5 Q F {&goals}

1. What's your favorite way to spend down time (alone or with a significant other)? All I have is time alone.. and my favorite way to spend it is a) running or b) geoclique.me

2. Are you the kind of person that wants things more as soon as you know you can't have it? only chocolate.

3. If you were given $1000 to spend on yourself, what would you buy? a plane ticket to anywhere but here.

4. Do you ever go out to eat by yourself? yes. I quite enjoy it.

5. What company would you want to do a blog review for? Sparkly Soul, Inc., or Spotted Moth!

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Spring Break is April 9-13, and I will be lounging (ok, chasing a toddler up and down) on the beach in sunny Florida! 

Which means I have a short time to accomplish one HUGE goal. I want my stomach to be F L A T. 

I am starting the 7dsd Sunday!!! I am excited. This time I will not gag at the thought of ANOTHER salad.  I will stick to my gym schedule. I WILL do more exercise at home. And I will look fabulous on the beach for spring break with my grandparents and kids. <-- I lead a super wild, glamorous life, can't you tell? haha. My bff Suzy lives in Destin and so I think we will stay around that area so I can spend some time with her and so our kiddos can play together!

I'll be checking in here EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. during my 7 day slim down. Recording food, workouts, and staying motivated & on track. I would LOVE for any of you to do the slim down with me! :) I know my friends Beth & Natasha are going to be! If you want to participate in the 7 day slim down but aren't sure what it is, head over to TONE IT UP and find out! Then make the best purchase of your life & get the meal plan! Thank you K&K!

Finding my "umph"

Gahhhhh This has been the longest week ever. But not even the week- I started feeling sick LAST week. I took 2 days off. I went back to the gym, back to running. Felt worse, took a few more days off. Taking time off to be sick means... cheese. Yeah. Everyone has their own comfort food, right? Well, in my family... we put cheese on EVERYTHING growing up. So, cheese and crackers (always reminds me of my late great grandma Poole) is my number one comfort food, especially if I'm sick. So, I didn't eat my weight in cheese or anything, but, I definitely ate more than I normally would.

I got back in the gym today and it felt great. My throat is still scratchy and raw, and I'm still coughing a little... I couldn't wait any longer. You know.. in the movie Tommy Boy where Richard tells Tommy "I can hear you getting fatter!" .. That is how I have felt with every passing day that I didn't get in the gym. I ran a 2 mile HIIT (treadmill, not elliptical! Ouch to my shins, but what a feeling of accomplishment!), and did arms/shoulders/chest.

Then I came home, and conducted girl scouts. After my scouts left, I prepared Olivia's & my favorite dinner! Chicken stir-fry over quinoa. Its so easy and fast, and by far one of the heartiest dinners (to me).

Easy peasy lemon squeezy..

• sautee organic boneless skinless chicken in some pam and a dash of olive oil until they're white on each side. Remove from pan, dice (you can probably chop them up completely raw but.. I'll gag. So I have to cook them a little first!) Put back in pan.
• add a dash of low sodium soy sauce. cook until chicken is almost finished.
• add in 1/2 bag of frozen stir fry veggies (plain, no sauces/butter added! I use great value brand since its cheap, simple, and walmart is the local grocery store). 
• add another dash of low sodium soy sauce, 1/8c water, bring to boil. Cover, reduce to simmer.
• Meanwhile, you should have had your quinoa cooking. haha.
• Scoop finished quinoa onto your plate (measure your serving, of course! PORTION control!), top with stir-fry goodness, & sprinkle with sesame seeds.

enjoy! 

Meet Aubrey!

This is the gorgeous Aubrey. :) She is my wing man for the challenges I host. I say that because she helps motivate ME a lot. Annnnd she does all the math for me. I am so, so very terrible at math. Even with a calculator. So, having her to back up my numbers (she charts EVERYTHING- so I have something to compare my math with! SAVING GRACE, haha!) against makes my life a lot easier.

Aubrey has been a part of all 3 of my challenges, starting the first one in July '11 weighing in at 175 and finishing at 168. She started the second challenge at 163 and ended at 156. 

Starting weight for the SBBC: 158.8

We Aren't Scared Of Sugar: Tell us your favorite motivational quote.

Aubrey: "No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everyone on the couch."

WASOS: Share your favorite healthy recipe.

Aubrey:  I like to keep it simple.....grilled chicken with grilled squash and zucchini, with some Tony Chachere seasoning

WASOS: What is your ultimate fitness goal?

Aubrey: I want to feel comfortable going for a run in booty shorts and a sports bra

^^ Me too, Aubrey, me too. We will get there! :) 

If you would like to follow Aubrey's journey to an amazing beach bod, you can view her blog HERE. You can also follow her on twitter HERE. You can also add her as a friend on my fitness pal by searching for Aubarnold.

If you haven't already, go ahead and "like" the We Aren't Scared of Sugar facebook page by clicking HERE! 

Weekend!

Yay! The weekend (is almost gone... so I'm not sure why I'm cheering, haha).

Today is weigh in day.. and measure in day! I lost .5 pound.. and I lost an inch on my torso, but gained up to 1/2" everywhere else. I know why. I had wine this week. I had 2 rest days this week. I had part of a piece of chocolate cake last night for Jessica's birthday. I had pita bread last night (not a lot) at dinner. Its ok. It was a great celebration for a really sweet friend, and I will hit it hard this week! :)

the slice of cake we split between the 3 of us... and still didn't finish it. 

Another lovely Pinterest thing from yesterday: I FINALLY learned how to create the "beach wave" look with my flat iron! I love the way my hair turned out and I can't wait to practice more. I will probably look like this a lot now.. because I LOVE the whole "just back from the ocean" look. LOVE LOVE LOVE

Yesterday I was browsing Pinterest and I saw THIS recipe for Quinoa salad. So I decided to make it. Only... I modified it a bit, and I am about 100000x positive mine tasted better than the one in the recipe. haha. So, here you go, my modified quinoa salad.

1c cooked quinoa
1/4c rice vinegar (I'm totally leaving this out next time, btw)
1/8c olive oil
2 roma tomatoes, diced
cilantro
basil (leaving this out next time too...)
oregano (also going to leave out! I think that a more spanish based flavor will be better without the italian seasonings)
4oz diced green chiles
1 can of black beans, rinsed & drained
1 orange bell pepper diced
1 clove garlic, chopped finely
sliced black olives
cholula (adding way more of this next time)
optional: crushed red pepper

it was really good, except I know for sure I don't want to include the oregano or basil next time. those were included in the original recipe. 

Ok. :) Today I am going through my closet and dresser to rid myself of things I feel the need to cling to, but don't wear. Also I will do the same with my jewelry and all the random little things in my room. This week I am doing a purge throughout the entire house.. one room at a time! :) How exciting. Hopefully the decluttering will help our house look better to potential buyers. The painter starts in the morning at 0730. I can't wait to see how the house looks all boring tan. Maybe then someone will fall in love with this place and buy it. Because if that happens, and things go the way they might.. we could be picking a place to live in St. Thomas in about 5 months. So please, pray that someone buys my house!!!

fitspo

So today, I'm pretty grossed out and disgusted with myself. Why? Well its day two of my 7 Day Slim Down. Only... my lunch made me GAG. seriously. I am so over chicken and spinach and well... to be honest I haven't even tried to get creative with it. And that, my friends, brings on the self loathing. I ate mac and cheese. Granted, it was organic, but we ate the whole box. As big as Sophie is... I just can't blame much of that on her.

Tomorrow is a new day, and with it comes new motivation. Fresh. I need to be better at respecting my body. I have a HUGE wealth of knowledge about food.. diets, lifestyles, health, fitness... growing up half the time in a home that revolved around chocolate and sweet tea and the other half with a diet-obsessed parent constantly berating her body image (which was smaller than me!).. well, I've had my share of struggles with food. I'll leave it at that. I do not want to put that on my daughters. I refuse. My kids will hear me talk about food, but Olivia already knows the secret to being happy with your body is to eat organic, fresh, and to exercise regularly (doing something you love). I am actually impressed with all of the food knowledge Olivia has retained, and how she will tell me about her healthy choices, or how good her lunch was when they ate crap at school (or someone's mom sent a dozen cookies for them as their afternoon snack).

I did, however, get up to do my bootycall today (I did yoga) and I felt good about that. I really felt great until after lunch, when I couldn't finish what I was trying to eat (ugh, chicken- so over it. From now on my protein will be tofu, or black beans.. at least for a while). Then a package came from my awesome cousin Kylea.. loaded down with SO MANY SUGARY TREATS... so I sampled a bite.. and then Sophia needed lunch so we made Annie's organic white shells and cheese. Let me tell you... I felt guilty with every bite and afterward I felt SO SICK. I'm sure it was all mental, because I felt like I was failing my TIU 7DSD girls... and I did. :( I'm so sorry.

So with that... guilt.. tomorrow I bounce back. I felt a little sad (a lot sad) all day, actually. Maybe that is part of why I was so easily swayed. I realized today.. just how lonely I am! I need a BFF that lives close. I miss spontaneity. I miss laughing so hard I cry (Anna Ramirez you were the best for this one). I miss champagne brunch and tea parties (another thing I really, truly miss Anna for!). Kayaking.. road trips, gossip, heart to heart talks. I miss having someone. Living here is really starting to get to me. All the more motivation to work harder, I suppose.

What keeps YOU motivated? Not just fitness motivation.. but  motivated in life. I would love to know.