weeks will consist of short runs and walks to keep my legs loose, lots of stretching and lots of water. Its crazy to think that the next time I do a long run, I will be racing.

Here we go.

The Last 31 Days

Well, this is it. 31 days stand between me and the big race. 31 days filled with weddings, travel, work events and training. I have a feeling that it is all going to be a blur.

Today I went to see how much I had fund-raised. For local events, we are asked to raise a minimum of $500. I told myself that was too easy and set a goal of $1,000. Now I am hoping to make that $1,500. (Mom and Dad, I am looking at you. I know you haven’t donated yet!!) I was surprised to see over $1,200 on my meter when I was expecting less. I noticed that someone had donated $50. The thing was, this was not a person I had talked to or asked to donate. This is not a Facebook friend or a Twitter follower. It was just another TNT athlete who wanted to help me achieve my goal. That has been the coolest part about the last 133 days. The support that I have been given has been incredible and I am so lucky to have you all on this ride. Here is to the next 31 days!