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So just when I thought I had it all figured out, well, yeah…I was reminded that I’m only human. My husband is set to leave in the beginning of March. For an entire year. He’s been on orders (training) full time for the last 3 weeks straight. As in up at 4 A.M. for work and home just before 8 P.M. most nights. But what was saving me is that we’d at least have February to spend together as a family before he leaves. He’d go back to a regular-ish work week, and we’d see him at least a couple of the weekends in February. We’d have time to recharge before he leaves in March.
Or not.
Today I got the news that he had a lot of travel in February to prepare for the deployment. As in the first 3 weeks of February, he would be traveling. REALLY? After several tears, and even more F-bombs, it got me thinking about the many stages of deployment. I thought I’d share a few that have rang true with me through the many years of being an Army wife.
Sadness…as in, my chest feels as if a 10 ton elephant is sitting on my heart and squeezing the life out of my soul. Ok, that’s a bit extensive, but total true story.

Fear…fear of the unknown for both me and my girls, and for my husband and his soldiers. Every. Single. Day. I will fear for his life, and nothing can change that fear.

Anger…even resentment for the passion he has for the Army, and the fact that his passion takes him away from his family, and puts himself in harms way. More so, anger towards the Army for taking him away from me so often. And I’ll admit that’s one of the toughest stages to deal with on a daily basis.

And lastly…but most importantly…PRIDE…because all the sadness, fear, anger, and every other emotion in the world can’t be topped with pride. For this man, MY husband, is protecting our country (and our country is in a pretty sad state these days), and for that, I need to be grateful , proud, and thankful. Because there aren’t many people out there anymore, that are willing to sacrifice their lives.

So while today I reminded him how much I think this FU@#%&*! sucks, and that I have NO idea how I would get through this without him, I am still so darn proud of him. I may or may not have a good cry in the shower, and I lost it at work today which I try to NEVER do, but man, I will keep telling myself that I WILL get through this. I’ve got no other choice, right?
Thanks for all of the continued thoughts and prayers. This year will be life changing for sure.
How do you deal with difficult situations, or family separations?
Thanks!
Michelle
I was recently inspired by a healthy snacking social project put on by Nuts.com, so I wanted to share some of my favorites. There are also some GREAT ideas on this healthy snacking page that touch on all walks of life. Vegans, kids, high protein and quick snacks for work are just a few examples.
So I thought I’d share a few of my own favorites. First of which is my spicy chickpeas. These yummy morsels are packed full of protein, and you can easily snack on the go. Another quick “on the go” snack for me is, roasted pumpkin seeds. You can make your own with my recipe or buy store bought. They are high in protein, dietary fibers and micronutrients.
I’m a huge fan of roasted nuts of all kinds, really. These protein packs from Target are also something I love to have in the fridge because they are a wiser alternative to chips or pretzels. While I am not a big dairy eater, I do find these don’t upset my stomach.

Eggs…eggs, and MORE eggs. I hard boil a dozen or so on the weekends, and portion them out into baggies. Often times I’ll ditch the yolks, but sometimes I just eat the entire egg in 2-3 bites, LOL!!

Fresh fruits and veggies are another go-to that I portion out so that I can easily grab and go!!!

Tonight I’ll admit, I wasn’t feeling so hot. I could’ve just hunkered down on the couch and felt sorry for myself. So instead, I whipped up a batch of my famous Chicken soup and did a quick Pilates core workout. Never miss a Monday, Right?!

What are you favorite healthy snacks? Do you try and meal prep in advance to help avoid temptation?
Hope you all have an amazing week!!!!
Cheers!
Michelle
This weekly wrap up will be quick, because my hubby just got home from training THREE hours earlier than normal. #winning
Last week, I managed to work out 5/7 days. I ran 3 days, did 2 cardio workouts, and 2 strength training workouts. Today was my first official long run, of which I ran 6.14 miles and felt like I could’ve kept going for several more miles. WINNING.

After my run, I made my favorite post run meal. EGGS!

When the hubby texted at 2:30 saying he was getting out at around 4:00 P.M. I decided to make a nice Sunday Supper of baked Salmon, Sweet potato puree` and roasted broccoli. Easy, elegant, and healthy!

Hubby is almost out of the shower, and I am hanging on to every moment, so with that I bid you all goodnight!! I’m linking up with Holly and Tricia for the weekly wrap up! Please head over and check out the link up!

Are you training for any races right now? What’s your favorite post run meal? Do you gain weight during marathon training?
Have a great week, y’all!
Cheers!
❤ Michelle
After thinking about my last post, I started focusing on the word STRENGTH. You know, people have always told me how strong I am, having been through more battles than most can dream of. I knew 2016 wouldn’t be a year that would focus on goals, or resolutions as some make with each new year. My goal would to get through this year with smiles, my sanity, and strength.
I’ve always prided myself as a mentally strong woman. I wasn’t always so, but years of practice tacking obstacles and struggles have proven to be on my side, because I just. don’t. quit.
In fact, when I resigned from the first civilian job I had back in 2013, I realized it was truly one of the first things I’d ever “quit” because I don’t count my divorce as quitting, I count that one as life saving. But I digress…
So two weeks ago, I decided it was time to start getting stronger physically. I downloaded the Tracy Anderson Transformation I series on our XBOX 1 and I am in a deep love/hate relationship with these 30 minute workouts. 1. They KICK MY BUTT, and there are burpees. YUCK. Yet…2. I am already seeing results just after the second week of doing the strength/muscle workouts 2-3 times per week, and the cardio workouts 2 times each week.
Amazing.

I’m now officially down 8 lbs. from this time last year, and I am feeling stronger every day.
With this being my first “official” week of marathon training, I’ll hit the roads for 6 miles on Sunday. And I WON’T eat. ALL. the. FOOD. afterwards, LOL!!
I still get choked up, every single day thinking about the next year. I am often brought to tears immediately when I see a commercial, or hear a song when it talks of our countries soldiers.

But that doesn’t mean I not still getting stronger. And I will continue this physical AND mental journey, one step at a time and I PRAY, I come out on top.
Cheers to all of you for your amazing support! ❤
Michelle
A lot of people have asked me how things are going in regards to my husband’s upcoming deployment. At work, I keep on my game face most days, and I have really learned to hold it together for the most part. At home, I can’t always say the same.
The truth is, the pre-deployment phase is almost worse than the deployment itself. A million thoughts go through my head as I watch my husband mentally exit more and more every day. I see the worried look on his face as he stares off in to space, and I see the tiredness compounding in his furrowed brow and blood shot eyes. We’ve got just shy of 6 weeks to go, and just yesterday it seemed like I was saying he was leaving in 4 months. Will the time go by just as quickly when he’s gone? Probably not, but I sure can hope.
I question whether or not my teenage daughter and I will get through this year, to be honest. For the last few weeks, things have actually been pretty great…and in honor of her privacy, I’ll just say last night we had one of our infamous blowouts. You know, the kind that leave you feeling like you’ve been punched in the throat? Yup…one of those. But my husband was there, as always, to mediate. He’s always been so great at being our middle man, our “let’s hash this SH&%!” guy…what will we do when he’s not here, and hormones are flying? Lord help us, truly.
Despite the fact that I know I am strong, and I know I will get through this, I honestly don’t want to hear that sentence from ONE MORE person. I really don’t. I’m sorry if that sounds mean and I appreciate the fact people think I am strong, but instead let’s sit down and talk about how bad this freaking sucks, or as my husband admits, “I’m sorry for the hell I’m putting you through.” Let’s share a glass of wine, and talk about how we’ve got each other’s backs as friends/family and a reminder of “I’m here for you” would be wonderful. Because isn’t that what friends and family are for? To get through the hard SH&%# together? I sure think so…
What am I going to do about the fact that this truly sucks? I’m going to take care of ME, so I can better take care of my kids. I’ve started taking more time on my physical appearance, actually taking time on my make up in the morning, picking out nice outfits to wear for work, etc. I started doing this a few weeks ago, and it’s amazing how much of a difference it makes I’ve found. Even my coworkers noticed, asking me why I am dressing up more…I smiled and said, “If I look pretty on the outside, maybe it’ll cheer me up on the inside,” and I think it’s working, a little…
So this weekend I will (I hope) get out on the roads/trails and get my first official long run in of 6 miles. To keep mentally sane through all of this, I’ve been working out a lot at home (Tracy Anderson Transformation videos) , planking, and treadmilling when needed. I can happily report that between stress-haha, a healthy diet, and consistent working out, I have lost nearly all of my marathon weight from last year. My goal this year is to NOT gain weight during training, if I do decide to stick with the full.
Third work out this week!!!
Thank you all for your kind thoughts and words during this difficult time. I am so glad I decided to keep the blog going while my hubby is gone, and appreciate the support and prayers. And guess what? My teen just came up to me and gave me a hug, saying she was sorry for yesterday. I hugged her tight, and told her I was sorry too…#allthefeels
❤ Michelle
So today I did it…I bit the bullet and printed out my faithful Hal Higdon full marathon training plan. I am still on the fence about running a full with my husband deploying, but after night’s like tonight with my teen, I think I may have some mama drama that will need to be left on the trails this next year. I asked my husband if he could pack up one of us to deploy with him, but that doesn’t seem to be an option. Lord help us this next year, LOL…
I already have a good base with 6-7 miles done easy, so I have some time to decide. We shall see…

Tomorrow we are having a “healthy food” potluck at work, so I decided to make my roasted broccoli and quinoa salad. This salad is SO easy that I made it WHILE cooking dinner tonight.
Ingredients:

2 bags of your favorite quinoa, I use a brown rice/quinoa mix-cook according to package directions
2 cups of roasted broccoli-season with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder and roast at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the edges are nice and golden brown
2-3 green onions chopped at a diagonal
The zest of one lemon
1/4 cup of gruyere cheese (I prefer mild), cut in small cubes
1 teaspoon of organic apple cider vinegar
1 cup of toasted pecans
Mix all ingredients well, and finish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt.

My healthy dish is ready!
What’s your favorite healthy dish to pass for potlucks at work or with family? What’s your best release for teenage girl drama?
Cheers!
Michelle
This morning started out a little rocky. I woke up from a terrible nightmare as my husband reached to kiss me goodbye this morning WAY before the birds (or anyone else for that matter) were awake. I laid in bed, practicing my deep calm breaths as my heart raced a million miles per hour. Would he be ok over this next year? Will the Nanny’s first day go well? How can I help my 16 year old cope with, well, being 16? Ugh…
Several deep breaths later, I was up and getting ready for work. The Nanny arrived promptly on time, and everything went quite well for our discombobulated first morning. She texted me as soon as my little got on the bus, and I sighed a HUGE sigh of relief. I had a busy day at work, but was in awe of how many times I smiled, and was reminded of how far I’ve come in life. It really is true. You control your mood, no one else. #learninglessonseveryday
I drove home from work in a crazy snow storm, picked up my little from after school care, and we headed to Home Depot. See, our front light went out, we were out of sidewalk salt, and my daughter’s bathroom toilet lid broke right off. Guess since it was the original one from 1989, it was time to replace it. These are ALL things my husband normally takes care of. Although he isn’t handy, he does do all the hard things that I haven’t had to do in over a decade usually. Yet it’s time I figure out how to be on my own again, and do all the hard things.
As I lifted the huge bag of salt from my Jeep, I reminded myself that I CAN and WILL do this and be stronger for it.
My mini and I cooked our version of Jambalaya for dinner in preparation for an evening of shoveling out above said snow, and here’s a quick recipe.
Jambalaya Ingredients
4 links of pre-cooked chicken sausage, sliced into coin shapes
1 cup of precooked shrimp, chopped into small pieces
1 large can of crushed red tomatoes (use the spicy ones for added kick) with the juice
1 can of black beans, strained
2 stalks of celery, chopped
2 small white onions (or one large), diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
Creole seasoning to taste, salt, pepper, and chives
Fresh chopped Parsley to garnish
In a deep sauté pan heat 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, and sauté the garlic, onions and celery until slightly tender. Add in the tomatoes and beans, and simmer for 20 minutes. Add in the chicken sausage and shrimp until heated through, and serve over your favorite rice or quinoa. I used a brown rice quinoa blend that I cooked according to the package instructions. I even had a little help from my mini.


As we cleaned up the table, I got a text from one of my newest neighbors. She told me her husband has a landscaping business, and plows in the winter. Would I like him to plow my driveway? I broke down crying, and thanked God for all he’s blessed me with through this deployment preparation. He came over to plow, and I thanked him profusely as the temps are dropping, and I now only had to shovel my sidewalk and salt.

Next it was time to fix that darn toilet seat. And who took the lead? Yup…my 16 year old. With a little help from Sammy…LOL!
My oldest asked if she could talk to me. I froze. What’s wrong? She confided in me that she’s been struggling with feeling happy, and I was catapulted back to 10th grade. I told her WE would get through this, and I would help her in any way I can to learn to find happiness even in the toughest of times. And I was just so darn touched and honored that SHE CAME TO ME. #allthetears
My hubby just got home from a very long day of training, so I think it’s time to wrap this post up. But here’s your reminder, that we can ALL do the hard things, if WE believe we can.
Do you have a handy spouse? What’s the hardest thing you’ve done lately?
Cheers! Keep Movin’ forward, y’all!
❤ Michelle
So it’s no surprise that I want to be a Chef one day. I want to own my own restaurant, and I want to create food that makes people close their eyes, look up to the sky, and SMILE. I’m not in it for fame, or fortune. I simply want to make people feel good through the passion I put in to my food.
Over the years I’ve studied my craft, and am always trying to learn new techniques. We’ve sous vide steak twice, and salmon once and LOVED how tender and moist the meat turns out.

Tonight’s Sunday supper was a surf and turf (I’ll describe the turf in a second) theme, with a Rib eye that I seasoned with salt, pepper, and BACON salt and I sous vide cooked it for 55 minutes, and then pan seared it to add color.
I also made a sweet potato stack, seasoned with salt, pepper, smoked paprika and parmesan cheese. Peel and cut the sweet potato in to 1/2 inch disks, toss with the above seasonings, and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

My ‘turf’ was a shrimp salad with toasted walnuts, sweet pomegranates, peppery radishes and a watercress vinaigrette.
For the vinaigrette, blanch 2 bunches of watercress in boiling water for 5 minutes, and transfer to an ice bath to stop the cooking. Transfer to a food processor, add 1/2 cup of lemon juice, 1 clove of minced garlic, 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Puree, strain, and chill before serving.

And last, but surely not least, the BACON FOAM!!!!
Then….well I made FOAM!!
I got this super cool present for Christmas.

Ladies and gentlemen, dinner, is served!

And that my friends, is a wrap. What’s your favorite dish? Do you like to step outside the box and try new things?
Enjoy!
❤ Michelle
It’s gotten too cold outside for me to run the last couple days, so I decided to warm up with some cooking! Especially after having to shovel snow when it’s a real feel of 5 degrees outside. Yup. FIVE. I will say, though, that I am in awe of my 16 year old who offered out of the blue to help me shovel? WHAT? I am still picking my jaw up off the groud. LOL!!

First, we’ll start with meatballs and spinach fettuccini (you can use whatever noodle you prefer). While I don’t make the pasta myself, I do buy fresh made from my local grocery store. I also take a little help with the marinara sauce by letting it simmer and adding some fresh herbs, crushed red pepper flakes, and garlic to give it a little more depth.
Meatballs
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
1 lb. of ground pork and 1 lb. of lean ground beef
1 cup of Italian bread crumbs
1 cup of grated parmesan cheese (use fresh if possible)
1/4 cup of fresh chopped Italian parsley
pinch of salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and Italian herb mix (Approximately 1 tablespoon each, to taste)
3 eggs
1/8 cup of extra virgin olive oil
Combine all ingredients and roll in to small golf ball size balls and place on a sheet tray that has been lined with parchment paper.
Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
Take a jar of GOOD marinara sauce (you know, the good stuff small markets make that don’t have all the added preservatives to it) and put into a wide, deep sauté pan. Turn on LOW, and let simmer. Add in fresh herbs, garlic, and red pepper flakes and cook on low for 20 minutes. Once the meatballs are done, add them to the sauce and let simmer for an additional 20 minutes. Cook your pasta according to package directions, and toss in your marinara sauce before serving!
Enjoy!!!!
What’s your favorite pasta dish? Today I am linking up with Holly and Tricia for the weekly wrap up!!!

I hope everyone has a great week! Things are getting REAL around here, with my hubby’s deployment training starting full speed tomorrow lasting the next 21 days. Our Nanny starts tomorrow, and I pray it will be a smooth transition for us all!
❤ Michelle
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