Slacker Liv

ALEX, you have been so good at posting and I didn't even notice! From now on I will be posting at least once a week. Thank you for the motivation ;) and yes this 3 sentence post counts for this week...jk...maybe

Pep Talk Needed!

Ok I need some advice from those out there who just love to work out and do it on a regular basis, how the heck do you do it?!?!

I lose my mojo after a couple weeks. :(

So post any tips, motivation and success stories to help me and my sisters (because were all trying to get fit and healthy) keep going!!

Since I ended my 30 day paleo challenge and I survived I decided to try another challenge. You've probably seen the calendars with workouts for everyday some where online. Probably on pinterest, that's where I found mine. Side-note: I could (and have) spend HOURS on this site.

Here are the two I decided to do first (I have already found my next ones to try, if I don't get worn out before that):

A squat challenge (today was 150 of those bad boys!)

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/f4/49/cf/f449cf311637eb7f25b18e3126fbc342.jpg

and a crunch challenge (40 today)

http://shrinkingjeans.net/2013/05/30-day-ab-challenge/

I have already seen a little definition try to peek through on my thighs so that's exciting!!

Alright so post any advice you have, links to new challenges or workouts for me to try, whatever your heart desires really!!
 

Victory is mine!!!

I made it 30 days on the paleo challenge!!! I am so proud of myself because I stuck with it and finished! It was by no means the easiest thing I've ever done because I am a dr pepper lover and fast food connoisseur as well as being a single mother of two fast paced children, working full time and going to school full time to complete my bachelors, so time is not on my side to say the least. I was always "too busy" to cook on a regular basis so convenience usually won out in our home for dinner time. And while all these things weretrue or   relatively true a month ago I still did it and realized a lot of my excuses don't really hold water. 

I think I will be adapting some of what I learned this month into our normal routines. I won't be as strict as the challenge because let's face it sometimes a girl just needs a juicy cheeseburger and fries or a bowl of ice cream!!! But it definitely won't be as often as it used to be.  I have proven to myself that I can live without carbs which I also thought would happen when pigs sprouted wings and took flight. So I will definitely be limiting those as well and only allowing myself to splurge there sometimes. 

All in all it was a great experience and I would do it again and probably will. Especially since mr scale(yes my scale is a man bc they never say the right thing;)) says im down 8 pounds. Not too shabby for somebody who has a hard time dropping pounds!! I have encouraged people to try it. Even got my sister on board. I think today is her day 12. Should I run my post challenge food in her face??!! I think that's the only right thing to do as her big sister. ;)

A few things that stood out to me this past month were:

I eat a lot. (I dare say I had a relationship with food that might've teetered on an addiction. Yikes!! I found myself wanting to eat when I first started just because I was bored or I was used to eating so much)

It wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be (although I didn't go the organic route and all that. Because really ain't no body got money for that. See the before mentioned sentence about single momdom!)

I had to do way more dishes than normal (or my son did but same difference)

I saved a lot of money ( I haven't sat down and added it all up, and I probably won't because it would prob depress me haha. But I'm pretty sure it was at least over a hundred dollars I saved this month not eating out on a regular basis)

I do have more time than I think (thank you Jesus for this realization)

Well that's my 30 days in review!!! If you're up for it I suggest trying the challenge. You won't be sorry you did!! 

Day 21

I have made it three weeks into this challenge and I feel great!! 

I have survived two weekend trips, working at the office and at home, a few trips to the movie theater... I can conquer it all! 

I have nine more days to go to finish this challenge out. So I thought I'd reflect a little today. 

It hasn't been easy but it definitely wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. I have made sure I always have a snack in my purse so I don't succumb to temptation while out and about. 

Day 11 all I wanted was some ice cream (to say we are a big ice cream family would be a vast understatement) so fighting that craving was intense. 

This week I have had my female visitor (tmi you say? O well I say!) so all I have been wanting is a pan if brownies (yes I said pan), choc chip cookies and a great big ok dr pepper. So that has not been fun at all but I'm staying strong. 

I have already seen some results and I'm not sure if anybody else can see them at this stage but I can and that's really all that matters to me!! I'm am picking up my exercise these last 9 days just to end it with a bang. 

I would encourage you to research the 30 day paleo challenge and give it a go. It's an adjustment and takes some planning but its only 30 days. You can do it!! 

Ps I got Natasha to try it, she started yesterday . Good luck tashy bear!! 

Memories are precious

This weekend the kids and I joined some friends at their regular get away spot, rockport tx. We were vey excited. Our first day was jam packed with fishing out on their boat, an ambulance (more on that later), two beaches, a ferry ride, pool swimming and food of course. By the end of it i was worn out but mu babies had a great time so i am one happy momma. Here are a few shots from our first day. 

Heading out to the bay

The kids getting their first fish!!!

Our ferry ride :)

Today I think I'll stay in bed all morning and recover! Make some memories this weekend!

Flies In Your Nard

I grew up with my mom constantly telling me "Life is not fair, Alex Nichole". For the longest time I just thought she said that to shut me up and so she didn't have to give me what I was asking for. And while that may have been the case a few times (I am on to you mom) I think most of them were her actually trying to prepare me for real life (which I didn't realize until I was living that thing called real life). Thanks to those quips from my mom I was able to decide early on that while life was not fair I still had choices I could make. I could live life as a victim or a victor and it was solely my choice. So I chose the only logical choice to me which was the victor.

Some people are under that false understanding that when you start living for God
everything becomes fair and good. This is not the case because you are still living in a corrupt world. So life is still going to be hard and un fair. BUT you know how a hope that rises above all of that. When we worship God we are sending up a perfume ,or nard, to heaven. One that only we can send up because only we can worship Him for what He has done in our lives. Sure other people may know our situations and have prayed for us but they weren't in the middle of it, they didn't sleep in the valley and have to climb up the mountainside to reach the top like you did.

When we let bad situations or dumb decisions effect our worship of the One, True God we have allowed flies into our nard.

 

Dead flies make the perfumer's ointment give off a stench (Ecc 10:1a)

 

And when flies are allowed to stay in our perfume it creates a stench. We must be mindful of this and make a conscious effort to pluck the flies out of our perfume. How? By worshipping God DESPITE everything else.

You will fall, probably multiple times, but get back up!
You will make mistakes, and maybe even cause others to make mistakes, try to correct them and move forward.
You will get tired, you are living life after all, get refreshed by HIM.
You will make people mad, and you'll make yourself mad, its not the end of the world.
You may even find yourself rolling around in the mud a time or two, pick yourself up, clean off and look for higher ground.
You will get your feeling hurt, forgive and let go.
Bad days will come, but they wont last forever.

When we experience all of that and then some and still praise God because of HIS greatness we have discovered what worship is all about. It really has nothing to do with us and our stains and scars but everything to do with Him and His love and scars. Choose today to be a victor. Pluck those flies out of your nard so it can be sweet smelling to your Lord again.

Life is hard. For everyone, no matter what it looks like to the outsider. We all have situations we must overcome if we are going to live the best life we can. Live your best life today and send up sweet smelling nard!

30 day challenge

Well friends, I have decided to jump on the paleo bandwagon. Hey it could be a worse bandwagon that's for sure. I have been looking for a way to get healthy but have been putting it off because lets be honest I love my food. But I finally think its time to try something different so I have started the 30 day paleo challenge. I figured I better give it a whirl before I changed my mind.

So I started googling and trying to figure out exactly what was expected during the 30 days. I found a lot of information and found these two blogs most helpful, The Whole 9 and YIS. They both explained things very clearly and helped me wrapped my brain around this thing I was about to jump into for a month. 

I started on Thursday and am finishing up my second day. So far it hasn't been too bad but I think this is because a week and a half ago I cut out my dear Dr Pepper in preparation. That was the hardest transition because I had a slight Dr Pepper addiction (to say the least). I'll keep you updated on my progress, lets hope these 30 days will be worth it. :)

My birthday color bash

Last month for my birthday I signed up to run the color me rad 5k with my sisters and some friends. It was so much fun!! It ended up raining which added another layer of fun to it all. I'm pretty sure it was a great way to celebrate getting a year older. Because who doesn't like to dance in the rain a little. I'm not a huge runner...I'm asthmatic and out of shape and lazy and did I mention I have asthma?... But I was determined to do this run and have fun while I was at it. I trained a little, just enough so that I would not die Ina pile of colored cornstarch. And I met my goal!!! I'll have to post more pics if this fun, colored mess this week. 

One year later....

 
Obviously its been a while since I have blogged. I just haven't felt like it honestly. I thought sharing my pain and growth in the moment would be therapeutic but in actuality when I was in the moment typing about it was the last thing I wanted to do. But I have come out on the other side and I think I am ready to talk about it and get back to this here blog. (that my sisters  have deserted as well, shame on them ;))
 
A year ago this week I was walking into a courthouse to finalize the ending of something I once held very dear. It was a day I will remember probably for the rest of my life. I felt like a failure. I was broken. and when I got there and saw that my suspicions where correct (he didn't bother to show up to our court date) I was brought even lower. I guess I expected to see some fight, you know to show me that maybe there was a slim chance in maybe-land that this isn't how it had to be. I think at the end of the day I wanted to be fought for with more than lip service. Because hearing you are the most important thing in the world when you are walking away really means nothing if it isn't backed up with something else.. But there I was all alone in court and I just wanted to get it over with so I could start my healing process.
 
This past year has been a rollercoaster of emotions for me. Most of the rollercoaster was downward spirals and loopdy loops and hanging upside. I spend a lot of time at the bottom. There were days when I was pretty sure I was going to die there and that it was all my fault that I was there. I felt worthless. I hated myself and my life. I barely looked in the mirror because I didn't recognize myself. I stopped believe that good things could happen to me, for me, around me. (I am fully aware that this is dark, but this is where I was so I can only be honest) This last for about seven months. Now during this time there were some brief high moments. My family and God were definitely the cause of those. They didn't let me die, they nurtured me and cared for me and made sure that this depression and grief didn't consume me. And for that I will forever be grateful. Because I am pretty sure without them it would have. I knew that I was able to grieve and cry, get mad and sulk as long as I looked up and I didn't let it consume me.

I remember when it finally broke (I even wrote it down so that I could remember it forever and praise Him for it continually) and I was able to stand up straight without the weight of depression bearing me down. It was a Sunday night service on February the 24th (I told you it was dark for a long time). My pastor preached a sermon entitled "What happens when we praise" and I felt like he was talking straight to me. and I took his words and enacted it into my life. I praised! My life sucked but I praised. I wasn't sure I believed I deserved better but I praised. I had a broken heart that wasn't healing quick enough but I praised. I praised because through all the pain in my life I still believed that God is God and he can do all things. So even if I didn't see it I would praise Him for it and let Him know I WANTED it.

Then a week or so later on March 3rd we had a guest preacher who preached "Its our time" and while praying I heard "Its time to get out of the furnace". I was struck by the magnitude of this and knew it was time to start a new chapter and that God was with me in my furnace and He was going to walk me out and everything was going to be okay. I claimed those promises I heard that night for my life and since then I have been depression free and I have been able to look forward to the future with hope and expectancy. I believe that God has a plan for my life and that He can and will still use me to fulfill it.

This past year has definitely been the roughest time in my life and I would never wish it upon anyone. But I survived! I didn't die no matter how much life tried to get the best of me. I am not sure yet if I will ever get married again but I am open to the possibility if God opens that door ( 7 months ago this was a HARD NO). I recently went back to school to finish my degree and am the process of moving up at work. I feel like things are all coming together finally (Romans 8:28). I sent my dad a text yesterday and he replied " I am proud of you!! Its a new season" and I whole heartedly believe that.

I know this is a lengthy one ( that's what happens when I don't talk for six months or so!) but its been a long year so it only seems right for this post to be long. I don't have it all together but Im more together than I was yesterday and I'm okay with that. What's your year been like? Have you grown from where you were last summer? or are you further away from goals you set for yourself? Who says we have to wait until January to set and start new goals. Take some time to take stock. Life is short, days are shorter so get to it!