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I’ve been out of the blogger land for a bit for several reasons.  I thought, “What a perfect Friday Five post!” The list is NOT all inclusive, and is all over the place.  Here goes…

1. After retiring from the Air Force in 2011 I found myself completely lost.  Insert cliché “Fish out of water” statement, HERE.  In struggling to find ME, I became a bit selfish.  I ran a lot, I signed up for lots of races, I dove in to my passions of writing, cooking and photography, I…I…I.  But wait…Oh yeah.  I have 2 kids and a husband, a house, and a career that also need tending too.  Pardon me while I slap my selfish self, now.

2. So I am runner who likes to write, cook, and several other things.  So what?  What makes me so much more interesting than anyone else.  Yeah…a whole lotta nothin’.

3. I’ve not been running more than a couples at a time since the Grandma’s Marathon in June.  I think 6+ hours on the course sucked the runner love out of me for a while.  So what will I blog about, if I am not signed up for a gazillion races?  Hmm…

4. I found in being so busy to grow my blog/page/creative career pursuit I was losing a lot of precious time with friends and family. I sort of got lost in social media land, and it more than sort of made me feel a tad sick.

5. I found myself very tired.  I was tired of not only reading the same things over and over in social media, and seeing the same selfies posted of the same work outs all while bragging themselves up over contests and awards, I was MORE exhausted trying to keep up with those pages and blogs as I found myself doing the very SAME thing…argh.

So I’ve stepped back, and reassessed where I want to be.  I still love spreading inspiration on my FB page with daily quotes and posters because nearly every day I get a “Thank you so much, I needed that,” type of comment.  I still love cataloging my recipes on the blog, and sharing my love for all things involved with food.  I still enjoy posting my workouts for a sense of accountability.  But I’ve STOPPED trying to compete with pages and blogs that clearly have me outnumbered tenfold.  “Comparison is the thief of joy” and I nearly let it steal MY joy.  Ack!  I need to practice what I preach, right?! I need to remember back to the reason WHY I started this blog/FB fan page which was to show people that even though you have struggles/face depression/suffer with life issues, YOU CAN KEEP MOVIN’ FORWARD. It’s up to you…

So thanks for bearing with me in my lack of posting.  I just needed a little break.  I am looking forward to the Fall, and some new upcoming challenges I plan on giving myself.  Yes…I am going to tackle my fear of baking.  STAY TUNED!  LOL

Have a great weekend, y’all!  And thanks again!  ❤

Michelle

Gosh things have been busy with work and my Inlaws in town but I wanted to share my weekly wrap up in pics for last week!!! 

 Tuesday my Inlaws arrived and its been so nice spending time with them. 

  Wednesday I was back at it with my 30 day shred. 

  Thursday I was reminded of this, even though I’m only running a couple miles still. 

  Friday’s mantra. 

   Homecoming dress shopping!

 Got my hair done this weekend. Yay! 

  
Sunday supper was a great success. Steaks, yucca fries, avocado and pea purée, plantain fritters and…..

  
Peach and Mango tartlets!!

  
And today’s reminder. Don’t look back. You’re not going that way. 

  
Mill miles on Labor Day!

How was your week? Did you do anything special for Labor Day?  

Have a great week everyone!!

❤ Michelle

As many of you may know if you’ve been reading for a while, my husband is gone, well…a lot. Between his civilian job and his Army reserve duty I’m lucky to have a partner in crime very often.  He finally arrived home this weekend after a month of training so I decided to prepare our tradition Sunday Supper tonight.  It’s been a while since I’ve put forth any effort into my cooking, because in all honesty it’s just been too much work to manage all the things.  So the fact my children are still breathing happy and healthy is saying a lot.  I may have only acquired 14 grey hairs…this time. LOL!!

Today was busy with grocery shopping for the week, and I really wanted to get my work outs in after 2 days of rest.  Great success with day six of my 30 day shred, and I even squeezed in a quick run.

Next was food prep for the week.  I cleaned all the fruits and veggies I purchased from the store and put them in Ziploc bags for quick access for the family.

Next it was time to prepare Sunday Supper.  Here are my recipes!

Pistachio crusted Salmon

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

I large fillet of salmon, cut into 4 ounce servings, and seasoned with salt and pepper. *make sure to pat dry your fillet with a paper towel before seasoning.

The juice of 1 lemon-pour this over the salmon evenly

2 pats of butter

1 cup of shelled pistachios

Drizzle of coconut oil

Place the butter and pistachios in a food processor and pulse on high.  Drizzle in the coconut oil to loosen up the mixture, then spread evenly on the salmon.  Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes.

Sweet potato muffins

I large sweet potato peeled and shredded

1 cup of parmesan cheese, grated

2 eggs

1/4 cup of panko bread crumbs

1/4 cup of pancetta that has been browned, rendering off the fat, and drained on a paper towel.

Season with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and parsley to taste

Mix well and set aside.  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees, and spray a muffin pan with nonstick spray.  Fill the cups to the top with the mixture, and bake for 45 minutes at 325 degrees.  *I made these first, and then put the salmon in the oven for the last 30 minutes so they could cook at the same time!  It worked perfectly!!

Dinner is served!!!  It feels so good to be back in creative mode with my cooking, and I pray this is just the beginning.  Thanks for your support!  That cook book WILL happen someday!!

What’s your favorite family meal? Do you meal/food prep on the weekends for the upcoming week?

Have a great week everyone!!

❤ Michelle

This past week, I lost a dear friend of mine to her battle with cancer.  I took the news harder than I thought I would as this friend is someone I’ve never physically met.  But over the last few years we’ve made a bond that I held very dear to my heart. She always had a kind word, a sweet gift, or a heartfelt reminder to share with her friends.  I sobbed upon hearing the news knowing her life was taken far too early being only in her early 40’s.

With the news of her passing, I decided I needed to make the most of my life, my days…because the saying ‘Life is short’ really hit home last week.

Since not being able to run very much due to family obligations, I’ve turned my fitness plans around working out at home in my basement with my daughters, running on the treadmill while watching chopped, and taking walks on my lunch breaks.

This weekend I showered my girls with fun, shopping, and facials.  Total blog fail by not taking any pics.  But we made the most of every moment and it felt great.

Tonight I decided to make a simple Sunday supper.  Chicken wings, sautéed green beans, and cauliflower bites.  I’d like to think my wings were somewhat healthy as I flash fried them in coconut oil before transferring into a 425 degree oven to bake.  I also used seasoned gluten free flour to lightly coat the wings before frying…

But can you really say fried and healthy in the same sentence? hehe!

Cauliflower bites  

I saw a version of this recipe on Facebook and just HAD to tweak it to my liking!

1 head of cauliflower/3 cloves of garlic, steamed and blitzed in a food processor

In a large bowel: Add in 2 eggs, 1 tablespoon of low fat cream cheese, and 1 cup of shredded Colby jack cheese, 1 teaspoon of kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper and a teaspoon of parsley.  Mix well, and add 2 more egg whites that have been beaten well.  Spoon the mixture in to mini muffin tins that have been sprayed with non-stick spray and bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

How was your week?  Have you ever lost a friend at such a young age?  Any favorite high protein recipes you’d like to share?

Have a great day, y’all!

#keepmovinforward

❤ Michelle

Hey gang, sorry I’ve been so quiet. A lot has been going on in my life, and I am trying to sort through it all.  This caused me to step back, unplug, and focus on finding my center again.  After a full marathon, I always tend to get the blues as I said before…this time was no different.

BUT…I am happy to report I’ve been walking A LOT during my lunch break (we only get 30-45 minutes so not enough time for a run unless I REALLY want to offend my coworkers with my after run stench, LOL), and even laced up and RAN for the first time in a couple weeks on Monday.

I’ve also been cooking a lot more, and even BAKED this past weekend.  It was store bought puff pastry, but hey…I made the peach preserves that were inside!

Lastly…my family is packed up and ready to head out for our first family vacation (other than local staycations) in 3 years.  Long overdue, and NEEDED!  This will be my view in less than 24 hrs:

With that, I bid you all a wonderful week.  I plan on unplugging and recharging over the next few days!!!!

Keep movin’ forward, y’all!

❤ Michelle

This will be a picture filled post as I am in the car and won’t have time to sit down to write. Here goes!!!

Friday night was dress rehearsal for my youngest’s ballet recital. Gosh. She takes my breath away. Both my daughters are so pretty!  Not that I’m biased. 

 
 Saturday was my long run and I was lucky enough to share the miles with my new friend, Teri. I did the first two miles solo and met her at 6 am to finish the final 16. As you can see, runners brain happened and I ended up doing 19 instead. Woops. lol Teri’s FB page is “Reinventitude” and I highly recommend you check it out.   
       

Saturday afternoon we had the recital.  My Mom surprised us by driving down from MN and my sister’s family came down, too!  Made my day!!!

   
             

We had such a wonderful day. I am counting my blessings ten fold this weekend. My hubby even rubbed my aching feet last night. 

  
We’re headed to the city for Mother’s Day lunch and shopping today. I hope you all have an amazing week coming up, and that you were able to spend time with family and friends this weekend!! 

Xoxoxo

Michelle

Last night I was woken up at 3 am to loud claps of thunder and lightening. Really??  Am I really doomed to never ending late night wake ups?  Lol! I went to work tired…but happy none the less.

But I was also a bit nervous. I had my mammogram scheduled for after work and these exams always make me nervous having lost my maternal Grandmother to Breast cancer. 

  Lol or not. 

My results will be back in a week or so. Fingers crossed for a normal result. My dermatology appointment on Thursday will wrap up my plethora of annual exams and I’ll breath easy finally. 

My motivation for all these exams?  To be around as long as possible for my family. <3. Plain and simple. 

I finished a nice walk while my youngest was at ballet and day two of Ab Ripper X. All I can say is OUCH. 

  Lol!

Ladies-are you good about keeping up with your annual exams?  What’s your favorite core workout?  

Hope your Monday was awesome!

Have a great week, yall!!

💗 Michelle