Onze

Okay so truth is... I am a slacker!!!! I am several days behind on my posts here. And I thought I would spend today playing catch up for the past few days. But that is too much stress on my already fragile brain!
I really haven't been driven to do the challenges right now except for the Whole30, the thirty day ab challenge, and C25k.
I have really hit my stride (no pun intended) with these three. In the past few days I have created some really healthy, filling, and delicious tasting food. I've really tried to make my meals according to the guide provided on the whole website. Palm size of protein, rest of the plate veggies, one to two thumb size of oils, closed hand-full of nuts, closed fist of fruit. For a more thorough explanation check out the Whole30 Meal Planning Template.
I was apprehensive about the running program. I have tried running before, and wasn't able to make it through because I had couldn't figure out how to match my breathing and my pace. The program allows you to do intervals and find your stride. I realized that my problem in the past has been that I pushed so hard right out of the gate and quickly found myself worn out. But I have done a ton of reading on running lately and have really learned a lot! If only I could get rid of these darn shin splints!
The ab challenge just got REALLY hard yesterday. But the fact is I am seeing results and that's what is important to me. In the past ten days I have lost approximately nine pounds! Almost halfway to my first goal!!! I really am excited to get to my healthy weight again.
Doing so well physically has definitely exposed more of my weaknesses in other areas, but it's made me come clean to myself. And that's what this month was really about. Being healthy and happy again. I am still taking pictures when something catches my breath, I am still listening to music,  studying my facial expressions, and writing letters in my heart.
I want to know myself again. I want to push myself and TRY! And that's what I am doing, I'm trying to learn to spread my wings and fly again. This doesn't mean that I am not going to attempt to continue these challenges but I don't want to force myself to do something if it's not going to help me grow...

Sept

Today took a turn on a few things...
I have slacked on writing letters. I have the ideas for them. I write them in my heart. But I have struggled to put it in visible form. I guess the first person that popped in to my head was Angelina Jolie. Because she showed the insecurity in herself and in a marriage. She broke up what everyone thought was Hollywood's perfect marriage. For what?
No pictures today... I don't have anything new. I'm trying to be content with what I have...
I couldn't find a video of the song I wanted to post, but this is by the same artist and it also has special meaning. It reminds me of my time in MAMC.

I have definitely had dreams where I had a knock out drag out fight with someone who destroyed a friendship for me.
Whole30 is finally getting a little easier, but I don't know that I am doing the greatest at it. I hope I am not making too many concessions. However I don't want to obsess over everything I put in my body! Dinner tonight was tilapia, crab, and Italian turkey sausage with some green beans and sweet potato fries. It was pretty good, except for the point where I started puking because I was choking on green beans! And I'm down six and a half pounds.
Today was an ab break, but I got a run in. I am starting to fall in to my stride and I held my own without stopping. It was actually really relaxing!
So there's your daily round up...

Six

Wow! It's hard to believe it's almost been a week. It feels like forever and a day all at once.
So jumping right in to day six...
Today's letter was of my choice. And I chose to write to a dear friend of mine who helped me through a lot of tough situations lately. I never knew when we first met how God would bless me with her.
Apparently I lost it yesterday and did two photo challenges in one? I don't know what I was thinking??? But TODAY was supposed to be a childhood memory!

The song for today was one that made me think of a place... Anytime I pass into GA I see the sign that says "Thank you for having Georgia on your mind"

"Georgia on my Mind" by Ray Charles
I've struggled lately with dreams or even remembering them. But I had one a few months ago about my friend "LishMo". I was a bridesmaid in her wedding (in the dream)!
Whole30 was a whole lot better today! I finally felt like eating and for lunch I had guacamole with carrots and a spinach leaf salad with guac and salsa and a little but of turkey. For dinner I made spaghetti squash, garlic marinara, and turkey Italian Sausage. It wasn't what I thought it was going to be, but it was pretty good!
Phew, That stinks! Or at least that's what my face is trying to say!

That ab workout is getting hard! I have been trying to do it without any pauses during anyone exercise. But today I was pretty sure I was going to rip my lower abs if I didn't pause during those leg raises! (I know that's probably not physically possible!)
All in all I have felt pretty good. I have had an everlasting headache but I have a feeling it's a combination of the rain and my body detoxing all the unhealthy things from my system! But I feel like this is more realistic now. Although I do need to stop slacking on my letter writing and picture taking! Oh and I want some more dreams. Nice ones!

Cinq

Whew! Today I did my Bible reading, read my prayer book, got dressed, took my mom's temperature, packed her lunch, took her to work, did my ab challenge, did thirty minutes of walking/running on the treadmill for week one, day three of the 5k program, showered, posted a note on facebook about my stroke, packed my lunch, discussed plans for tomorrow, and dropped something off to my mom all before going to work. Needless to say it's been a long and busy day!!! Not to mention it was "Stroke" day.
Oh yeah speaking of the prayer book... I keep forgetting to mention I also added a book called "Lord, Teach Me to Pray in 28 Days" by Kay Arthur.

 

Today's letter has to go out to my girl Taylor. She is my guilty pleasure music and she desperately needs some relationship advice. Girl goes through boyfriends rather swiftly.
Photo was supposed to be of someone I love! And I really love my Mama!!!

When I was a child, I loved swings. That is why I have a fondness for photos of swings...

This song makes me think of a former coworker. I wish that it didn't. I wish that I could still love this song.

"When Did You Fall?" by Chris Rice
I don't have a "him". So I don't have a dream with "him" in it.
I'm still having this not very hungry feeling. Not sure why... But bananas and applesauce are my favorite foods right now. And I had some Sweet Italian Sausage for dinner. I can't wait til mom has her appetite back. I am so hoping to have some real food for you soon and maybe even a recipe!
And what's the fun of a silly face with out a little face mask?!

This morning I decided to do the ab challenge as a warm-up for my run. There was a yoga mat at the gym this morning so I decided to give it a try. This was the first morning I had to take a break in the middle of my leg raises. Man those suckers hurt! And then I got up and started my last run of week one. It was raining and I didn't do so hot the last time I tried running in the break of rain. So I decided to continue at the gym on the treadmill. The run felt pretty good. I was able to reserve my energy having to adjust my pace for the walk/run intervals. I had to fight with the treadmill for a while to get it to do what I wanted to do, but I felt great when I was done. That is until I went to look at my distance/pace and realized my phone didn't record the run. But I think it was a lesson in enjoying the fun of a good run.

Quatre

Everyday that goes by gets a little harder to keep up with...
So here goes day four...
Today my letter was to the person who has influenced me the most. My Mama Leah had already been on my mind so she was the obvious choice. It's hard to believe it's been almost a year since she left this world. I still miss her all the time.
My favorite color has been and forever will be... Pink! Since I was five years old, its always been my first choice. I got extremely irritated when pink was the it color for a few years.
I love this deep hue of it.

Since we are already on the topic of my Mama Leah today I will say that this song makes me so sad. I know that it speaks the truth but I wish we still had her with us!

"Better Hands Now" by Natalie Grant
Again I haven't dreamed a lot of dreams lately. I know my coworker would say that my close encounter with James Franco at some award show was my most exciting dream. Christina Ricci was also there.

I personally find him rather creepy.

I don't know why but ever since I've started Whole30 I haven't had much of an appetite. Yesterday I had a smoothie with banana, strawberries, raspberries, and spinach! And then my mum wasn't feeling well so I was on my own for dinner. Which meant I had some applesauce (I forgot how yummy this was!) and some crab meat which was mediocre.
My pissed off face is all in the eyes...

And the ab challenge is getting harder everyday!

Trois

It seems like the days I have off from work are easier to do challenges then others.
So today's letter is difficult because for years whenever asked who my best friend was I had an easy answer. And then about a year ago that all changed. So the question became who do I write the letter to? I have a stellar group of close friends whom I love dearly, and I couldn't have made it through the past year with out them.
Today was the perfect day for today's photo challenge because it was cloudy all day long so I got some great shots of the cloudy weather.

The song that makes me happy right now is going to be my summer theme song!

"Cruise" by Florida Georgia Line
My happiest dream was the one I had that predicted my goddaughter's birth! It had been denied on several counts and then a few months later the truth was revealed that indeed this precious little girl was on her way to earth!

Whole30 was not my finest today. I wasn't hungry at all today and ate purely out of necessity. So pre-run snack was a handful of almonds. Post run a frozen banana (my new favorite)! Lunch was a salad with spinach, carrots, boiled egg, and diced turkey breast from a salad bar. And dinner was zucchini wrapped salmon, sweet potato fries and zucchini; which both ironically weren't fried but baked. The salmon was a rather frustrating experiment but it turned out okay. And I took a pre-made marinade and made it from scratch so that I knew exactly what was going into it and it didn't have any corn syrup in it!

 
This facial expression came to you straight from my theater days as I made myself cry on the spot to give you my sad face.

My back is still out, but I am still pushing through. It's not getting any worse, but it's not getting any better either. I had a rest day from the ab challenge which meant it was the perfect day for my second c25k run. However there were many factors that made it a not so perfect run! It rained before my run, so it was humid by the river. I didn't have time to eat before it rained again so I was running on the aforementioned handful of almonds. And I dressed for it to be chilly because of the rain but it wasn't. It was literally steaming. And I had long compression pants, a sports bra, sweat resistant tank, and a sweatshirt! Not to mention the sports socks and baseball cap. I was boiling. I lost the sweat shirt at the start of the first lap. And ended up with thirty second run two minute walk intervals, because I just couldn't get my body moving and make it through thirty minutes. Oh well, lesson learned!

Post run exhaustion!

Oh I forgot to mention I broke an unofficial rule and weighed myself :-/. I'm down four and a half pounds already and I am super pumped and motivated to keep going!

Deux

And the daily round up for day two...
The letter prompt for today was writing to your childhood self. Which to me is pure irony because I don't know that I ever learned to be a child. I stopped at a very young age. But the main thing I told my then self is  "Don't let other peoples' words influence who you are", even if they might hurt and of course the motto you've all heard it a thousand times "Healthy is the NEW skinny". I wish I had held on to those simple truths from childhood into adulthood.
The photo challenge was a picture of what I wore today. And since it is independence week I rocked the classic Red, White, and Blue.

Red ruffled button up, white cami, blue skinny jeans and some ivory flats. I also had on a white cardigan and blue sunglasses.

Song challenge was an easy pick because right now I have heard this annoying song EVERYWHERE! And I know some people love it but I just can't stand it, or him for that matter! Don't tell me it's you!
Least favorite song pick goes to:

"Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke I can't believe I am even putting this song on my blog... ew!
Scariest dream I've had recently was the one in which my mom was in cardiac arrest and I was panicking. I couldn't get her on the floor. Didn't know if I should call 911 first, or unlock my door and get my neighbor to help me get her off the bed so I could start CPR. So I just kept running back and forth half way to where I was trying to go! I woke up in tears!
Whole30 got a touch harder yesterday, trying to figure out what to eat. So breakfast was poached eggs with salsa on top. I snacked on some raw almonds. For lunch my friend ran to the grocery store so I asked her to pick me up one of their strawberry, blueberry, chicken salads. I knew it had cheese on it but it was shavings so I easily picked it off. I asked her to pick me up one of the packets of Caesar dressing too. Only to find out that the dressing had dairy in it also! So I ate my salad with no dressing and just made sure I had a bit of fruit in every bite. Dinner I had a salad with gyro meat on top, again with no dressing. And for dessert, I had a frozen banana! It was heavenly! I would like to also add a little disclaimer that I can not say with one hundred percent certainty that everything I am eating is approved by the plan. I am just going by my understanding of it and what works for me.
Face numero dos:The happy face. It is so awkward trying to take a picture of your own happy face!

Day three for the ab challenge was again hard due to my back but I managed to get through it before I slipped off to work. Twenty-five situps, ten crunches, ten leg raises, and a fifteen second plank(the only part I managed to get through with out any pain.
And so ends day two...