I'm BACK and CATCHING up!

I have got a TON of catching up to do on my blog! I have been nominated for 2 different awards/blogs!

Morgan at Becoming Rooks for My 7 links
and
Karen at Just Me and My Running Shoes for the Amazing Blogger Award.

I am so happy that I got nominated for these, but now I have a ton of catching up to do for them.

Sorry I did not post last week, but I was at training for my new teaching job and I did not have my computer with me. I was keeping up a little bit on twitter, but I was beyond busy. I was in class everyday from around 8 until 4:30. I learned so much information, but I was on an information overload most of the days. I have not seen a lot of my curriculum, so it was a little overwhelming to see what they were talking about and not have it in my hands.
It was a lot of fun and and I learned a ton of information and I actually got to work out a few days too.

I am going to do a recap from the weekend before to this past Friday, so it is going to have a ton of pictures, which as you know I love!
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Before I left for my training I made a diaper cake for my best friend who is having a baby in October. It was my first time to make one and I think it came out really good for her theme/colors. Since it was my first time making it, it took me around 5 hours to make it! I was so proud of it whenever I finished. It is on my kitchen table in the middle right now. :0)

The first picture is before I put in the dowl rods and all the other fancy things that are on the second picture. I think I used close to 65-70 diapers in different sizes. I really enjoyed making the diaper cake, but now I just have to figure out how to transport it to our home town for her shower. 

That weekend our apartment complex had a pool party with free food, which called my name right away. We went down there and no only did I get a cooler full of cold water thrown on me, I got a cooler of pool water thrown on me after that as well as almost being thrown in the pool. 

****Mind you, this was all right after I finished running 2 miles on the treadmill and still had my running clothes on!**** 

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After I had hot and freezing cold water thrown on me. 

After the pool party, I packed and then the next day I went to church and headed out to training. We passed by where I finished the Rock N Roll Dallas Half Marathon, so there was lots of memories coming back from that weekend.

We got to our hotel and found out that we didn't have a room, so we had to check in on Sunday, check out Monday morning and then check back in Monday evening at the same hotel. That was fun! :0/

This was the first room I had to myself. I will update later with other pictures. The room we ended up in, we had our own kitchen, bed and bathroom. It was really really nice!

I headed out to run 2 and 3 miles on two different days. Monday was starting my half marathon training for my race in December.

Tuesday evening Run. 

Wednesday evening run. 

I did some crunches on Thursday and it felt great! We were all so tired after training, but I knew if I went back to the hotel room, I wouldn't have gotten back up to go run. I knew I needed to get on a schedule again.
While I was at training, we got to eat out pretty much every night, which was extremely hard to stick to my diet, but that is okay. It is alright to take time off every once in a while. I still ran off what all I ate. haha I got to eat at Red Lobster, Macaronni gril, Pei Wei, and a little italian place that I can not remember the name of. Here is a little bit of a what I got to eat....... prepare.to have your mouth water......

Pesto Bowtie Pasta

Beyond Yummy Fruit Tart! 

Chicken Parmasean (I couldn't eat all of that) :0) 

Doesn't that all look so yummy!! However, I was beyond excited to get back home and see Brian and my baby girl Milly! Brian and I didn't have any food, so we went out to eat and then found a new fro yo place to try out. (More about that later).

I had a beyond busy week and an even busier week ahead. I have so much I have to go through this week. 

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I ran 3 miles yesterday and I am hoping to buy insanity workout sometime soon and start doing that for my cross training! I hope everybody else had a great weekend and an even greater weekend! I really did miss blogging, so I am happy to be back to my normal routine. 

Question: Is anybody else out there running a half this season? 

I am the RunGirl 13.1 in December. 

Question: 

For you beginning teachers out there, did you ever feel overwhelmed at the beginning of the year?

Because, I sure do right now, trying to get everything taken care of!  

Another Half in my Future

I just got the word from my amazing husband, that..................................................................................... he is going to let me

run another half marathon!!! 

Woooohooooo!!! I am so beyond excited! 

I am going to be running the Rungirl 13.1 in Houston! It is a women's only half marathon in December! Hopefully there will be great weather too! I have been trying to find a few half marathons that are close by and this one is so close and it is super cheap for a half marathon. Yes, there are other ones that I would love to do, but they are not an option right now! 

It is not on august 21, like this one says. It is a different day, but I am still really excited about this race. I am going to be running the mud run in November and then this one a month later! I can actually start getting back on a training plan now. I have been slacking quite a bit, since I didn't have any goal races in my mind. I have been dying to run another half, but because of knee problems and trying to find a job, I had to cut back.

But..........

Now that I know what is wrong with my knee and I have a job, I am going to get back into it! Thank you Lord. I can not thank him enough for all the blessings he has been giving me lately. On top of this being a girls only race, I am trying to think of what I can wear that will be cute and girly! This might be a good opportunity to buy a new running skirt.....hmmmmmmm!!! haha (But which one??) 

On that note, I am going to go run an easy 3 miles! I just downloaded Selena Gomez's new album, so I can listen to that too! 

Question: 

Has anybody ever ran this race before? If so, what did you think of it? 

I have been a Busy Bee

If I jump around a lot, I am sorry, just have been so busy lately. 

This week has not slowed down one bit! I have been such a busy bee that it is crazy! I am not going to post the food I have been eating lately anymore. It is so much to type, but if you are on My Fitness pal, you can see what I have been eating there. It is a great website to use if you are trying to track your calories or exercise. My husband and I both are using it and love it!

We made Taco soup the night before last with ground Turkey and it was so much better than ground meet. It was not near as greasy and just so so much better! I loved it. I have been going all week though. I went and looked at different themes for my 2nd grade classroom and found something that I like and I think the kids will like...FROGS or polkadot! I am kind of torn between the two. I am not sure what my room looks like still and I am kind of getting antsy! It is driving me crazy not knowing what I need to get or what they are giving me.

For all of you elementary teachers out there, here is a great message board that I have gotten so many different ideas from already! It is called Pro Teacher.net. My friend gave me the website, and all the ideas she received from it, so I am excited to use it. I was on it for almost 3 hours last night just searching! The grades on the site are K-8th, so it has tons of information on it for all types of subjects. I bought a treasure chest yesterday to use for special occasions for the kids and I am trying to think of different designs I can do for it.

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I have only ran once this week, but I have worked out to an old workout video that I have. I am sore today from it. It is called Prevention Fitness: Belly/Butt and Thighs. It is 10 minute clips for each section and I didn't think that I would feel anything, but I sure do feel something. I am going to do another video today. I have a lot of clothes to wash and cleaning to do today. I will be even busier next week then I was this week.

Question: Are any of you teachers out there getting really antsy? 

I am I am I am I am I am! 

I just want to get in my classroom and start planning! 

I have GREAT News!!!!

I have not said a whole lot about my career on my blog, because I haven't not been able to do what I am certified in for two LONG years. I graduated a couple of years ago with an elementary teaching degree and at the time that I graduated was when the teacher crunch hit. It was horrible. I subbed and applied to so many different schools I lost count.

My family at my graduation.
I thought in my heart that God was going to place me in the school in my home town, but he obviously had many other different plans. I subbed there for 3 long term subbing positions and had a few opportunities to teach, but I was not certified for any of those positions. So I had to pass up those positions. It was not where God wanted me and he kept putting obstacle after obstacle in my way to show me that.

Whenever Brian and I finally moved a little ways away from my home town I started applying to all the school around me here and wouldn't you know it I got 4 different interviews.

We were both so excited that I graduated!
The first interview I thought might happen, but didn't. The second I knew was not going to happen. the interview went HORRIBLE!! The panel did not talk at all. The third interview I did not really consider an interview, but it was amazing and I was just waiting to hear. And then, the final interview went great, but I didn't hear anything from it.

This has all happened over the course of the summer.

Brian's Family at my graduation. 

2 weeks ago I got a call from my third interview place and they offered me the 2nd grade job that they had there! I did not even think twice! I immediately started jumping up and down and said YES!!!!!

I made it!! Finally!!! 

It is a charter school and I do not know all that much about the school just yet because it is brand new, but I have lots of training coming up all over the place, so hopefully I will learn something. I am not even sure about my room yet, because it is not ready for me to put anything in there. Kinda scary for those of you out there that are teachers.
I am excited about it though, because God saved this job for me for 2 years and if HE can bring me to it, then HE can bring me through it!

That is my exciting news though, and I promise to share more as I find out more that I can share! We are so excited to finally be able to start saving up for a house now! :0)

Exciting News

Hey friends! I have some exciting news for you today, but I won't be able to tell you until later today or tomorrow. Sorry, no giveaway here, but it is an exciting thing for my career and something that I have been waiting on for 2 years since I graduated college!!!!!!

Can you guess what it is???? 

I thought about giving you some hints, but everything I thought of would just give it away! Can't wait to spill the beans!

Fruit Dip Recipe and Calorie Meals

Over the July 4th weekend I made a very yummy recipe that is super easy to make for get togethers or parties and very quick. You pair it with a bunch of different fruit and it is beyond yummy. You will probably have trouble pulling yourself away from it, like I did!!

Ingredients:

*1 Jar Marshmallow Cream (if you can not find Marshmallow Cream you can use 1 package large marshmallows)
*1- 8 oz. package softened cream cheese
*1 package of Marshmallows or jar of Marshmallow Cream to 1 container of Cream cheese

Cream cheese

Marshmallow Cream

Directions:

1. I put the cream cheese in the microwave for 20 seconds if I am in a rush and it is not softened, but you can just leave it out on the counter until it is softened if you want too.
2. Remove the cream cheese from it's container and put it in a bowl.
3. Add the marshmallow cream and blend together either using a hand held mixer or a stand alone mixer.
4. Make sure you have removed most of the bumps in it and Viola, it is finished!!

******If you are using marshmallows you will have to cook those in the microwave first to soften them and then add the cream cheese and mix. Either way it is very simple and taste delicious!!

I beyond love fresh fruit!!! 

Pair it with some delicious cut up fruit and you will be tempted to stay there for hours. :0)

*Sidenote: If you use the marshmallows and you want to cool the dip down, then you can put it in the icebox, but it will harden somewhat and you will need to stick it in the microwave for around 20 seconds to be able to stir it up. For this particular recipe I used 2 packages of cream cheese and 2 bags of Marshmallows.

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I have been slacking on what I have been eating with my calorie intake. I have been doing 1,500 calories now and I have already lost 2 pounds in 2 weeks and can feel a difference in how some of my clothes are fitting and how I feel.

I left off on July 2nd breakfast, so I will update from there to today. Then hopefully I will be back on track for a week at a time. I do not have pictures for everything, I need to get better at taking those.

July 2nd: 
Lunch:
Homemade Shrimp Etouffee
1 bottle of water

Mid Evening Snack:

YoGreek Yogurt- Blueberry with Granola

Dinner: Spinach and Chicken in a Cream Sauce with angle hair pasta and 2 garlic rolls

July 3rd: 
Breakfast:

Jimmy Dean Turkey Sausage patties
1/4 cup egg whites and two butterball turkey bacon pieces
Trop 50 Orange juice

Lunch:

Schlotzsky's Deli - Smoked Turkey Breast Sandwich - Small Bun, 1 small sandwich

Dinner: 

McCallisters Grilled Chicken Salad with Balsalmic Vinnegerette dressing
1/2 and 1/2 Sweet Tea

July 4th
Breakfast:
Bananna
Then we ate at Crackle Barrel and I had 1 scrambled egg, 2 pieces of bacon, 1 turkey sausage patty and a glass or Orange juice and water. Oh and 1 piece of toast.

Dinner: 
Homemade Turkey Burger
1/4th  Piece of Sausage
Homemade Grilled Vegetable Skewer

 2 homemade chocolate chip cookies
1/2 chocolate dipped pretzel
(Can you believe it, but I was still under my calorie limit!!! Woohooo Go Me!!!!!

July 5th
Breakfast:
Turkey Bacon, Turkey sausage, and egg whites

Lunch:
Whole Wheat hoagie bun with turkey, mayonnaise, lettuce and dried cranberries. So yummy!!!

Dinner:

Morning Star Spicy Black Bean Burger with whole wheat bun, mustard, lettuce, dill hamburger slices and sweet potato fries.
2 Homemade Chocolate Chip cookies

Evening Snack: 1 small peach

July 6th: 
Breakfast:
Same as above

Lunch:
100 calorie pack of Chocolate covered pretzels
1/2 cup whole natural almonds

Dinner: 
This was so yummy. You have to try this recipe at some point:
Chunck Light Tuna in Water with a spicy tunafish mixing with it.
Lettuce, Tomato, whole wheat flour tortilla
Made into a wrap.
Betty Crocker Suddenly Pasta Original

July 7th
Breakfast: 
Betty Crocker Wild Blueberry Muffin

Lunch: 
Oscar Myers Hot Dog with mustard
Dole, no sugar added red grapefruit
Betty Crocker Suddenly pasta original

Dinner: Same thing as above: Tunafish Wrap
2 Homemade Chocolate chip cookies

Evening Snack:
Yoplait Strawberry Banana Smoothie

July 8th
Breakfast:
2 pieces: Turkey Sausage, Turkey bacon, 1/4 cup egg whites

Lunch: 
Tyson grilled and ready chicken breast strips
Multi grain tortilla and 1/4 cup shredded mexican cheese

Mid Evening Snack: 
Red Seedless Grapes

Dinner: 
Homemade Baked Catfish
Birdseye Steamfresh Broccoli
Sweet Potato Fries

I probably shouldn't have done this, but I went and had a nice hard/long 2 mile run and swam about 30-40 minutes in a pool after I ate, but it felt great to get out there and it was nice and windy. You probably can not tell though because of how red my face is....

So I decided to treat myself with....

Dessert: 
Bryers Vanilla Fat Free Ice Cream
Smuckers Magic Shell Chocolate

That brings me up to date to today. I will update again next week. Thanks for sticking with me if you read this far. I promise I will try and have more pictures next week, so it is not just a bunch of words you are starring at. :0) 

I also have exciting news that I will be sharing within the next couple of days, so keep checking back for that!!! 

Enjoy the recipe above. It is so very good! :0) 

Fourth of July Weekend/Race Recap

This past Fourth of July weekend was amazing! I had such a good time hanging out with family and friends, eating good food, watching fireworks and running the "4 on the 4th" 4 miler race. Be warned there are going to be a ton of pictures in this post! I left my house Sunday evening and went to meet my sister-in-law Karen at the movie theatre with some friends. We all watched Monte Carlo. I thought it was a very cute movie, but I also like Selena Gomez as an actress. After that, we left and went to McCallister's and I had a salad there, but I will post about that tomorrow. We stayed there for a few hours just talking and laughing and then we headed home since we were running 4 miles in the BLAZING heat the next day!

The last time that I ran this particular race was 2 years ago and it started at 8 a.m. I had not been training that long and Karen said, let's do a 4 mile race, I will run with you! I had not even ran more than 2 miles. I must have been crazy, and I pretty much was. We finished the race in 53 minutes. I have ran 6 miles faster than that since then! After that race, I said I would never run it again.....UNTIL NOW!!! 
We got up that morning and headed out for the race.

Before the race began!! 

The super hero's/women and I! 

And we are off!!!!!! 

The race was VERY good! It was way better than last year and I was so excited about that. The last time I thought I was going to have a heat stroke. They had one water station at mile 1.5 where I took advantage of it. I managed around a 10 minute mile which is what I was pretty well going for. I had been running in the heat lately just for this particular race. Nothing on me hurt, and I felt good while I was running. After mile two whenever I was coming back it was quite hot because the sun was glaring in my eyes. I am so thankful that I had my ryder sunglasses. They saved me! On the second water station on the way back I asked for two glasses of water and I dumped one of them on my head. It felt so much better because my head felt like I could fry an egg on it.

Here I come. I am almost there! 

I finished in 43 minutes. I was so excited whenever I saw my time, because I realized that I had finished not 5 minutes, but 10 minutes faster than my old time!! Wooohoooo I could not believe it. I didn't feel like I pushed myself as hard as I could have, but I did not want to overdue it! My knee did not hurt afterwards, so that made me even more happy!

We did kind of feel like throwing up from the heat! 

This guy juggled the whole way! 

I finished and now it is time to chill out! 

Crackle Barrel for the longest porch picture! 

We ate at Crackle Barrel and we helped the make the longest porch. Every picture that is sent in, Crackle Barrel will send so much money to the Operation Freedom soldiers. It is a really neat thing to do!
Now it was time to get cleaned up and hang out with good food and family for the July 4th festivities.





Just check out all this delicious food that we had!!!!!

yummy fruit dip and fresh vegetables. Recipe coming later. 

Fresh Vegetables!! 

 Does this food just not make your mouth water????? Holy YUMMINESS!!!!

Potato Salad, deviled eggs, and watermelon

hamburgers, sausage, chicken, vegetable skewers!! 

Coming tomorrow I will update you on my meals this past weekend/week.

After consuming lots of yummy food, we hung out and talked and took a few more pictures.

Maxin and Relaxin!!! 

Brian finally showed up. He had to work, and I was so happy to finally have him with me.

Brian's family! 

Brother-in-laws!!! 

I know what you are thinking, "How many more pictures does she have????"

Just a few more, so bare with me please! Up next we went and watched the fireworks downtown. Where I live they are having a huge burn ban and people were not even allowed to sell fireworks, so this was a huge treat for us to be able to watch them! 

This makes me think of Disney!!!! 

That concludes my 4th of July weekend. I hope everybody had as great of weekend as I did. Coming up tomorrow I will update you with my calorie foods and what I have been eating.

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Have you seen Karen @ Just me and My Running Shoes giveaway for a Everyday Health My Calorie Counter Guide. It is really neat. Go check it out and enter her giveaway!!! 


Question: What did you do for the 4th of July this year? 
Please see above. :0)