......and I'm back!

Back to work, back to wearing makeup, no more wearing yoga pants, or eating gluten free pizza... Yup my mini vacation is over. Sad Face!!! I can now start counting down to my next time off of work during Thanksgiving. That will actually be my birthday weekend also so I took an extra day off on the end of the normal Thanksgiving holiday to celebrate :) T-minus 7 weeks to go! But I digress... Lets focus on the new week at hand and join Melyssa at the Nectar Collective to go over some of my weekly wishes!

Last week I had high hopes for getting a lot done around the house. I didn't get to clean out my closet but I did do a little shopping (YAY!) and got a ton of laundry and cleaning done. So I can't complain there. I ran 21 miles and was super productive at work (all 3 days ;) ). It was a great week overall!!

This week looks a little like this:

1- Kick butt back at the gym. I am switching programs starting this week. It's back to heavy weight training again. I've spent the past two months doing a lot of running and body weight training. I will spend the next two months lifting weights at the gym and very little running. I go back and forth like this every two months to keep my body guessing and always make it a challenge. I LOVE this part of my training. It is so satisfying to lift more than you ever thought you could... To see the muscles growing fast in your body... To have people at the gym see you with a fat barbell up on your shoulders. So fun! The first few weeks however are always killer. When I first started back to running my muscles felt so strong and heavy and it made running feel so hard. Like I was lugging around two weights around for legs. But as the months progressed I started feeling lighter and lighter. It was easy for me to run again and my joints were loosening up. In fact yesterday I ran my first 7 miles ever! And I actually didn't die! Which is awesome...until its time to lift heavy again. It will be a few weeks until my body is comfortable with the motions and amounts of weights I have planned for it. But this "keep the muscles guessing" is what works best for my body. So c'mon week..bring it on!

                                  

                                               7 Miles from my house and around the lake and back!

.

2- I want to get a lot of devotional time in this week. I crave it and need to feed the craving. This desire is as simple as that. Read, write, pray, soak in the Spirit,listen to studies, read the Bible. I have a whole lot of that planned for me this week and I am so looking forward to it!

Pretty much sums it up!

3- I know the holidays are still a little ways away but I like to spread my spending out over a few months.. So this week I want to start brainstorming things I want to get for my family. They are so hard to buy for so I need some serious inspiration this week! PS they already have holiday decorations up at Michaels!!!! OMG a little to soon people!

Really Michaels?? Realllly???

4- Keep it simple! I want to stay in my zen vacation mode so less is more this week. Have fun, relax, be kind, and stay me! 

 What are your wishes for this week??? I hope you have a fantastic 7 days planned too!!

xoxo
Katie 

Closet Refresh!

Ha! This picture is of me and my cousin and was taken yesterday from my other cousins twins' 1st birthday party! Did that make sense? I am not quite awake yet so I'm not positive on that :) Anywho I can never get enough photo booth fun!

One of my weekly wishes has already come true for this week! HOLLAAA!!! I have a 3 day work week!! I took off work Thursday and Friday and plan to have a little staycation at home. Life has been so fast recently that I just want to take a few days to slow it down a little and smell the roses! There are some things I hope to get done around my house too. Things that I never get to because I just get the bare minimum cleaning done on my short short weekends!

1- I want to clean up my back patio. For the size of my condo I have a fairly big patio area and right now the plants are all overgrown and it's a mess back there. My ultimate goal is to get some herbs & veggies planted back there one day. Maybe by Spring I will have it all cleaned up and ready to plant! Spring is when you do that sort of thing right? I guess I should do some investigating on that process too before then ;)

2- Clean out my closets & drawers. This is something that makes me giddy! I am pretty much the opposite of a hoarder.. I love love love to get rid of the old and bring in the new! I love organizing and simplifying. Since my body is rapidly changing with my new way of eating in place (see story Part 1 and Part 2) I have a ton of clothes that don't fit me anymore.. in a good way!! Every morning when I go to get ready for work I try on at least 2 things that don't fit me anymore that need to be given away.. Then I always end up choosing one of the 5 outfits I have that still actually fit me (you know - one for each day of the week). Don't get me wrong this is an awesome problem to have! Which is one reason I am so excited to refresh my closet. I have worked hard for this moment and I can't wait to dive in! Which leads me to my next goal for this week...

3- Shopping! I don't have much money to spend on clothes right now but since I desperately need things that fit me I want  to stock up on some basics. I have been a pinning fool lately pinning clothes that I want in my closet.. Here are a few of my inspiration pictures!!

Need these pants!

Basics Rule!

I'm on a mission to find an awesome flannel for the winter!

Anything cozy and I am IN!

Don't know if I can pull this one off but I love it!

So basically I have some really awesome wishes to get to this week. This should get me through the grueling days of work ahead of me. What are your weekly wishes this week? Do link up and share!
xoxo
Katie

Monday Monday & The Help Program

Hello hello!!

Its Weekly Wishes day again! I love doing weekly wishes because my Mondays are sometimes rough at work and it gives me a chance to look out into the week and really get excited about things coming my way! Its perfect really :) PS I love my weekly wishes art this week! Its a picture I took last night during dinner! LOVE IT!

This weekend was jam packed with fun. The best part was going to a fundraiser for an AWESOME program. "The Help Program" in San Clemente is working with at risk children to help them keep their grades up and involve them in sports programs. There was a mother there that gave her testimony about her sons transformation through this program and it was so moving. When he first came to them he was failing all of his classes. Through the Help Program he started training in mixed martial arts (MMA) with a group called Fighters For The World that they collaborate with.  He loved this part of the program but to stay enrolled in his MMA classes he had to get his grades up... and keep them up. He started going to tutoring through the program and is now getting grades that are above average for his school! His mother was in tears and he was standing on stage super proud of himself. This is just one of many lives they have impacted. One of my wishes for this week.. or month... or whenever is to help them raise some money to bring more children into their program. They have waiting lists full of kids that want... no NEED to be a part of this dynamic group! If you are interested in donating any amount please comment or send me a message and I can get you more details! Thank you!!

Something I need to work on this week is stretching my body more and drinking more water. Sometimes I drink a ton of water but right now I have just been dropping the ball on it. I sit at work all day with an empty cup on my desk and just stare at it. It screams at me "FILL ME UP".. and I ignore it. But not this week.. Nope I am going to listen to the cries of my water bottle! I am also going to work on full body stretching in my free time (haha that was a joke - I have no free time!).. I am going to MAKE TIME for stretching this week. My body has been feeling so tense this week and knotted up from working out that I really need to!

Cheers to another GREAT week!!!


                                                      

3 Day Weekends

Hi! I hope you all had a great long weekend!

Don't you think all weekends should be 3 days long?? You need one day for errands, a second day for having fun and visiting people and a third day for relaxing! All 3 things are a must for me... and all 3 things were accomplished this weekend!

Saturday I got in my fun and visiting people day.I went on a 2 hour hike during the day and man it was hot. Later I met up with some friends for pool time and dinner. We had so much fun! And we may or may not have played Marco Polo... ;)

Sunday was my relaxing day. I enjoyed some gluten free pancakes (which never fail me), went to the sauna for a relaxing sweat, watched a movie from Red Box (Safe Haven - not my favorite), BBQ'd some steaks and played some briscola. Briscola is an Italian card game. Once you get the hang of it, it is hilarious because everyone has crazy hand signals with your partner. You have to try it!

Monday was my running errands day. Did some grocery shopping, tried out some new recipes (which I will share later in the week), cleaned a little, got in a quick run and went to church.

I didn't get to doing a Weekly Wishes post yesterday but I wanted to do a little recap of the goals I had set from the previous week.

1- Running 12 miles... ACCOMPLISHED!!! I actually ran a total of 13.63 miles this week! Which is awesome for me! This was how I did each day:

Monday - day off
Tuesday - 3.28 mile beach run with stairs
Wednesday - day off
Thursday - 4.59 mile run
Saturday - 5.76 mile hike / trail run

2- 4 Blog posts... YES! Done and done!

3- Finding people to inspire, encourage and uplift. I did a good job about being aware and available to people around me. I spent Friday night at a home group and prayed for people, saw people get healed and hopefully showed people a glimpse into the goodness of God! I will always keep you up to date on opportunities I get like this!

I am just getting back to business here this week but I hope you all have a super (short) weekend this week!!

What did you do on your 3 day weekend? How do you cope with working out in this heat? Did you have any inspiring moments this week?? Do tell!!!

xoxo
Katie

Weekly wishes & a secret about me.....

Happy Monday!!


So here is a little secret about me... I love making lists! (not as juicy as you had hoped for is it??). So when I saw the Weekly Wishes Linkup with Melyssa I knew I had to be a part of it! I had such a great weekend with family and close friends so I am going to try my best to make it another awesome week!!

So here are some of my goals for the week:

           1- Get in at least 12 miles of running between today and Sunday. In theory that should be pretty easy this week as my schedule isn't as busy as it has been (YAYYYY). Things always seem to creep up and get in the way of workouts though so I have to make it a priority and just do it! I also plan on doing so body weight training mixed in there (hopefully at least 3 days of this??). I will do a post on some of my favorite body weight exercises soon too!
       
           2- I want to try and write at least 4 blog posts this week. I am still getting into the groove of writing daily and fitting it in my schedule. I love writing though and am trying to do a better job of doing things I love! I hope to also get some extra posts written for a lazy rainy day when I can't get a blog post written. I also want to work on filling in parts of my blog that I still haven't gotten to.... like the "about me" section... Because I know you all are dying to know more :)

           3- This is a big one for me... This week I really want to find some people to inspire, encourage and uplift! It is SUCH an amazing feeling when you can bless someone else. I am not sure how this will look exactly this week, but God always makes an opportunity for us to show up and share his love... so I will spend my week being in the moment, actively paying attention to those around me and asking the Holy Spirit how I can help! Oh and you better believe I will report back to you on my stories that come from this! Pressures on now! ;)


What are your goals for this week??? How often do you make times to do things you love??

Go visit Melyssa at The Nectar Collective for more weekly wishes!