Strawberry- Banana Smoothie

Ok, so yesterday morning, I failed to wake up to work out. My alarm went off, and I decided against it. In my heart of hearts, I knew I would be sitting all day, and thought it might be better if I saved my run for after school so I could move. Such a brilliant idea, Heather  

I haven’t had a steady run for a lonnggg time, especially on the treadmill! I changed that yesterday, with a fantastic run! I mean, one that felt great, time flew by, and I actually enjoyed. I really forgot how much I enjoy running and how amazing I feel after, but was quickly reminded.

I ran 5 miles! It felt like heaven. Running 5 miles outside is not a huge accomplishment, but 5 miles on the treadmill? Pretty unheard of for me! I ran it in under 45 minutes, too!

Myste even wanted in on the sweaty action! She sat in my basement watching me run the entire time, and as soon as I stopped, she was on that treadmill! She needed some snuggles from me!

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Now, the reason you are here! This morning, I shared that I made a strawberry-banana smoothie to hold me over last night! It is my favorite smoothie, but don’t make it too often! I should change that.

Step 1: Assemble the ingredients.

Step 2: Put ingredients in your blender.

Step 3: Mix!

Step 5: Enjoy!

Let me know your thoughts!

Questions:

• Favorite show to watch while working out? I happened to be watching The Biggest Loser while running yesterday, which I think made it such a great run! It kept me going!

Recap + a New Workout!

Good Morning, my beautiful readers! I haven’t filled you in on much since Friday, so let’s catch up! I ended up laying low on Friday. When I thought the numbness wore off from getting moles removed, it really hadn’t. Fast forward to about 9pm and I was in immense pain, which led to a less than stellar night sleep!

I woke up in a bit less pain yesterday, but I was really out of it all day. I ended up heading to the doctor’s because my cough had gotten worse, and it hurt very badly to cough with stitches in your back! Found out I have an ear infection, too, so I really laid low all day. I wasn’t feeling like doing much so I caught up on all my DVR shows, laid on the couch all day, and then began to go nuts in my house. Just one of those days where nothing sounded great, but I felt super lazy for not doing anything. Oh well! Some days are just like that. I am actually heading out to Trader Joe’s now just to get out of my house and pick up some things I need for this week. Trader Joe’s always makes me feel better

Tonight actually starts marriage classes for Aaron and me. We have them tonight, Tuesday, Thursday, and then Saturday. Seems like a long time, so I hope it is worth it! One more step closer to the wedding!

Let’s move on to what I did manage to eat yesterday.

After my meatball sub dinner the other night, I have been craving another! Between Ash Wednesday and then Friday, I was finally able to have one yesterday It tasted good, but nothing was really hitting the spot in the food category.

Please excuse the photo. It tasted better than it looked!

In the middle of the afternoon, I got hungry and decided to go for a banana to hold me over! Wasn’t bad, and as you can see, Niko really wanted it!

My mom headed out for my prescriptions in the afternoon, and brought home these gems for me! Absolute favorite candy out there!

My family decided to order pizza last night, and sometimes pizza is just where it’s at. I could probably live on pizza forever, but then I’d blow up to be a blimp and I don’t want that!

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Alright, well since I had all this time yesterday, I came up with a treadmill workout for you fine people! It is a treadmill run, but feel free to play around with the speeds. My treadmill only goes up to a speed of 10, but if yours goes to more, please adjust accordingly. If you want more of a walking workout, adjust the speeds down 2 for everything. For example, instead of 5, make it 3, instead of 8, make it 5.

Enough of my rambling, let’s get to it! Enjoy

Enjoy your Sunday!

Questions:

• Favorite thing from Trader Joe’s?
• Do you like to run or walk on the treadmill?

We Can Always Improve

Today marks Ash Wednesday, which is a very important day for Catholics (and maybe more religions, but being Catholic, I don’t know!) as it marks the beginning of Lent. Lent is a time when you make a sacrifice, or go out of your way to try new things. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what I want to do this year, I ultimately came up with a list of goals. These are things that I really want to be committed to and follow through on. I am always looking for ways to improve, and thought now was a great time to put my goals into actions.

So here I go:

• Devote time each night to be technology free. I am pretty much addicted to my phone. If I am not on Facebook, I am on Twitter. If there is nothing new on twitter, I read blogs. All of which I enjoy.  My point is that I always have my phone in my hand. Even while eating dinner or talking to my parents, I am probably on my phone checking something. I want to spend less time doing this. I think I do it out of habit more so than any other reason, but it’s still not healthy. I will start small each night just turning off my phone and laptop and hopefully it won’t be such a habit anymore.
• Prep meals ahead of time. I am usually good at this, but I could be better. Some nights I’d rather lay on the couch instead of making my lunch. I would like to make a weeks worth of breakfasts and lunches at the beginning of the week so all I have to do is throw it in containers, saving myself some time and stress in the morning.
• Listen to my body while working out. I admit it. Sometimes I become obsessed with calories and pushing myself to the max. After receiving a heart rate monitor for Christmas, I try to scale back the intensity when I am in my max zone, but I could do better. I also need to listen to my body when it’s begging me to take the day off, but I am too focused on getting that workout in. My body tells me what it needs, and I need to listen to it more.
• Limit after dinner splurges. I do so well with my eating during the day. I eat meals, I eat snacks. I try to stick to a eating every 3-4 hours. For some reason, though, I cannot keep this up after dinner. It seems that I am always reaching for something even when I am not hungry. Because I get up to work out first thing in the morning, I am not opposed to eating something after dinner to hold me over, but my eating turns into too many calories and food that I shouldn’t eat ever let alone after dinner. I need to work on making better choices with what I do decide to eat.
• Be a better listener. This is something that I feel everyone can improve on. It also goes back to my technology goal. Constantly having my phone or laptop makes it harder to listen to others. I want to focus on the person talking to me, and not be thinking of everything else going on. I need to stay in tune with the person I am talking to.
• Let Go and Let God. This is harder than it sounds. I have type A personality. I don’t like to wait, and have a hard time being in stressful situations that I am not in charge of. I like to get things done and usually stress about them until I finish. I worry about the future all.the.time. With this goal, I am going to try to let my stress go, live in a more carefree way, and let God handle my problems.  “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

I know this seems like a lot, but they are all small changes to make daily and will hopefully result in a happier life for myself and everyone in it (NOT that I am unhappy in any way! Always room for improvement). Jesus gave up his life for us; I can certainly change mine for the better.  

Questions:

• Do you participate in Lent? Would you rather do things or give things up? I feel that in my life now, there isn’t anything I would do well at giving up. In the past when I have given up food, I have done worse with it and ended up going crazy eating it in the end.
• Are you good at letting go in situations or do you stress? I’m trying really hard to be better at this!