[catching up: my weeks in workouts | eleven and twelve]

Well folks, I seem to have fallen behind. There has been a ton going on in my world, and my body doesn't necessarily know how to deal with it all. So here are the images for my week in workouts that I haven't posted.

[week eleven]

[week twelve]

Frankly, I'm exhausted and only posting this to keep myself accountable. 

"i am almost never sure about what i want, but i am always sure about what i don't want."

- anonymous

[my week in workouts | week nine]

Good Monday morning friends!!! I'm feeling great this morning. So far I've kept to all my resolutions and just generally feel great this morning - healthy, clean, and ready to tackle this week. Last week was the beginning of the new year, and I started a new thing on Instagram. Basically every day i'm going to post my workout or activity of the day to keep myself accountable.

Notes on the above:

* glute pulls: got this idea from Brittany Perrillee on Instagram, she does them here. 

* leg press set: anytime I say this, it means I did narrow, normal, then wide as far as positioning my legs

* bosu ball squats: squats standing on the ball side of a boss ball

* bosu ball sits: where you go from standing to squatting to sitting on a bosu ball and then stand again. You don't sit for long but focus more on squatting.

* isotrak step machine: this is the kind we have at my gym. 

You'll notice on Thursday I didn't have a formal workout, because it was the first! We spent it at my aunt's house as a family so I didn't need to do a real workout, but we had an intense bike ride, so that was a good start to my year. 

"create a life that feels good on the inside, not one that just looks good on the outside."

- anonymous

[my week in workouts | week eight]

How crazy is it that it's week 8 already? Time flies for sure. How crazy is it that it's New Year's Eve? All around time has flown this year. Or maybe I've just been busy. We'll get to my resolutions later, but for now, here's last week's workout. It sucked a bit that I was sick on Christmas and my first day at my new job, [more details on that later too], but I had to not work out those days, I literally couldn't. This week has already been so much better, i'm in such a good place physically and mentally. My motivation is great and i'm on such a roll. I'm so glad to be ending the year this way and to be starting 2015 so well!

My workout:

I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year's Eve!!!

"life is very short. insecurity is a waste of time."

- diane von furstenberg

[my week in workouts | week seven]

Well folks, GET EXCITED. I start my new job Monday!!! More details to come on being a working woman again, but first: this week in workouts. My lack of workout on Monday was because we were traveling 13 hours to get to Miami and Thursday I just didn't have time. Other than that, I'm loving being back at my gym and getting into something of a routine. I'm really excited for this week, since I remembered I got a FitBit Flex a few months ago and never learned to use it. I set it up and will start using it this week to keep track of my steps and hopefully my food and water intake.

You'll see a huge difference between this week and the one before it, and things are only going to improve from here!

Have a good week all! Happy Holidays!

"she believed she could, so she did."

- anonymous

[my week in workouts | week six]

Let me start by saying I'm hugely disappointed in myself and my results. My trip to Tennessee ended up being much more of a hiatus than I'd originally intended and the weather definitely meant more coffee, hot chocolate, and hearty (aka caloric) soups. Unlike in the past, I didn't gain weight (YAY ME) but I definitely made ZERO progress. It's crazy to think I'm six weeks in and still not noticing any difference.

That said, I'm not giving up, still working and not letting the bad days make things worse. Here's week six.

Can you tell I tried to overcompensate when I finally got a chance to workout?

"will it be easy? nope. will it be worth it? absolutely."

- anonymous

[my week in workouts | week five]

I will go ahead and say I'm in Nashville right now! Loving it of course, as I knew I would. That being said, this weekend was a rather lethargic weekend. You'll notice there was no workout on Thursday, because I was running errands and driving to Nashville, then Saturday and Sunday were touristing days, so we walked around but I didn't have a formal workout.

Seeing a new city and trying amazing restaurants isn't always conducive to great workouts or healthy meals, but I'm trying to do it all! Now to tackle these holidays and family dinners! Good luck to you all too!

"stay patient and trust your journey."

- anonymous

[my week in workouts | week three]

So, saying this past week has been a hiatus from my intense workouts is an understatement. Everything was going fine until Wednesday, when we drove 13 hours from Miami to Knoxville. That didn't exactly leave much time to work out. I got some exercise in on Thursday, but Friday we touristed around all day so I didn't get a chance to work out then either. And then when Sunday came around, it was quite the Sunday, so I was just lounging around.

I WILL make this week a more productive one, even though it's Thanksgiving!

Have a good week all!

"life's under no obligation to give us what we expect."

- margaret mitchell

[turkey chili]

Winter is definitely soup and chili season, but also weight gain season. In an effort to enjoy all those delicious foods but not gain the weight, I'm taking on some of my favorite meals and trying a healthy twist on them. I've got a whole 'clean eating' board on Pinterest, to pull ideas from. This one is basically my spin on this Turkey Chili recipe I found. 

The process is actually really simple, only taking a little over an hour to have this dish ready to serve and eat! I made it on a sauce pan, because I don't have a crock pot or slow cooker, but that would probably work too. Here's a step-by-step look at the process. 

My ingredients: I bought the turkey specifically for this, but surprisingly I had the rest in my kitchen! I used 1 can of kidney beans, 2 cans of diced tomatoes (next time I plan to use fresh tomatoes), 1 onion, 6 cloves of garlic, 1 green bell pepper, some oregano, chili powder, and cayenne pepper.

Step 1: Sauté the chopped garlic and onions. 

Step 2: Add meat til it browns, then add the rest of the ingredients and stir. 

Step 3: Stir every 10-15 minutes for an hour and voila! It's ready!

Printable version:

Enjoy!

"the desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. the desire to reach hearts is wise."
- maya angelou

[my week in workouts | week two]

After the first week of documenting my workouts I really started to feel more motivated to exercise. Oddly enough, it was like a positive assignment/homework I wanted to do. So I'm going to keep at it. The amazing thing is how much power we have over our bodies. Ultimately, our bodies are our works of art, we can change them [pretty much] as much as we want to. It's crazy how even after that first week, going into the second week, my body felt so different. On leg day my knees felt stronger (I have knee problems, no surprise there), on tricep day my biceps and triceps already started to look a tiny bit more defined, and it's all a direct result of my actions and choices. Sitting here after week two, I'm feeling so much better and ready to push that much harder!!!

I also thought it'd be beneficial this time around to explain some things, since I abbreviated them:

• Leg press sets: I do the leg press machine, 15 reps with my knees and feet together, 15 in a regular squat, 15 as wide as I can. That's 1 set, which I do as many times as I can.
• Plank circuit: To strengthen my abs and lower back, I do three plank sets. Each set is: 10 seconds regular plank, 10 seconds on one side, 10 seconds the other side. 
• Step workout: I basically did random stuff on the step, working a little cardio into my leg routine.
• #SweatTour2014 is a workout created and taught by Dawn Archer. Her story is incredible, and she has traveled to 47 states so far teaching this class in random parking lots, parks, and gyms. The workouts are different each time and last about an hour. Honestly, I was surprised how much it kicked my butt. 

All in all I'm noticing some awesome changes in my body and am looking forward to week three!!! Get to sweatin' y'all!

"you'll turn out ordinary if you're not careful."

- ann brashares

[my week in workouts]

Something I've been trying to do recently is document my workouts; it keeps me more accountable and helps me gauge my progress. Obviously I pull inspiration and ideas from all kinds of sources, from Instagram accounts to Pinterest workout ideas. This was my week in workouts from last week, and Sunday was my rest day. Here's to seeing some improvement!

"remember the girl who gave up? nobody else does either."

- anonymous

[monday motivation]

Remember when I told you I've been really busy? (If not, here you go). I have this horrible habit of letting my life become a vicious cycle: I get really focused on one or two things and let my other priorities fall by the wayside. For me, the struggle has always been balancing work, living a healthy life, family time and my personal goals (travel, the blog, etc). I can usually manage two extremely well and then it's like I blink and it's been a month since I work out (which is insane). So in this busy, blog-post-less time, I have been working on my time managements, priorities, and goals. The beauty of my timing is that a new L.A. Fitness opened up literally 1.5 miles from my house. Perfect, right? So of course, I signed up a week before so I was ready to go when it opened. Boy, am I glad I did. Anywho, now that I have a gym to work out at, here are some workouts I've pinned and look forward to doing in the coming week.

from SnapFitness.com 

from FitFabCities.com

from PopSugar.com

Have a happy and healthy week everyone!!!

"you never know who needs you. good energy is contagious."

- anonymous

[DIY: flavored water]

Part of clean eating is clean drinking too. While I love water, it can sometimes get a bit dull and I sometimes crave something with more flavor to it. Enter in flavored waters! No, not the store bought kind, the homemade kind! Basically what happened was I bought way too much fruit one day and realized it was going to go bad before I had a chance to eat it, so I used it to make water!

Here are two different flavors I made with what I had in my fridge: mint, lime and pineapple water and peach and pineapple water. All you do is cut the fruits and herbs, put in the jar and then add water! Then I let them steep at least a day to really get as much flavor in as I can.

Much better than soda and since I don't like tea, it works for me!!!

"came from a plant, eat it; was made from a plant, don't."

- michael pollan

[healthy summer snacks]

In my quest to be healthy and still enjoy my life, I've been really trying to eat better lately. It's hard though, considering I don't have much time / patience for meal prep and my schedule is incredibly irregular. I also get really bored eating the same things over and over again, so coming up with fun new ideas is very hard. Here are a few snacks I've been choosing lately, as part of my snacking through the days instead of bigger meals.

I love hummus, so I eat it with tomatoes and carrots. 

I love Bolthouse Farms smoothies and protein shakes. I typically have them as a mid-morning snack to help break up the day. It's really more of a meal but it's always an on-the-go thing.

I also like to throw in some kind of trail mix every once in a while, but I've been trying to eat more fruits and vegetables lately. So far it's been a few days that I've been refocused and I definitely feel a bit better. And my digestive system is back to normal!

Everyone have a happy fourth!

"no great thing is suddenly created."

- epictetus

[how i spent my weekend]

This weekend was actually quite the busy weekend for me. I worked both days, spent time with my family, bought my bridesmaid dress (my best friend is getting married!!!) and got back on the health train. For me, weekends are usually spent working, so I try to sleep in before I get ready for work, go to work and come home. My version of a weekend is really more when I have my two days off back to back. I work in a hotel though, so that's actually pretty normal. So the fact that I worked 7-3:30 both Saturday and Sunday meant I actually got to enjoy the rest of the days like most people! Here's a recap of what I think was a successful, fun and productive weekend.

Saturday:

WORK. Which looks like this:

Then I sped home (literally) to watch the Colombia vs. Uruguay game, which Colombia WON!!! Seriously super exciting. My favorite part: James Rodriguez's goal where he chested the ball down and kicked it in. BEAUTIFUL. You'll have to excuse the German (I think) but this is the best quality video I could find.

That game was followed by a good workout, warm shower and early bedtime. I have to get up at 5 a.m. for my 7 a.m. shift!

Sunday:

WORK. Which was much more calm so I actually left a bit early. Then I went dress and shoe shopping! I already knew which dress I was buying so it was just a matter of trying it on to figure out my size and then buying the shoes to go with it. I won't show you my dress but I will show you the bride-to-be! 

I even made it home in time to catch a bit of sun and get some reading done! I fixed up a quick salad, grabbed by newest book (by a fellow Sigma Kappa) and laid down outside. 

Salad: spinach, carrots, cherry tomatoes, ham, feta cheese, hummus and a tiny bit of caesar vinaigrette. 

Book: Carry On, Warrior by Glennon Doyle Melton. She spoke at the convention I went to about a week ago and I loved her! So far the book is just as good.

My view:

It actually stormed a bit Sunday evening, so I gave in and sat in bed watching tv, pinning things and just browsing the interwebs. I hope you all had fun weekends! Have a great week!

"life without touching other people is boring as hell."

- glennon doyle melton

[summer recipes]

This weekend was the first weekend of the year that I actually think felt like summer. Now that I'm really feeling the new season, I'm excited about new, fresh recipes to try and have around the house. Of course, you can find them all on my Pinterest too!

I'm going to go ahead and say that these are not my photos; these are from the original posts on people's sites, which I found on Pinterest. Each pin links directly to the site and I am very thankful for the wonderful people who've put these recipes online!

SOUTHWESTERN BLACK BEAN SALAD

(I like to put it on lettuce)

 BLT CHOPPED SALAD W/ CORN, FETA & AVOCADO

 ZESTY LIME, SHRIMP & AVOCADO SALAD

For me, summer is about light, fresh, bright meals that are both satisfying and healthy. And this summer is going to be about eating better too! Keep on the lookout for more recipes and my versions of ones I find online!

Have a wonderful week!!

"live in the sunshine. swim in the sea. drink the wild air."
 - ralph waldo emerson