M.I.A.

I could not stand to not have a post in the month of July, so here I am... July 31st. Can you believe tomorrow is August 1st? Where has this year gone? I have had quite a few people tell me that they have missed my blogs, and to be honest, I missed blogging. However, I had to cut a lot of things out of my life because school was kicking my butt. Here are some things that I did this last month:

My beautiful cousin Ashley's WEDDING weekend in COLORADO!

My finals were on July 20th, so I ran, worked, studied, slept..... for three weeks straight. I cut out reading, friends, family activities, and computer.... Clay even changed my Facebook password so I would not be tempted to get on (sad, right?).

At work, we have multiple six week challenges throughout the year for our employees to join. In the beginning of the year, we focused on weight loss and knowing what your "numbers" were (cholesterol, glucose, BMI, body fat %...etc.). The next challenge focused on nutrition; we set goals for our employees to add more color to their diet (red/apples, orange/peppers, yellow/squash.....you get the idea). The challenge that we just started is called the YOU CAN challenge. What I LOVE about this challenge is that the EMPLOYEE gets to pick their goal; we do not make it for them. The first two weeks of the challenge the employees gets out their calendar and PLANS tasks/activities that will help them to accomplish their goals. For instance, do you want to lose weight? Do you want to reduce a pants size? MAKE IT HAPPEN. Get out your calendar and set a date to go to the grocery store and buy your food, plan your workouts, and schedule time to meet up with friends to workout together. If your goal is to have more time with your family, SCHEDULE IT. My husband always tells me that, "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting change, but always getting the same result." Is that what you are doing with some area of your life? It has definitely been thought provoking for me.

Speaking of my hubby, he sold his first house in the last few weeks as well. I am so proud of him. He is LOVING his new job!

Last week, I went to a diabetes seminar and learned ALOT about helping people control their diabetes while they are at work. If you know me at all, THIS IS MY PASSION. Diabetes (type 2) is preventable and our society is in an epidemic. There was a lady at this event (she was a benefits/HR manager at her company) who was complaining about how expensive healthy food was; she was the largest woman there. I always have to hold my tongue when people say that because it is simply not true. There are EXPENSIVE healthy foods, yes. However, you do not have to eat ORGANIC everything (or anything). I rarely buy organic items because of the price. Items like brown rice, beans, seasonings, chicken (buy it when it is on sale and freeze it), oat meal, peanut butter, eggs.... these are all staples. I buy fresh produce in the beginning of the week, but I have frozen veggies for the end of the week because buying produce for a whole week can be pricey. This same woman, ate three cookies at lunch... and they were free... it is not just a price thing for her. I am not saying NEVER indulge, but seriously, we were at a diabetes seminar. Control your portions at least.

I have also been enjoying a new book, The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. Very good so far; I have a hard time reading for pleasure, thanks to college, so I am determined to get back in the "reading" loop.

New training goals: I am running the Ragnar Relay in the Florida Keys in January. I am so excited, not only for the course, but also for the group I am running with. We are going to have so much fun. There are a few half marathons that I will be running in the fall as well, so stay tuned!

Have a good week everyone!