Fire breathing dragons

Winter's chill always fools me into thinking I will enjoy the warmth of summer. Well actually, I crave spring, but we all know how spring in Louisiana is...short if you are even lucky to get it at all. I belong in a place where there is spring and fall...they are my favorite!  The polar vortex of a winter we had this year definitely made me crave some warmer days. Sure, I enjoy certain parts of the cold weather...like leggings, boots, scarves, fires, warm drinks... but after a while of that, I crave the warmth of spring...shorts, sandals, flowers and greenery.  I was reminded today what Louisiana summers are like! I went for a run this afternoon, and it was like running in the mouth of a fire breathing dragon... ugh. So begins my early morning runs again, where I race to beat the sun. I do enjoy the quiet of the mornings though, so it's not too terrible.

I did enjoy the cool runs this winter. As long as it wasn't windy. I didn't even get thirsty on my longer runs. I ran my entire half-marathon without a sip of water. I am aware that isn't super great for me, but drinking while running makes me queazy sometimes. So, I am going to work on drinking more water while working out. Apparently it's important;). And when my Bro-in-Law told me it could make you bloated when you don't drink water while working out, well, that's all I needed to hear. I hate feeling bloated.

Oh and as a side note, I have really enjoyed my lemon, mint, cucumber water. But I definitely would suggest investing in one of these. I plan on investing in one someday soon because I don't really enjoy the things floating around in my water:).

I am terrible at informing myself: reading articles, watching documentaries, etc. Mostly because I don't know who to believe or how reliable the sources are.  I am becoming a big believer in informing yourself. The more I learn about nutrition and fitness, the more motivated I am to make the changes toward a healthy, all-natural lifestyle. I am a teacher, so I guess I should educate myself a little more.

Lastly I have tried to work on my cooking skills. I am not, I repeat, not an expert cook. I am a messy, clumsy, and often times failure of a cook:( But I enjoy spending time in the kitchen trying to cook and hopefully eventually all the trying will result in me being one of those cooks. You know, the cooks where they look forward to your dishes...like my nanny! So I am not throwing in the towel! I have tried a couple new healthy dishes, and they are good but they need some work. Hopefully I will work out the kinks and be able to share them with you soon.

Dirt Don't Hurt

 When hanging with a 2 year old, you quickly learn that a little dirt won't hurt. Several times I caught  little munchkin with her well played-in and unwashed hands in my drink or my food or my face. I figured she eats with them and she's doing just fine (but other times I had to tell myself "just don't think about it";)). And when they are this cute, you just don't seem to care.

Being Aunt Morgie to this little ball of fun, is a beautiful blessing. It has been such a joy to get to spoil her and play with her. But I must say, I'm going to let Nanna take care of the spoiling for a bit. "Bribing" her with treats all the time will break the bank fast when you are out and about. (Bribery is not my preferred way to get good behavior, but I am her aunt not her mom:) And she was kind of drug all around at times.)

When you sleep with a 2 year old on an air mattress, coffee is a must! So I will work on that whole cut back on the caffeine thing as soon as I am back:) I completely agree with this picture. You could also substitute teacher with "mom"(I assume from what I see and hear) and "aunt". 

  One sleepless night (sleepless for a multitude of other reasons, but more on that at a later date), I found some great motivation for my healthy living journey on Netflix. Let's just say I will definitely be gradually making the transition to all-natural foods after I watched it.  It was a documentary on processed foods. And while my eating hasn't been perfect, I would give myself a high five for enjoying the trip while not over doing it.

I am not typically a huge fan of selfies (for myself...I am not photogenic...trust me these are the best taken out of several attempts), but I just couldn't resist getting in a few with these pretty ladies.

So I will let the pictures do the talking now... 

The party has begun!!

 We did a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Thankfully, despite her short 2 year old attention span, she is usually quite content and easily entertained by the world around her. She was very good considering all of the running around town we have done this week...for the most part...we all have our moments...

She loves to be outside. We have spent a lot of time out in this beautiful weather. Unfortunately, I have reached the point where my allergies are begging for the indoors. Sneezy McSneezerton has arrived. I rode pretty much the whole way with my sun roof open...don't think I'll be able to do that on the return trip tomorrow. Or I may just tough it out and enjoy it because this nice springish weather won't last long.

We got to spend some time with the beautiful Witte ladies. What a sweet day it was with them! Happy Early Birthday to my best and closest friend. I always treasure our time together, and I love getting to see you be a mommy! You are one amazing lady in every area of your life! 

It's a miracle! In 2 takes we got this picture. All smiles:)!!

And when you have done your job right as an aunt: play hard! You get rewarded with some snuggle time.

Or even just a few minutes to slow down and rest;)

Thank you Mrs. Peggy and Mr. Philip for letting me stay with you! I always enjoy visiting!

Spring break has been a bit of an interesting time for me, but overall it was wonderful to take time to slow down and not be on a schedule and simply enjoy time with people I love but don't see often!

Pre-Spring Break Prepping

Spring Break is here!! It felt like it would never arrive. Granted, I already miss some sweet hugs from some of my favorite little people;). But I am so thankful for some time away in North LA with some more of my favorite people (It doesn't take much to make my favorites list and each is near and dear to my heart)! I thought before I headed off for the break I would give you a bit of an update of my journey towards healthier living becoming simply who I am.

I will start by saying right now it is all about the journey;) I had one week where I am pretty sure I would give myself a sad D-. But as long as you are learning and making changes in the right direction, then it's progress and you deserve a pat on the back...handing myself a little of that grace I talked about in the previous post.  So I learned that it is no fun to eat like you don't care! I felt terrible! Bloated. Grumpy. Fatigued. I enjoy a little indulging...everything in moderation and for special occassions, like Easter (but I never felt icky, so I must have did good).

Not to mention I really do love healthy foods.

When I choose to just throw caution to the wind and not make wise food choices, I lose an opportunity to fuel my body well. I know it's a "duh" concept, but I don't consciously think that when I am choosing my foods all the time.

So in preparation to have a healthy spring break away here's the plan:

* I have killed it with 3 days straight of 6 mile runs. 6 is standard for me but three days in a row isn't I usually spread my runs out a bit throughout the week. Getting my workouts in before helps me to better  focus on the people I am with (one less thing on my plate), and my exercise will simply be all the play time I can get in with this cutie!

* I am going to pack some healthy snacks so I won't be tempted to pick up a quick treat if I get hungry along the way or while out and about.

* I look forward to some sweet girls day out meals with my favorite ladies and little ladies, so if I know where we are going, I can check the menu online for nutrition info to help me make the best choices. If not then I will just do the best I can from what I know about food. Portion control as well. I love left overs anyways! 

Most importantly I hope it just a time to get a way and be refreshed! Stay tuned for the Post-Spring Break post because I expect it to be full of fun times with fun friends and family:). 

I am a work in progress;)

Much like so many things in my life...I'm just a work in progress. If we are honest, aren't we all:)?!?

This said after I just had a mug of froyo and did everything I could to get every last little lick of chocolaty goodness. BUT I am making progress. I did not completely go sugar free this week, as I would have liked, but I did make much better choices and was much more disciplined in the amount of snacking I did. Coffee was also more about discipline and limiting the amount I drank. Just 2 days friends...that's amazing for the week I had!

I am not a fan of completely eliminating things that you love from your "diet". I have tried that before and it just makes me want it more, so I cave and it gets out of control! My lifelong goal is for sweets to be a treat once a week or for special sweet occassions;). I also found myself snacking on alot more than I needed to in an effort to try to fill that little craving for something sweet this evening. As for caffeine, it will be a treat for those days I know I need a pick me up (I'm not sure it's possible these days to grade Penmanship papers without a cup of coffee). I don't think caffeine is terrible but I don't want to rely on it to function well.

The strength training aspect of last weeks challenge was a success. I enjoyed the challenge and had a great strong run yesterday morning!

This week challenge numero uno:
Continue to make wise choices in the snacking area. Last week was definitely a step in the right direction, but I would like to do more to find new fruit, veggie, or nut options for snacking. I love to try new healthy treats. Here are a few that I will be trying this week. (Yep I am in bed...don't judge)

We also tried spaghetti squash. It's a bit crunchy for spaghetti, but I think I will experiment with it again in the future. 

Challenge numero dos: 

Remember to allow myself grace, and in turn give grace to others around me.  It is so easy to grow discouraged in the journey of life. You want so badly to be better in _______ area of your life. Each day you wake up determined that this will be the day. The day that you get it together. Maybe for you it is eating healthier and exercising. Maybe it is holding your tongue if you speak before thinking. Maybe it is being on time if you are consistently late. Whatever it is I hope there is some area we are all working to improve in our lives because we all know that no one is perfect. But often times when I miss a workout day one week or get frustrated at work when those little ears just don't seem to want to listen to "my very important instructions",  I beat myself up. I grow discouraged in the lie that I will never be able to get it together. I forget to offer myself grace. I am going to mess "it" up...whatever the "it" is...because well I am a bit of a mess most days. Thankfully God is grace. After all, we are all pretty much a mess, but God brings order to our chaos and makes us beautiful messes;). I want to be more like Him, so I will strive to be more gracious towards all people and that includes myself. 

"My grace is sufficient for you for My power is made perfect in weakness" 2 Corinthians 12:8