Elf For Health - Week 2

Clearly I am a glutton for punishment. Instead of lesson planning and grading during this free period, I am doing this. I can't help it, my Week 2 email came in and I'm all excited for the daily challenges! My elf buddy, Melissa, and I have been emailing regularly which makes it so much more fun.  While I know that I "waste" a lot of time on the Internet, I don't care because I get to do so much and "meet" so many people because of it! 

So Week 2 looks like this:

Monday - send a handwritten note.  Already working on it, kids.

Tuesday - Eat the rainbow! Since I am doing the Whole30 I don't think this will be a problem.

Wednesday - Go makeup free today! Little hesitant about this one, but I'm going for it. I apologize in advance ;)

Thursday - Workout with a buddy! I'm planning a yoga meet-up for my Healthy Living club. Hopefully some of them show up to do yoga with me. 

Friday - Leave an Operation Beautiful note. Again, I am going to recruit my Healthy Living girls to help me write some to leave around school.

Saturday - Clean out your fridge and pantry. I sort of did this last Saturday, but will do it again.  In addition, I am going to clean out all of my bedroom drawers and closet. I want to purge clothes!

Sunday - Make a list of 20 things you are grateful for.  I'm pretty excited about this one. 

Whole30 - Day 1

I'm typing this to try to distract myself from the fact that I want to eat crap. I'm procrastinating doing any sort of school work or the laundry. Typically when I do this I snack on all the things. Unfortunately, it was usually sugar-laden. Did you know that sugar is in everything?!? Seriously, I was reading labels to see if things were Whole 30 approved and eliminated so many things based on the sugar alone.

So my Day 1 consisted of a hard-boiled egg before 4 mile run/walk (dang Bar method sore legs!) and 50 burpees. I came home and ate this breakfast scramble and an Americano with coconut milk.

I went in to work and then ate some of the pumpkin chicken curry I made yesterday with green beans. I probably should have eaten more because I then snacked on some cashews, dates, and green olives. The curry was ok. I am definitely going to have to work on making more flavorful food if I am to feel satisfied. I think I'm going to eat a Larabar and some mint tea and call it a day.

Now I just need to be a little productive and do 50 more burpees for Elf For Health then I can go to sleep early! Two weeks of solid teaching are ahead and I need to be on my A-game.

Gobble Gobble

Thanksgiving 2013 was a whirlwind trip. I drove to Orlando the Friday before to meet my friend Tara while she was attending a conference and stay with her before flying out the next morning.  (She's the greatest friend a girl could have.)

On Saturday I flew to St. Louis and was picked up by a friend and after we had lunch I met up with my mom and cousin to do some shopping damage.  After a few great days at home catching up on sleep, having mommy days, and generally just relaxing, we road tripped it to Bowling Green.  This was the part I have been looking forward to for weeks even though I was sad to leave my home. Our family isn't big, but we are very close.  My great-aunt and uncle are basically my grandparents. I've talked about them here and they are still just as cute as ever!

The night before Thanksgiving we all just hung out at their house catching up and dreaming of the next day's feast.  On Thanksgiving, my mom and I got up early and went for a 3.5 mile run in frigid temperatures! Food is incredibly motivating for the both of us.

Breakfast of champions - Skinny latte and holiday Flips!

While we all stood standing around about to eat our arms off before lunch at one, the paparazzi wouldn't leave us alone. Sadly all of those pictures are on her (the momma jane's) phone. Here is one of the children of two of the grandchildren. Three on the left belong to Sara Jane. Two on the right belong to David and Ann Wade belongs to Briggs (the older of the two). Confusing? Sorry!

Briggs, Aaron, Seth, Ann Wade + Briggs, Nathan 

Here is the cutest man on the face of the planet. My Uncle Bill is just the sweetest thing.

After a few more pictures and the funniest grace ever, we feasted. So. Much. Food. And the desserts aren't even on the bar!

I have no recollection of my family drinking at family functions. Mainly because we have a few who ruined it for all of us so you can imagine the surprise when my cousin Alice and I stumbled upon this...

Holy liquor cabinet! We were just looking for a corkscrew. We sort of decided that wine needed to happen. Some of that liquor is older than I am!

Anyway, I am so extremely grateful for my family and wish we all lived closer together. I hope you all had a fabulous holiday!

Well this is discouraging...

So after a great Thanksgiving, I decided to just go for it. I'm starting the Whole30 tomorrow. I returned to an empty fridge and thought, "why not?"  But then, after spending the last four hours shopping and prepping, I logged on to the Whole9 website and saw this. 

Seriously?!? It talks about how the holidays just might not be the best time and while I understand the rationale, I don't really think it applies to me. I'm not really good with others thinking they know better than me anyway. So I'm just going to ignore their advice and give it a go even though I am sooooo nervous!

Today I did some serious shopping at Fresh Market and Sam's and will need to hit Publix tomorrow.  I then spent the evening watching some Notre Dame football and cooking up a storm. I made Spicy Pumpkin Chicken Curry, Salmon Patties, and prepped some stuff for breakfast.  I'll do another good batch of cooking in the morning before going in to work at the Outlets.

I'll give a little Elf For Health update and Thanksgiving recap soon! Wish me luck :)

I like to keep TSA on their toes.

I'm a city girl who just happened to grow up in a small town and who currently lives in a different small town. My favorite days growing up were when my mom and I would plan to go to St. Louis to get our big city fix.  We would shop all day, eat lunch and  have the greatest time. I remember planning out what I would wear for those excursions for weeks before the actual day.

Now that I am a grown-up (ha!), I have chosen to live in a small town again for a few years, but I miss the city every day. I especially miss my super healthy, everything at your fingertips, weird-loving Austin. While I now live at the beach and have different opportunities, what I miss most is access to affordable, healthy food options. As I get ready to embark on the Whole 30 Challenge, I think this is going to be my biggest challenge. Of course Fresh Market has most of what I need, but at twice the price I am used to paying. Will I suck it up and pay it? Yes. Will I like it? This frugal foodie says, "heck to the no!"

Since I am such a frugal (tight-wad), you better believe I make the most of Southwest's free bag policy.  The past few times I have been home I have brought an extra bag that I fill with goodies from Trader Joe's.  My mom and I stop their either the day I land or the day I fly back.  This time I stocked up on things I will be using on the Challenge. Look at all the goodies!

Coconut oil, ghee, nuts, dried (no sugar-added) raspberries, the BEST mint tea, some spices, and Cashew cookie Lara bars.  And the fact that they are Whole30 approved isn't even the best part. My mom treated me to all of it!!! She's the greatest. Full disclosure - I also bought some non approved items to use in the meantime. Now if only I could pack the perishable stuff. I'm pretty sure the TSA security guys have some interesting reactions when my bags get inspected.

Elf for Health

I am so excited to be participating in Nutritionella's Elf for Health Challenge! Tonight I received my Elf assignment and I can't wait to start exchanging emails.

The premise of this challenge is so great.

1. It's going to give me little goals and tasks to accomplish everyday and the best part is they are all attainable.

2. I get to interact with like-minded people, name my Elf Buddies Melissa and ???, especially during this crazy, not so health-focused season. (Melissa, get ready for some emails with an excessive number of exclamation marks.) 

3. There are prizes!!!

4. I'm going to challenge my girls in Healthy Living Club to do some of the tasks with me.

5. It's helping me get back to blogging.

Clearly, you can see this is a win-win-win situation! 

Breaking the silence

The day after Christmas I am embarking on the Whole30 Challenge. And I hope to document it here! Until then I will blog about all the prep work, mentally and physically, that I am doing.  It most definitely includes a lot pinning :)