Awesome Weekend and Strides Against Strokes!

   
           Memorial Weekend was amazing!  My brother flew in town from Washington DC.  We grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for a good old family cookout.  All of my extended family came together a for it.  My grandma passed away last Spring.  Since then, it has been difficult  to that side of the family together at all.  I think this was the first time everyone was together.  We all came down to the house she lived in on the lake.  We told fun memories of her and each drank some bud light in a mug with a dash of salt.  My grandma loved beer out of a mug with salt.  We toasted and drank it in her memory.

         

I had to include this awesome pic of my brother and Devin throwing my sister as she does a back  tuck out of the lake.  Brianna is quite the cheerleader/gymnast.  I was super excited to catch this awesome pic!

                    We had a great time eating and hanging out together.  This was one of those days that I did not eat very healthy.  Carrots were pretty much the extent of the vegetables with a lot of chips, yummy dips, brownies, and so much more. Some days you just have to enjoy the food, knowing the next day will bring much healthier eating and exercise to get back on track.

                     I am so excited to be participating in my cousin's 2nd Annual Strides Against Stroke 5K next Saturday June 1st.  My cousin works at Self Regional Health Care in Greenwood and is trying toraise awareness about strokes and how you can prevent them. My mom and sister are meeting me there where we will support Strides Against Strokes.  There will be speakers who have suffered strokes and information about how to prevent strokes.  Another bonus to the event, is getting to see my cousin's adorable little baby girl.  She was born last November, and is absolutely precious.
                      My food filled weekend made me anxious to get in a good workout on Tuesday. I have really been enjoying switching up my workouts lately.  Yesterday I ran 2.8 miles and did a quick kickboxing arms working.  I did this set three times:

50 alternating front jabs
15 front double jabs( quick jab, then a harder one with the same arm)
15 uppercuts on each side.
20 alternating elbows ( power elbows alternating to each side).

                   I used a mixture of arm moves we used at my kickboxing class at the YMCA.  I have also been creating circuits including running one mile or .25 miles with arm and leg quick workouts.  I think my body is working harder with the variety of types of workouts.

How do you switch up your workouts so that your body doesn't get used to the same ones?

           

Shrimp Ceviche!

            Dev and I were thinking of a good dinner last week, and for some reason Ceviche came up.  We thought...there is no way we can make this. To our suprise...after some research, we found a pretty easy recipe with shrimp  Making Shrimp Ceviche is not hard, but you have to have about 2 hours.  Most of this is time for it to cool and blend together.

First, squeeze the juice out of one orange, one lemon, and one lime.  

Next, dice half of a cucumber.

Then, boil about half of a bag of Wild Alaskan Shrimp for 1 minute. After it boils, shell and devein the shrimp.

Chop the shrimp into thirds.Next, dice a small handful of onions.  Put the juice, cucumbers, and shrimp in a bowl  in the fridge for 1 hour.

While the mixture is cooling dice tomatoes, and chop a small handful of cilatntro.  

Add the tomatoes, and cilantro after the one hour of cooling.  Let the mixture sit at room tempurature for 30 minutes.

This might be the prettiest and most delicate meal i've ever made.  It is quite beautiful and so tasty...plus its healthy.  So delish!

Have you ever created a dish that at first seemed impossible?  

A Relaxing Weekend of Things I Love!

         I was so excited to have a long weekend where I could relax.  Dev and I love doing things with people, but somehow we always end up booking up our weekends.  Needless to say, I was pumped about one to myself.

 

Mowgli and Chloe on the ride to Chapin! Lookin so cute!

        We left to go Chapin where Devin and  are both from.  One of the best things about Chapin is Lake Murray.  Growing up on the lake, we love relaxing and hanging out on the water.  I can't explain how beautiful and relaxing the lake is with  the sun radiating on it and creating a shimmering sparkles.
 This is my happy place!

What a view! Love Lake Murray!

                The next morning, I woke up and went for a run.  Hearing the birds chirping and the wonderful sounds of nature inspired me to leave my music and running tracker at home.  There is something about going for a run, just to enjoy running.  No focusing on my running pace, or being distracted by music.  This gave me a good time to enjoy nature and appreciate God's beautiful creations.  This was one of the most freeing and relaxing runs in a while.  It made me encourage myself to run without music or my running tracker more often.  Sometimes we get so distracted with burning the most calories and finding the best song, that we forget to just enjoy and appreciate nature around us.              

               We went on the lake for a few hours and then ate late lunch at Liberty on the Lake.  I ordred a delicious Strawberry and Spinach Shrimp Salad.   It had spinach with shrimp, candied pecans, strawberries and goat cheese.  It was the perfect lunch on a hot day on the lake.  The first lake day of the summer was perfect.  I loved it and can't wait for the many lake days to come.

                 After getting back home, Dev had a great idea for dinner.  We love ceviche, but had never thought to make it on our own.  So......we did.  

Shrimp Ceviche.....delish!

                   The ceviche had orange, lime, and lemon juice with diced cucmbers, tomatoes, red onions and boiled shrimp.   We will definitely be making this more often.We sat on our patio to enjoy our favorite new dish. 

Our Knockout Rose Bushes right now!

             After dinner, we were admiring our beautiful Knockout Rose Bushes my grandma gave us. This has been a such a nice and relaxing weekend with so many things I love.....Dev, my pups, a good run, the lake,  and good eatin'!

What would your most relaxing and enjoyable weekend consist of?

Kicking the chemicals to the curb!

             The past week or so has been crazy.  We have our BIG state testing at school this coming week so I feel like I have worked myself and my little third graders to death.  It is nice because I have seen so much growth in them over the past year.  We have about a month until the summer...WooHooo...can't wait.

Dr. Oz interviewed  Joe Cross discussing the
 power of  your body being able to heal itself.

            Last week, Dev recorded a Dr. Oz show that I absolutely loved and found so informative.  Dr. Oz is always awesome with great information, but this episode just really stuck out.  I always knew that eating healthier was good for your body, but he explained it so well.  He was actually interviewing  Joe Cross        the famous juicer with his website and documentary Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead.  Joe explained that after juicing, his body was able to heal itself from Chronic Urticaria.  After interviewing, Dr. Oz explained that the body is made to heal itself.  He said that when we eat processed foods with chemicals, we create obstacles for our body to heal itself.  When we eat vegetables and put nutrients in our body, it aids the healing process.  WOW....I don't know why, but this really hit me.  I had noticed that over the past year or so I wasn't getting sick nearly as much.  ( Being a teacher...germs are everywhere)  I knew it had to do with eating healthier, but this explained it so well.
        I really wish that when people spend all of this time and money on diets that have no nutritional value and put chemicals and other junk in their body, they would realize that eating better is so much more than that.  Being HEALTHY is so much more important than just losing weight.  If they only knew how much better you feel, and the way your body loves you so much more when you put good things into it. People should focus more on putting good nutrients in their body, instead of processed foods full of chemicals that our bodies aren't  made to digest.  I have a prime example.  I have slowly taken diet sodas out of my daily diet.  I hadn't had one in about a month or two.  I drank one this weekend, and man did my stomach reject it.  I felt so sick.  I have found  Sparkling Ice as a replacement that gives me the fizzy and burning feeling when I drink it, without all the awful chemicals like aspartame.  It also has 0 calories and green tea extract.  My favorite flavor is Black Raspberry.

You can find Sparkling Ice in grocery stores, and some gas stations.

          With this in mind, I am on a mission to seek out meals, snacks, drinks etc.  that contain good nutrients for my body without all of the awful chemicals.  It is hard to do this with so many delicious, yet awful foods everywhere you go.  They are marketed and staring you in the face at every store you stop at.

What helps you avoid the chemically filled and processed foods, and replace them with a whole and natural diet?