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Wonderful FABuary!

Hi there!  My blog posts continue to be few & far between, but I’m excited about what February has to offer!  I have a few different “challenges” going on with myself this month that I believe are going to tremendously improve my quality of life, my discipline, and my mental/physical health.

  • NO TV

I have committed to watching ZERO television this month.  I realized in January that I was getting very addicted to Netflix (mostly Criminal Minds – which I’ve already seen!)  I felt like a lot of time was being wasted with Netflix playing in the background, distracting me from what I should be doing, or I would stay up late to continue watching it, allowing it play in the background as I fell asleep.  We all know that’s not the medicine for a good night’s rest.  I believe that cutting out television will allow more time for blogging (yippee!), more time for reading and self development, more time for fitness, more time for cooking, more time with Nick, and more time working my Arbonne business.

  • DISNEY PRINCESS HALF MARATHON

My half-marathon is this month and I haven’t done a great job of blogging about training, etc. so my guess is that most of you don’t even have a clue that I’m running a half marathon this month!  But surprise, I am!  I’m actually really excited because it’ll be another opportunity to see my sweet and dearly loved blog friend, Meg!  Training has been a lot better this time around than most.  I’m up to about 9.5 miles, should be at around 11 or 13, but my knee has still been giving me trouble.  I have finally accepted the fact that it’s my IT band and I’ve been doing a lot of stretching and foam rolling to work it out.  It has proven to help tremendously with pain during a run.  I just completed 5 miles this evening after work and didn’t stop to walk once.  That’s a huge accomplishment for me!  I’ve been getting miles in, but they haven’t been great miles.  They’re either painful, or I have to take a lot of walking breaks to get through it.  I seriously wanted to take a nap instead of go for a run today, but I pushed my butt out the door and completely surprised myself!

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**(left) Disney Wine & Dine with Meg (right) Me before the 2012 Disney Princess when I was in the College Program**

  • 30 DAYS TO HEALTHY LIVING

I’m doing Arbonne’s 30 Days to Healthy Living Program this month.  I was supposed to do it in January, but that fell apart pretty quickly.  Nothing like next month, I guess!  I started it today and for the most part I’ve done really well so far.  We had donuts brought in for our staff meeting this morning and I said NO even though I had been craving donuts the day before.  Later in the day, someone dropped by some cookies for me.  I would love to say that I 100% refrained, but that’s not the case.  I ate half a cookie.  I wasn’t proud of myself, in fact I was disappointed, but tomorrow is another day and I get another chance to say no to temptation.  Also, the rest of my day was great, food wise!  I get in a really bad habit of consuming sugar & sweets so I needed something to help combat that before race day.  I love all the Arbonne products and the protein shakes are delicious!

 

I can already tell that my month of no tv is going to change my life!  Tonight, I got home, went for my 5 mile run, came home and showered, finished a book that I’ve been reading for far too long, made dinner, started a load of laundry, and now I’m about to head off to bed.  I’ll be in bed by 10pm tonight!  I definitely think I’ll be well rested by the end of the month, my Arbonne business will be strong, my training would have been successful, my quality time with Nick will be more interactive and fun, you’ll see more than just this blog post, and I my self-development will be off the charts!

Cheers to a wonderful FABuary!

I said no to Peanut Butter Cake!

Hey there!

How is your Tuesday morning shaping up?  I’ve already enjoyed a delicious breakfast and coffee, so I’d venture to say I’m doing pretty well, although I’m heading into work a little early this morning so it’s going to be a fairly long day!  I have my second Chiropractor appointment this morning and I’m hoping to get the a-okay to run again!  If I do, I’ll be screaming it from the roof tops so you should know pretty soon too!

Today is Day 2 of the Engine 2 Diet and so far so good!  Here’s a quick run down of my food from yesterday (Day 1):

Breakfast: Cinnamon Raisin Ezekial Bread + peanut butter + banana + cinnamon w/ a cup of coffee flavored with almond milk and cinnamon

Snack: Clementine + half a cucumber

Lunch: Whole Wheat crackers + peanut butter + a Lara Bar

Snack: Clementine + half a cucumber

Dinner: Whole Wheat Pasta with Tomato Sauce + Leafy Green Salad + Tangerine Vinaigrette dressing

Dessert: Kiwi

pasta-salad-dinner

I decided to keep track of what all I turn down over the next month so I can realistically see what all I would have eaten and how many calories I would have taken in.  I’m sure it’ll be shocking once I add it all up at the end of the month.  I remember during the Health Starts Here challenge that I turned down A LOT of junk food mostly and I wish I had kept a journal of what I said no to so I could see the real impact a plant-based diet made in my life.  I know one thing… I turned down this beautiful peanut butter icing cake and opted for a kiwi.  If that’s not self-control then I have NO IDEA what is!

peanut-butter-cake

I am concerned that I’m not getting enough food.  Don’t get me wrong, I felt satisfied pretty much all day, but I also felt like I missed out on some important nutrients so I need to work on that.  I know last time I felt the same way until eventually I got the hang of it and it became relatively easy to get enough nutrients during the day.  It’s a learning process and takes a lot of effort, but it’s entirely worth it!  I’m excited to see how I feel at the end of the challenge – it’ll end about 2 weeks before my Marathon so I’ll be nice & healthy for it!

Here are some dessert recipes I look forward to trying on the Engine 2 Diet so hopefully I won’t need beautiful peanut butter cake:

  • What would you miss most on the Engine 2 Diet?  Dairy, Processed Foods, Sugar, Oil, or Meat?
  • Have you been to a Chiropractor?  Did it seem to help the issues you were having?

I definitely miss sugars the most, I have such a sweet tooth.

I’m really hoping the Chiropractor will help my knee pain and get me back to running.  I’m also hoping that I see such a drastic difference in my stride since I’ll be properly aligned.  It amazes me that I’ve been running with these issues for so long that surely this will be such a shocking improvement on my first run back!

New Year, New Goals, Same Me

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I love this time of year where everyone seems to find new motivation to accomplish all the things they want out of this life.  I know it certainly sparks new desires in my own life.  I’m hoping to make 2015 the best year yet for myself & my blog – I’m excited to have you along for the ride!  I’ve come up with some personal goals/resolutions for various aspects of my life.  My intention is to follow-up with each of these at the end of every quarter to stay on track!

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Personal

  • Write 1 letter per month and send via snail mail
  • Have lunch with my sisters once per month
  • Find a new church
  • Get Braces (scheduled for March!)
  • Pay off my 3 highest percentage rate student loans
  • See how I can pray for my best friends each month

Professional

  • Pass my Series 65 exam
  • Get a health/wellness certification
  • Begin making small supplemental income somewhere (blogging or part-time job)

Fitness/Health

  • Run a Marathon (scheduled for February!)
  • Create 1 new juice per month
  • Have a solid base of 5 miles 3-4x’s per week by the end of the year
  • Become mostly Vegan

Blogging – I may be a little ambitious here, but this would be my ideal blog moving forward

  • 2 DIY projects per month
  • 2 New Recipes per month
  • Create a Favorite Things type post that goes up every other week
  • 1 Fashion post per month (this is going to be tough y’all!)
  • 1 Fitness related post per week
  • Fix my comments!!!!!! – oy, this has been the most frustrating thing!
  • Post a minimum of 5 times per week
  • Have at least 5 posts per month that are good to promote on all forms of social media
  • Only post things that I can be proud of – don’t post just to post.

I’m excited about the possibilities I have to accomplish so much and I hope my motivation doesn’t just stop with this list!  I’ll probably update it over the next few weeks as I discover new goals & ambitions for 2015!  I’m always thrilled to see what a new year holds and I’m excited to be on this journey with all of you who continue to read my blog  – Thank you!

  • What are some of your resolutions for 2015?

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The views and statements expressed on No Bologna are my own. You are reading No Bologna at your own risk and I am not providing any type of professional advice. Unless otherwise noted, all material on No Bologna may not be used, reprinted, or published without my consent. I do occasionally have affiliated links on my blog - this does not raise the price of the product, I simply get a very small commission from the regular retail price if something is purchased using an affiliated link on my site. I appreciate any support by you in regards to affiliated links.