Amen

WordsToLiveBy:

Health: Drink plenty of water. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants. Live with the 3 E’s - Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy Play more games. Read more books than you did in 2010. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Sleep for 7 hours. Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily. And while you walk, smile. Personality: Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about. Don’t have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment. Don’t over do. Keep your limits. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip. Dream more while you are awake. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need. Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present. No one is in charge of your happiness except you. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime. Smile and laugh more. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree. Society: Call your family often. Each day give something good to others. Forgive everyone for everything. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6. Try to make at least three people smile each day. What other people think of you is none of your business. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch. Life: Do the right thing! Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful. However good or bad a situation is, it will change. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up. The best is yet to come. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

Nuggets 1st birthday!

My little nugget Cru Micheal Kool turned 1 today! I've been babysitting and loving this sweet little boy since he was 1 month old. Jeff and I absolutely adore him and his sweet fun parents.




After picking up the cake from HEB we decorated it ourselves! Turned out pretty awesome I'd say.


Just can't get enough of him.











Talk about a family of boys!


And the cake was a fail. Not a fan of being dirty at all.


Not funny but too cute.





Our " basket full of books" for Cru


Love you Crubie!

Team in Training!

Just signed on for my 3rd straight season with Team in Training as a mentor! 

When I finish my third season I will have been training with them for a year straight and will have raised over $5000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. That's one great 2011. message me if you want info on how to sign up for the winter season starting October 1st! 

It's such an amazing team and great cause. Team in training has truly changed my life and I wish everyone could experience the past year that I have! Look into it , it's not as scary as it sounds.

Click here for more information: http://www.teamintraining.org/

a night with some clowns

Last night I went to The Greatest Show on Earth (aka the circus)! Two girlfriends and I bought some $20 tickets and made a night out of it. We started at Melting Pot and had a glass of wine and some cheese and veggies then off to see the show. Our seats were pretty good for $20 and luckily no screaming scared children were right around us. It was a blast and at 26 I was still amazed at the tricks.

so close!

3 more short months till marathon #2. I have to express how much I'm enjoying my new life since I started training just 7 short months ago. 

I loved fast food, never worked out, drank more then I should and purchased Marlboro's weekly. I knew I wanted to turn my life around but I wanted to do it on my own terms and when I was ready. Evidently training for a marathon is the exact push I needed. I haven't touched a cigarette since the night January, I only drink the occasional glass of red wine, and I am a work out guru. I even work out twice a day 3 days a week. I LOVE it. I have never felt so healthy and full of energy in my life. I'm eating great and cooking every night. Eating healthy alone has made me feel incredible. One thing that helped was actually reading what was in the food I was eating. READ ABOUT WHAT YOU EAT! I couldn't believe what I was putting into my body. 

Add to that the amazing feeling of raising money for such a great cause. I'm an active member of Big Brothers Big Sisters and help out once a year with Susan G Koman but this experience would be my favorite. Knowing that the money were raising is helping save peoples lives really pushes me to run that extra mile every week. 

So Thank you to all of you who have donated and it's never too late. Just click the link on the right and it only takes 10 minutes. EVERY amount helps and is greatly appreciated!

Nashville in a nuttshell

I went to Nashville TN last week for work and it was an experience to say the least:

It was so sad leaving these sleeping boys



This MAN had some killer shape ups on the plane...with his business suit.



While waiting to change planes I found this mother ASLEEP at the terminal while her little girl ran amuck.



The map of my hotel for the week. We stayed at the Gaylord Opryland, super nice, super huge. I got lost multiple times.


One of the "islands" inside the hotel. Looks like the river walk if you ask me.




Elvis at a tech expo. Only in Nashville.


80's cover band and free airbrush tattoos one night. This conference was crrrrrazy haha.




Yummy room service my last night there. The food was amazing the whole stay.



Finally home with these two love birds.



All in all it was a good trip but I missed my routine and boys way too much :)

Happy Monday!

Chocolate before a workout...YES PLEASE

GREAT NEWS from FitSugar

Add another benefit of chocolate to your justification list: not only does dark chocolate help lower blood pressure and cholesterol, soothe a cough, and increase blood flow, but a new study now says it also can help you perform better if you eat it right before a workout.

The study looked at rats given either water or liquid extract of epicatechin, the healthy flavonoid found in dark chocolate that gives the sweet its many benefits, and found that rats who drank the extract ran as much as 50 percent farther than rats who drank only water. Epicatechin, the study found, binds to receptors in muscles, which may help them resist fatigue.

Wait, don't start gobbling the good stuff just yet! Read on for how much chocolate you should eat before a workout.

Good news, right? But don't take this research to mean you should chow down on a huge chocolate bar right before you hop on the treadmill. Only a small amount of dark chocolate is needed to reap the performance-enhancing benefits of the sweet, says the study's lead researcher, who also notes that eating a lot would undo any benefits by overloading muscle receptors. Small means five grams, or only about half a square of a dark chocolate bar. Also, don't think you can get by with a milk chocolate treat — too much processing undoes any positive effects of epicatechin, he says.

If you are looking for some dark chocolaty preworkout snack ideas, try these:

A sprinkle of dark cocoa in your Greek yogurt (with some honey if needed).

A handful of high-quality dark chocolate chips right before your workout.

A few dark-chocolate-covered mini pretzels.

A sprinkle of cocoa into a cup of coffee for even more endurance benefits.

A handful of trail mix containing cocoa nibs, nuts, and dried fruit.

A piece of Alter Eco Dark Quinoa Chocolate for another mix of proteins and carbs.

Still craving chocolate after your workout? Reach for some chocolate milk after an intense session — chocolate milk makes a great recovery drink!

Are bee's really that busy?

You know the expression "busy bee"? Where did it come from? How do we know bee's are busy and not sitting on the couch enjoying a glass of honey? 

I guess you could say I've been a busy bee lately. I've kicked up my training this season and have been running 5 mornings a week at 6am. It's gotten to the point where I don't even need an alarm to get up at 5am, which is good I guess. Then I usually do weights 2 nights, cycle 2 nights, and yoga saturday and sunday. CRAZY! But I am addicted and really focusing on being healthy and fit. I've also started reading The Skinny Bitch. Such a good eye opening book! I haven't finished it yet but I love it so far. I really like the tone they use, it's more real rather then someone sugar coating it to you.

Jeff and I make a point to cook and have dinner together every night of the week. I really enjoy that time together. We are both so busy and it's nice to have an hour or two of just us cooking, eating , and chatting about our week. We try and catch a movie every week ((I'm a HUGE movie goer)), have a late night dip in the pool to calm down at the end of the day, or take cooper for a really long walk on the greenbelt. 

Is it just our house or are you constantly doing laundry? I guess when you think aout it I change clothes almost 4 times daily. 1. Morning run 2. Work clothes 3. afternoon work out and 4. PJ's. I feel like as soon as the laundry is all done and put away the hamper is full again. The circle of laundry I guess. 

Anyways jam packed weekend filled with 9 miles Saturday morning and Footloose in Zilker Park!

Expect a better update on Monday! Happy almost weekend blogworld.

track team back again

So Kristen and I went to our first track practice today! Wasn't as bad as I though it would be. It was actually an awesome work out. Looking forward to many Tuesday mornings to come.

On a side note: be careful in this heat. It is getting crazy hot out there and the humidity doesn't help one bit. I think that is the main motivation for getting up at 5am...20 degree difference in heat. I don't mind the early mornings anymore, that is until about 1pm. Then it starts to hit me that I've been up for 8 hours already.

Another side note: I love our team this season. It's a lot of newbies and everyones is always so supportive and motivating.

Only 3 months and 13 days left until marathon #2. 

I can't believe that by the end of 2011 I will have run 2 full marathons and 3 1/2 marathons. Not to forget over 500 miles of running in just practice alone. 

It's defiantly become 2nd nature, not the running so much, but the getting up at 5am and starting the day out with a nice little 4 miles run. I will tell you I canNOT wait for this humidity to let up a little. Coming into the worse and final month of summer and I hope and pray it flies by.

Stay cool today ladies and gents! Don't forget to DONATE.

Please and Thank you.

ily

I love my BF. That is all for this busy little Monday.

xoxo

Reesa