The most wonderful time of the year

Last year I made a Christmas 2017 Bucket List of all the things I wanted to do this year. It was a grumpy holiday season and just busy with real life stuff so we missed out on a great many things. This year has already been magical!

We kicked it off with the Candle Tea in Old Salem on November 30th. Even Jay came along, who does not love the Christmas things, waiting, small spaces, etc. It was wonderful! Super duper long, but full of the sights and sounds and smells of Christmas! The hymns with the organ were lovely (albeit FAR too long) and stirred up my Christmas spirit. The beeswax candles gave me memories of all my Salem years, and the kids loved seeing how they are made. The sugar cake speaks for itself, as does Moravian coffee (we have two tiny coffee addicts as is, but Moravian coffee? Here for it.) The putz was beautiful and magical as was the simple nativity. We had a great start to the holiday season!

The next morning I woke up with a renewed excitement for this season of wonder, and started us off with Christmas music for the first day of December. Fitting, as we also picked up our tree Friday night! We knew we needed to get up and let the branches settle, so it was perfect. We also needed to supervise Joel Berry with this new adventure in our house. It didn't get decorated for two days, which was plenty of time to settle and such.

With the tree up and the season started, I set out to tackle Tanglewood & the Festival of Lights. We always pick a terrible time to go, and it ends up being sort of disastrous. I decided on Wednesday, December 6th...midweek, not so close to Christmas, hopefully good weather. And I had the day off for Hayden's check up, and to read to his class. The stars aligned, and I ended up reading to both kids' classes, eating lunch with them separately, and then taking Hayden to the doctor. We hung out and cleaned the house a bit before picking up Lila.

Changed into pajamas, we stopped at Starbucks for FoL treats, stopped at Dunkin for our munchkins, and even made bathroom and ATM pit stops before heading to Tanglewood. We arrived early, 5:30, for the 6:00 opening and to my surprise it was even better than I'd hoped! We were maybe 15th in line, fully into the park and waiting when they started letting us in at 5:45. What is this sorcery? We were well into the lights by 6 pm when they were supposed to open. We had Christmas carols playing and were enjoying all the hard work of the lights engineers, when the kids asked if we could stop and see Santa. The one thing that actually wasn't on my bucket list because it can be a challenge with schedules and these two wild ones with their opinions and individuality. But the line was SUPER short so we parked and headed in. The wait wasn't terrible, and I've certainly waited longer at the mall (every year) but it was in a tent and a little cramped but also chilly. The kids were in flip flops with their jammies, but didn't mind the cold if it meant seeing the man in red.

We took pictures and had a blast, got our lists in to Santa and finished up the lights before 7! Magical, indeed.

Reset

So a lot happens that you forget to write down.

Job changes. Life changes. Kids get bigger. Things change, things stay the same. Cryptic? Nah. Just too much to catch up on at once. Maybe one day, maybe just keep living life and hope I have enough pictures to remember it all in 20 years.

I'm a few weeks away from celebrating a year in my new job. Twists, turns, ups, downs, but it's basically always freezing.

We adopted a cat this weekend, his name is Joel Berry. Yes, that's right. He's all black and precious and 4 months old. He and Onyx are slowly settling into new life. I can't replace the love of my life, my Oscar, my best friend. But Joel Berry is a good addition. The kids love him already, and I do too.

Today is a cleanse day. A good solid reset. It's raining and of course I'm freezing. I miss writing, I miss consistency, so I'm looking for it again. I need to start where I am, and find it in me. So here we are.

Saturday morning

Lazy. Blah.

Breakfast: tortilla WW, 1 T almond butter, 1 scoop vanilla IsaLean. Coffee 1 scoop vanilla IsaLean, sprinkle pumpkin spice. 

Hoping a mix up in how I get my protein will get me moving. The sun is out and it's a beautiful day! 

What?

How have I not blogged in 2017?! 

Feels a little like fall!

Seems like a good day to put steel cut oats in the crock pot! 

Fuel your body

I eat all day. It helps me digest and sustain energy to eat several small meals instead of less, big ones. 

Breakfast is nearly always the same, even on the weekends. It's easy, it's fast, it's balanced and it works for me. 

I don't always use supplements but on a low energy day they are a must!

Snack time in the morning! Fruit (low glycemic) and almonds (good fat!). 

I try to use leftovers for lunch and keep it interesting. I had shredded meat (addax) and salad and I didn't exactly want that for lunch. Luckily we had some corn tortillas at work and my bomb coworker brought me homemade pimiento cheese. 

I usually also have a post workout or afternoon snack, depending how my schedule plays out. And then dinner. 

I'm not a high performance athlete or a fitness coach so I don't count macros or even track my food. I just try to make good choices, and fuel my body. 

Food prep Sundays

This is what I do all day Sunday so I don't have to do it all week! 

30 day challenge ended again!

I will say I was probably only 75% committed to this last challenge. So I didn't expect better than 75% results! I love these programs and the first time I had so much success because of the healthy habits I learned and put into practice in my every day life. 

I loved these new workouts and saw a big difference in my body shape and my muscle growth. Excited to see what I can accomplish next! 

Recipes

Made a small version of this today in a loaf/made-for-two casserole dish. 

http://www.skinnytaste.com/zucchini-lasagna/

I portioned it out in four containers and froze three. Helps to move forward when you prep for success! 

Week 3

Is it already halfway over?! 

Yup. I love the routine of this and how quickly it becomes easy. I love when my friends text me their successes and how they're loving their results. 

This week is spring break for Hayden so I'm taking a few days off from work to hang out with him! Monday I wanted a good reset from the weekend's rainy sluggishness so I worked out twice! 50 minutes of cardio and later a second session of leg day! Don't you wish things like that magically made you smaller/stronger/faster?! Ugh. Slow and steady is the name of the game but some days I'm impatient. 

Tuesday we took a trip to the zoo so I walked and walked on top of those sore leg muscles! Sometimes being active is the name of the game in order to still hang out with my family, so no gym time but a lot of good exercise. And water! 

Clean Mac and cheese

So I love pasta, cheese and all things macaroni. I tried this recipe and it was a WIN! 

Week 2 workouts

Y'all. This week has FLOWN BY! 

Thursday was a blur but I remember I stayed on track with nutrition, fell a little short with water and loved loved LOVED my chest and back workout. I got in an extra half-workout when we took the kids to skate night. Talk about a time warp! Smells like it did 20 years ago, which was the last time I was in there. It was the first time for the kids so they both struggles but it was so fun to try! 

When we got home there was leftover pizza on the stove and I'm happy to report I resisted the urge to snack on it, and instead just put it away. I watched a little basketball and just drank water. Late night or post dinner snacking is my biggest challenge. I ate that bowl of cereal every night for years and it's an easy one to fall back into. 

Friday I had an unprecedented full day in my office and at my desk planned. It's easy to be overwhelmed this time of year, which makes me stress eat, so I was grateful for the time to catch up. I found that I didn't drink enough water during the day today either, so I'm gonna have to make a point to do it this weekend. I'm terrible on the weekends about staying hydrated so I really have to think about it. 

I loved and hated my arm workout because I lack upper body strength so it's a big challenge. But I can see some huge progress in leaning out in my shoulders and arms and can actually see some muscle developing! I wore a tank top on purpose so I could watch my muscles and see the progress for myself. I'm already sore! 

I've found a few new exercises I really love this week that are quickly becoming my fa rotor. Last time I loved the hybrid workouts but this challenge I really like the body part specific workouts. I'm excited to make it to week 3!

Pizza night!

Hayden loves pizza. He could eat it every day. I love finding healthier options and this is what I had while they ate pepperoni. 

10 Wednesday Cleanse Day

So normally it's Thursday. And I hate change. But love that this program can be flexible with me. Wednesday was a long busy day with no access to the gym so it seemed like a good idea. 

I will say this was my most successful cleanse yet. I felt confident and empowered and stayed right on track. A three hour interview helped me forget I was hungry. Overall I feel good about my progress and def my confidence. 

Day 9, Tuesday week 2

So cardio. 30-45 minutes of steady state or HIIT. Woof. Up on the elliptical I go. Feeling good. Pressing through that second mile. Onto the third with relative ease. As I approached 45, I was too close to  4 miles to give up. So I pushed it out to 50 minutes and get me to 4 miles. I'm not a runner. But this was amazing for me. If I can do this, I can basically do anything. 

Weekend edition

Saturday was pretty easy. Shakes for breakfast and lunch, 2x HIIT workout in the morning, good hydration. We had a plan for moms night out with wine club and daddy daycare. They got takeout and I drove to Asheboro! 

Taking into account budget, physical limitations and three of us doing a challenge that limits sugar, dairy, white carbs, wine and coffee. Our fearless leader Emily was undaunted and put together a fun night! We had a chair yoga session, which was unique. Great stretch and relaxation. After that we had a ten minute massage of our choice. I opted for the back and hips, with a lot of strength and stretch and alignment. It. Was. Super. 

We had tea and snacks and fellowship and left feeling more relaxed. We headed to dinner at SomethingDifferent where we found great and prompt service. Emily knows the owner well and be brought over a delicious dessert. Well I couldn't be rude yeah? So I had a few bites. Nbd. We sat around chatting a bit and it's so fun to have people on this team with me.  

Day 8: Monday, week 2

There's something about a Monday, right? Fresh start. New chance to succeed. This Monday was really different than last, because I felt so much more prepared. I spent a ton of time in the kitchen this weekend so it was no accident! 

Monday was leg day, week 2 so a different set of workouts. Watched my videos, made my notes, got to work! Again frustrated by the limits of our work out space and machines, just steady making notes to give feedback. It's another area of campus that really needs the upgrade but there is a long, long list. 

Monday's workout focused a lot on hamstrings, which maybe I've neglected altogether ever? That's what it felt like. WOW. But great workout. Exhausting and empowering. 

Making strides in my midday snacking and have been a beast at skipping the post dinner snack. That's def my biggest hurdle. Mind over matter! 

Wins and losses

Remember how I told y'all I'm an over sharer? 

Two wins today. Over the years I have developed these terrible body image issues and terrible relationship with food. When I tell you that my first 30 day challenge gave me my life back last spring, I'm not kidding. I didn't just need to lose weight, I needed a healthier lifestyle both mentally and physically. 

I am really adverse to buying clothes that are tight, because of my body image issues. But I have also realized over the past few months the clothes that are too big for me only make me look bigger than I actually am. So today I found a pair of pants that are slim fit, but that I love and I can feel good in so I bought them! 

My second is a "fail" win. Remember how I really wanted a sandwich last week? Well today I went to Panera for lunch instead of drinking my shake. Ten months ago I would have thrown the baby out with the bath water and just indulged. And then felt horrible physically and like a failure. 

Today I decided my healthy choices were a mental win. This program is about creating healthy habits and loving yourself in the process. I love my shakes and a challenge; I love myself when I don't hit all the targets.

More crock pot!

This weekend I got some good use out of my crock pots! Saturday I did a chicken breast for Jay, which I'll shred for Chicken salad and leave some plain for wraps. I also did strawberry applesauce for Lila. 

Today I decided to try black beans. I love dry beans but I never remember to soak them so the crock pot is the best method for me. 

1 lb black beans, sorted and rinsed added to the crock. One whole onion, quartered and two garlic cloves; add a bay leaf. Cook on low 5.5 hours, check for doneness, add tablespoon salt and let cook for 30 minutes. 

I also discovered you can freeze the cooked beans, so I let them cool and portioned them into one cup freezer bags and now I have them whenever I want! 

Recipes

Today I did boiled eggs in the crock pot and loved how they turned out! 

Add eggs, salt, enough hot water to cover. 3 tablespoons vinegar. Cook on high 2.5 hours. Cool down with cold water/ice. Peel and done!

Hayden eats two every morning for breakfast so I loved this method!