Category: moving forward

moving forward, Thankful

Thankful #1

Movin' it with Michelle

My friend Maria over @RunningFlaps is posting daily 5 things she is thankful for. While I will be realistic that I won’t post every day, I am going to make a concerted effort to post daily. This will one, help me in my goal of writing more and two, help me appreciate my daily life. Here goes…

  1. I am thankful for my family. They spoiled me with cards and flowers for my birthday yesterday and we have a fun filled weekend planned to celebrate my 46 years on this planet.
  2. I am thankful for my job. While I don’t love it, it helps provide for my family.
  3. I am thankful for living in Florida. Tomorrow I will get my first taste of Vitamin “Sea” in almost 6 months and I really need it.
  4. I am thankful that my almost 3 week cold is finally starting to go away. While I still have my cough, its loosened and lessened and I will celebrate small victories.
  5. I am thankful for the hundreds of Facebook messages, texts, phone calls and messages wishing me a happy birthday yesterday.

What are you thankful for today?

 

Cheers,

Michelle

moving forward

Faith

Movin' it with Michelle

Today was a rough day. Heck, this year has been rough from day one. Between getting bronchitis for New Years, and the relentless work stress I’ve endured over the last year and a half, lets just say STICK A FORK IN ME.

I don’t usually talk about work on here. It’s bit me in the butt before, so I usually keep my work whoas to myself. No, whoas isn’t a word. But a couple of months ago I stood in the middle of my lab and prayed. I am a firm believer in faith, and while I don’t go to a physical church, I pray, and I pray a lot. I asked God for help…was this really it for me in my almost 30 year career? He answered that call literally 15 minutes later with a call from a recruiter about an amazing opportunity. Resume updated, reference list updated, and several phone interviews later and I felt like I was well on my way.

The holidays set things back quite a bit but I remained positive. There HAD to be something better out there for me. Today I had a rough day at work, but since my cough was getting better I headed out for a walk/run. My daughter joined me for the second half of my walk, and shortly after she joined me, I got the text. I wasn’t chosen to move to the next round. My heart dropped.

 

I asked God why on earth he’d tease me with such an opportunity knowing how much I’ve struggled in my current position? Why give me that sort of hope. Why?

I don’t have answers for these questions. I only have to keep the faith that there IS something better out there for me.

 

How do you deal with difficult situations? Have you ever suffered from disappointment like this?

Cheers,

Michelle

moving forward, real life adventures

Self-love

Movin' it with Michelle

This year on the blog I will be talking more about some good ole real life adventures and life in general. My goal is to write more, and knowing I have struggled with making myself a priority over the last several decades, I thought this would be a good Saturday evening topic.

Looking back on my life, my priorities have always been targeted on something other than me. My husband and taking care of things while he was gone on deployments, my kids and their happiness, and my job and juggling work and home life have always left “Me” at the end of the very long list of things I have been responsible for over the last several years. Because of the large bucket of balls I have juggled over the years, I have lost friendships, and somewhat have sort of lost myself. Now that my kids are getting older (one is grown and so far still out of the house but still struggling to find her way, and one is now 12 and is becoming more independent and self sufficient), I really want to see how I can make ME a priority this year.

Here’s a few things I have in mind for the upcoming year:

  1. I’ve updated my resume and am ready to start looking at progressing in my career. I’ve always taken the back seat to make sure I am home for my family, but I think the time is now to see if I can actually move forward in my career.
  2. I’ve signed up for a half-marathon the end of February with my husband. My training is on hold during the course of fighting this horrible cold, but I’ve still got plenty of time to properly train.
  3. I will make more time for the friendships I’ve made here in Florida. I’ve been lucky enough to be blessed having an old Air Force girlfriend here, and have made a couple of friendships I hope to develop. I’ve learned as you get older, it really is harder to make friends.
  4. Write more, and more often. Be it short excerpts, recipes, or just simple dialog, WRITE.
  5. Above all else, love myself a little more. Stop counting the grey hairs and wrinkle lines, and remember that I have been through so much in my life. I have earned every grey hair and every line that is carved in to my face.
  6. Lastly, continue on with my mantra of “Keep Movin’ Forward.” Yes, I am middle aged, yes, I will be 46 in a little over a week, but my life is far from over. I need to remember that it really is NEVER too late, and I still have time to do the things I want to in this life.

I watched one of my favorite movies tonight, “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” and was reminded that life may not always turn out how we wanted, but if we can touch other people’s lives and make this world a better place we should have no regrets.

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What are your goals for this year? Do you have a favorite movie that resonates with you? I’ve thought about renaming the blog…any suggestions?

Cheers,

Michelle

moving forward, real life adventures

Friday night musings

Movin' it with Michelle

So it’s Friday night and I am ready to party…NOT. This darn cold has set me back nearly a week, and it’s taken everything in my power not to sleep 24-7. I called in sick on Wednesday, which is something I never do, and the last two days I coughed nearly non-stop. From what I hear, this cold is lasting up to three weeks, and I just don’t have time for that…I’ve got a half marathon to train for!!!

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But the reality of it all, is that I shouldn’t complain about having a silly cold or my lapse in training. See, my neighbor lost her husband just a few short days before Christmas at the young age of 43, as he died suddenly in his sleep. He is leaving behind a wife and three children, and while we weren’t super close to them, we did spend some time with them over this last year and the loss is palpable in my neighborhood. Life. Is. Short.

So sleep in if that’s your fancy.

Tell those you care about, that you love them. Don’t just assume they know.

Pursue your dreams, and never settle.

Eat that slice of cake, or have that basket of French fries.

Live.

Keep Movin’ Forward.

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Have you ever lost someone suddenly? What is your guilty pleasure?

Cheers,

Michelle

 

goals, moving forward

New Year goals and thoughts

Movin' it with Michelle

I started out my 2019 with a nasty cold that has left me down for the count the last two days. Thankfully we were able to ring in the new year with some new friends that are also from the Chicagoland area, and are now Florida transplants as well.

I wanted to start my new year out with a run and list of goals for the year, neither of which have happened yet. So here’s my first draft, or more so a rough draft of some goals I have this year.

  1. Run at least 2-3 per week, and do core daily, even if that’s just a plank daily. I still have the #sixpackbysummer goal, and summer in Florida starts in just a couple of months. I am almost at my weight loss goal from last year, so I will continue to maintain and maybe lose an extra lb. or two.
  2. Sign up for more races, because to be honest its hard to keep my running motivation if I don’t have a race coming up. Our next half is the end of February in St. Pete, Florida. No goal time for that race, just want to finish strong. I missed last week’s long run, but hopefully this cough will be gone by the weekend so I can make up for it.
  3. Love myself more, and put myself first more. It’s always been about my family, my job, etc. etc. I need to make it more about me, cuz hey, my 46th birthday is right around the corner and I don’t have all the time in the world anymore.
  4. Write more, really write…I always wanted to write a book/cook book but here another year has passed and I haven’t pursued either. Again, time isn’t something I can waste anymore.
  5. And lastly, figure out how to make a living doing something I love. Not that my job isn’t important or that I dislike it. But I am ready to either move up in my career, or move on. But of course there are those bills to pay, so we shall see. I am not giving up hope.

What are you goals for 2019? Do you do resolutions?

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Happy New Year everyone!

Cheers,

Michelle

 

Holidays, marathon training, moving forward

Merry Christmas!!!!

Movin' it with Michelle

I hope you are all having an amazing holiday season!!! I am thankful to report I got a new Microsoft Surface Pro laptop for Christmas so I will be blogging more regularly!!!

I wanted to share a few pictures of our holiday weekend before I get back to cooking Christmas dinner!!

 

 

 

It’s been so nice having my 19 year old daughter home for the week. I will be so sad when she leaves on Friday.

In running news, while I have missed a few short runs, I am happy to report that my hubby and I finished our long run of 5 miles yesterday and I felt fairly good. I struggled with breathing for some reason, so we walked through my side cramps. My new knee braces seem to be helping.

 

 

 

Dinner is a standing rib roast that I seared off in the cast iron pan with butter, garlic and herbs. It’s slow roasting in the oven as we speak.

How did you celebrate the holidays? What’s your favorite holiday meal? Anyone else get some miles in?

Happy Holidays!! Cheers!

Michelle

 

moving forward, race recaps, Races

Disney wine and dine half marathon.

Movin' it with Michelle

While I can’t give a huge recap of the race from my phone, I do want to share about the race since it’s been almost a month and I’ve not written about it. It was an amazing weekend from expo to finish and my only complaint is that they didn’t have a plan B for the after party that got rained out. Regardless my husband and I had a blast and finished despite not properly training for the race. Here’s the weekend in pictures!!

We did it!! While it was my slowest half marathon to date (2:48ish) it was one of the most fun races I’ve run. And even better I got to do it with my hubby.

Cheers!!!

Michelle

marathon training, moving forward, Races

My marathoner Anniversary

Movin' it with Michelle

Ah, today will always be one of my favorite all time days. It’s my “I’m a marathoner,” Anniversary!!!! Six years ago today my life forever changed. #chicagomarathon #2012 #bestdayever #marathon #lifechanging

Cheers!

Michelle

Keto adventures, moving forward, running

Milestone Monday!

Movin' it with Michelle

Well wasn’t this a pleasant surprise. My blog 6-7 years old, and is just my tiny little space to share some of my passions so it’s always fun to see it hanging in there between moments of lapse. Life, moving, deployments, and everything else in between have kept me pretty busy. But I’ll always have this little space in the universe.

Today I wanted to get a few miles in after work. I walked the first mile, and once the cloud and thunder rolled in, I ran the last mile and cut it short for safety reasons. The lightning here is no joke!

We’re starting week 6 of Keto and we’re hanging in strong. I didn’t weigh myself this morning but am still at around a 4-5 lbs weight loss.

How was your day? Ever have your run cut short due to weather?

Cheers!

Michelle

Keto adventures, moving forward

Weekend of relaxing!

Movin' it with Michelle

We had a nice and quiet weekend finally. Lots of pool time and fun with neighbors.

I even tried my first Keto pizza. I think it was way too much cheese for me. But it was tasty. It was actually better cold lol! These buffalo wings, though. Amazing.

I was in a funk all last week so praying for a better week, this week.

How was your weekend? Ever try Keto pizza?

Cheers!

Michelle