2009 - Things to be grateful for!

Even though I haven't been blogging long and don't have many posts on this, I thought I would do a quick 2009 things to be grateful for post. This afternoon, my family and I were driving around doing errands and everyone was in a bad mood. Work is incredibly hard for me right now, my 3 year old is being a real pill, I haven't been feeling well for a week (a cough that I refer to as my stress cough will NOT go away!), and because of all of this, haven't slept well at all.

SOOOO, my beautiful husband said we should think about things for which we are grateful from 2009...and I think I might have some pictures to go along!

We took some great trips! Over spring, I went on a work trip with my hubby to San Diego. We had a great time. It was our first time away from the kids and it just felt great to be alone with him. We did some awesome things on this trip, but I didn't take many pictures. The best one I have is at a Padres game. I am a big baseball fan and have this not so secret dream to attend every major league ball park in the US. This stadium was a great one!



We also went to Santa Fe as a family. My parents have a house out there. We went over the summer and had a blast. We had picnics, ate great food, swam, relaxed, hiked....it was awesome!




We also took a couple of trips to Chicago. One in the fall as a getaway for just the four of us:





And again in December as our annual trip to celebrate Christmas. We go every year, do some regular traditions, and see lots of family. It's a great time.




In June, I completed the hardest year of teaching IN MY LIFE, and in August, I started year two in a different position, and in a MUCH smoother way. (This is just something to acknowledge - I don't really have pictures of this) :)

I ran/walked two races. In October, I did a 5K with two of my friends. My time was 38 minutes and I was just so happy to complete my first race in 5 years.



With the BEST cheering squad EVER!



In November, I did the Drumstick Dash on Thanksgiving. 4.5 miles in a little over an hour. Again, I was just so proud and LOVED the fact I started my holiday weekend with this race!



In May, we celebrated our baby girl turning one,




And in November, we celebrated our baby boy turning three.




So no matter what, really, could I be any luckier? I have yet to set my goals for 2010 - I have a couple of ideas and am ALMOST ready to go public with them, but for now and tonight, I'm going to celebrate a year that was, in all, a very successful year!

A rough few weeks

This morning, I went for a two mile run. My first in quite a while. I felt pretty good. I took off too fast, but eventually I found my pace and pretty easily made it for the two miles. While I ran, I thought about my plan of attack. Slowly, but surely, I'm realizing how good I feel when I eat well and exercise regularly. I do not want to create resolutions - maybe more like plan of attack. I'm turning 35 in 2010. I"m hitting the second half of my 30s and want to feel better than I ever have before. I have been under a lot of stress at work lately and am really looking for balance and happiness. I haven't been focusing on eating, I haven't been putting emphasis on exercise, and you can tell. I'm tired, my face is a zitty mess, and I feel like a slug. I have a family and important job, people! I can't feel sluggish!

I felt proud this morning after my run. That feeling of pride, in my opinion, should trump any other feeling of stress or unhappiness I have. So, although this isn't my "Goals 2010" post, I would definitely say that one of my goals is to feel proud more often - and furthermore, acknowledge that pride!

We are visiting family for the next couple of days. When we get back, I'll do my Goals 2010 post - OH and I got a Canon Powershot for Christmas! Perfect to carry along with me on my runs! :) (Of course I forgot this morning - I will tomorrow for sure!)

The Body Image Issue

As I write more and get happier with my body more, I'm sure I'll write about this more.

The bottom line is, regardless of the fact that this body has given birth to two amazing babies, works hard everyday, helped open an incredible school, has run many races including a half marathon, takes care of a house, cooks healthy food for her family (almost) everyday, takes walks with the family regularly, was a gymnast and softball player - and a pretty good one at that....regardless of all of that, I will never forget the HURTFUL things people said to me when I was younger.

Nobody says them now.

In fact, I get a lot more compliments than anything else.

However, when I have days that I struggle to exercise or make a bad order while I'm eating out, my mind goes back to those mean and thoughtless people.

They have power over me. That is a power that I am going to conquer - even if I am peering at 35 off yonder in the distance. If I'm going to raise my children to love themselves, I really need to figure out how to love myself too.

Thank you, Carla, for your post today. It hit home in more ways than you'll ever know. :)

The Exercise Issue

Ahhhh exercise....

How I love thee but struggle with thee.

I have to wake up to workout early. I can do videos in my living room, exercises on my own, and even go running.

But I don't.

All week, I set the alarm for 5:00 and ended up getting up between 6 and 6:30, then I'm out the door by 7:00.

It's just so hard.

I want to set goals and make this big plan for myself, but I don't. The craziest thing is that I know it will make me feel amazing. I know that I will be so psyched that I started my day that way and walk into work with all kinds of pride.

I wish I could have this whole conversation with myself to convince myself.

But I'm not.

I would be so excited if I blogged every morning about my great morning workout - just like I was excited to blog about my food choice out to eat on Monday (and by the way my eating has been AWESOME this week!)

So I'll leave it at that. I'll keep reminding myself about how good I'll feel if I do it and blog about it. And I KNOW I will get there!

If you don't want to take a picture of it, don't eat it!

Last night was gymnastics night at our house. We leave work a bit early, pick up the kids and take them to gymnastics. A1 is in his own class and A2 is in a parent/tot class. They workout at the same gym I went to as a kid before my family moved to Chicago (once upon a time, teachermama was a pretty good gymnast...maybe another time I'll get into that...)

After gymnastics, we go out to dinner. Gymnastics ends at 6 and by then the kids are starving - even if they've had a snack on the way! We often go to Subway which is great - I can get a veggie sub and baked chips and not feel even remotely bad about myself. I can even snack on the kids stuff and not feel bad (I have a TERRIBLE time keeping my hands out of their food. I'm working on it!)

Last night, Ryan and I were not feeling Subway. It was all A1 wanted, but we convinced him to go to McAlisters. This is a place I don't love, but it has more options - however, for a vegetarian, the options are slim. Salad does nothing for me. I had veggie chili for lunch and really didn't want it again....so I opted for a cheese pizza. They are thin crust and good. Then, while I was sitting there, I thought about taking a picture of my food. I thought that I might be embarrassed of taking a picture of my cheese pizza. For someone who SAYS they are trying to be healthy, I shouldn't be ordering cheese pizzas. :) So THIS is what my plate looked like:



Yippee for me!!! I am my own superhero!!! I was quite proud! The sandwich was delicious, and I only used a little bit of the ranch dressing (so nice it came on the side!) I nibbled a little bit on the kids' stuff (those are A2's nachos in the background, she likes to "dip" stuff!), but felt really good about my choices....maybe this food blogging thing is worth it ---although hubby did get a little annoyed I was taking a picture of my food while the kids were both crying and whining..... Hey, I'll figure it out!

Cheers to a great day! My day started with another incredible bowl of oatmeal - yum, yum, yum!

Morning Breakfast

Since I started reading all of these wonderful food blogs: Eat, Live, Run, Healthy Tipping Point, Meganerdruns, Oh She Glows, Kath Eats, Food Fitness Fashion, Carrots N Cake, N Her Shoes (and others - but I only have so much time!) I've started embracing the oats. These fabulous women have bowls of oats in the morning that blow me away - and I've been emulating for about a month now!

This weekend, after my Drumstick Dash, Ryan (my husband) asked me how I felt compared to the 5K I did in October. I told him I felt great. He asked why since I hadn't been running like I wanted - I told him I thought it was because of the fact I've been eating healthier and making healthier choices. I generally have more energy.

The beautiful ladies mentioned above, as well as mizfit have gotten me to really think about how to LIVE. How to make food and exercise choices and LIVE. How to eat clean and LIVE. How to enjoy healthy food and LIVE. How to complete a run and LIVE. I'm so doing that!

I LOVE how these beautiful ladies blog about their food and food choices. I'm going to TRY. Keeping in mind I'm a mother of two and a school leader - I only have so much time in the day...plus I'm REALLY long-winded :)

So, here's breakfast. My oats - how I love thee. I literally get excited thinking about oats and what I'm putting in them. I eat at school before I teach my little math class and everyone looks to see what's in them. Nobody understands how good they are and how long they keep me FULL!



In my oats today:
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup vanilla almond milk
1/2 cup water
Half a Banana
1/4 cup pumpkin granola
Tablespoon of Almond Butter
A smattering of chocolate chips

And a Diet Coke (she says as she recoils from the aforementioned foodies...A BIG goal is to rid myself of my Diet Coke habit. I have one or two a day, it could be worse, but I shouldn't drink it. Nothing good or healthy about it - except it completes me :)

Cheers to a great day!!!

It's a proud proud day...

This afternoon I ran THREE MILES IN A ROW! Yes ladies and gentlemen (I'm almost confident nobody is reading though!) this was the first time I've done this in years. I feel amazing - but exhausted. I hardly slept last night, woke up early with A2, and had a busy day.

The run was great. I walked for a couple of blocks and then just started running. My pace was between 10 and 11 minutes, and using my Nike+, I checked my pace every so often and even slowed down a little bit here and there. I really wanted to make it the full 3 miles. There were a couple of times I thought about stopping and walking. Then, I thought about how amazing I would feel if I kept going and completed the whole run. By the time the lady in my ears was telling me 400 more meters, 200 more meters, etc, I thought - I can do this! And I did. I really am so happy!

My plan for now through my winter break is to exercise 5-6 times a week. Three runs, and the other days strength training to either Jillian Michaels videos or Firm videos. I'd like to throw in some yoga in there, but don't have any videos. I downloaded a couple of things on yogadownload.com, but I'm not sure if I like them. Maybe I'll try them tomorrow.... AND, I'm going to do Whittle My Middle EVERY DAY! The key to all of this is going to get up early to do it. It's really the only time. I'm still working through running in the dark in the morning, so we'll see. But the GOAL is to exercise 5-6 times a week, eat REALLY clean, and hopefully lose in the next couple of weeks. I have one out of town trip to Chicago - that will be hard, but I'm confident I can do this!