Christmas Cards are done!

Thanks once again to Shutterfly for their beautiful selection of Holiday cards! I am SO PLEASED with how this year's card came out.

Here's the finished product!

Joy Ornament Christmas Card

Make a statement with custom Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Tis the Season..

to start thinking about the perfect holiday card! Year after year, Shutterfly is a great asset in creating and sending the perfect holiday card, and this year is no exception! This season, Shutterfly has an AWESOME deal for all the bloggers out there. Just do what you do best - BLOG! - and you can earn 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly! Check out the details on the Shutterfly blog.

There are SO many beautiful designs to choose from this year, how do I choose just one??  Here's one of my favorites! 

I think ultimately, the card I choose will be dictated by the types of photos I end up with! I'm hoping I can convince the husband to get our tree up this weekend so I can start working on that ASAP1

So bloggers, hurry up and get blogging, and pick out your beautiful holiday card from Shutterfly! I can't wait to order mine!

Back in the Act

As you can see, its been quite a while since my last post! Unfortunately, my ventures in getting healthier were derailed slightly last November when I began having some health issues. When they finally began to get better in January of this year, we found out we were expecting! Since I was on a necessary hiatus from any sort of exercise, my clean eating ways went by the wayside as well. Now that I've had my son, I a MORE than ready to get back in the act and on the road to a healthier me! I hope you'll follow along as I once again take on the challenge of cleaning up my act!!

1.5 to Go

In two weeks I'll be running a 5 mile race that I do NOT feel ready for! Last night I did a little over 3.5 miles, which is my longest distance so far. Just need to add another mile and a half now! I actually felt really great during the run! I think I could have actually gone for 4, however it was getting really dark, and the hubby called to say pizza had been ordered!

I know, I know. Pizza is definitely not clean. However, I do believe in the phrase, "Everything in Moderation"! I had one plain slice and 1/2 a garlic knot and was stuffed!

Today's Eats:
Breakfast: Steel cut oats cooked with apples and cinnamon - yum!, with coffee and 1%milk
Snack: (Had a meeting run long so no snack this morning!)
Lunch: Black beans, corn, reduced fat mexican cheese and salsa over baby spinach (my own little mexican salad) - It was SO good! - Also a small handful of organic corn chips.
Afternoon Snack: Will be either an orange or grapes, with raw almonds
Dinner: Planning to make turkey meatloaf, roasted asparagus, and mashed potatoes (I may skip those in favor of leftover brown rice)

Today's Workout
I'm following a 12 week Half-Marathon training schedule, and plan to do each week twice since I have until May for the Half! Tonight will be either a 2M run or Cross, (probably Elliptical)

AHA!

In March/April of this year, I decided it was time to stop complaining about my body and actually do something about it. Perhaps it was the looming "big 3-0" coming up this year, perhaps it was the fact that I was still happily fitting into maternity pants despite the fact that may daughter was on the verge of turning 2. More likely, it was the realization that I have never been happy with my body. Whatever it was that finally brought on my "AHA" moment, I am grateful.

I began doing the Couch to 5K program, which I HIGHLY recommend to anyone interested in running. It starts out at a pace that even a dedicated couch potato can handle. I'm proud to say that last weekend, I ran my first 5k, and completed it in just over 36 minutes. 6 months ago I was winded after running for one measly minute!

While the desire to exercise was a great starting point, I knew more had to change. I am ashamed to say that prior to this "aha" moment, there were some days where breakfast, lunch and dinner all came from fast food restaurants. Starting as a teenager, I have tried numerous diet programs, from WW, to Atkins. They worked, up until I decided I no longer wanted to count everything I ate, or my craving for carbs literally brought me to tears. (It was over an ice cream sandwich!)

This spring, I decided I needed to change the way I thought of food. I've always known I was not eating a healthy, balanced diet. To be honest, I had no idea how to! I picked up a book by Tosca Reno called The Eat Clean Diet. "Interesting", I though, "but what the heck is eating clean??" After reading this book, I feel like something clicked. I thought to myself, "so THIS is how I should be eating?!" It was a revelation.

Since then, I have whole-heartedly thrown myself into cleaning up my diet. I'm not perfect. I do on occasion have white flour, or even white sugar. Getting my husband on board has been the largest hurdle. It's a work in progress, though he does frequently complain about "all this healthy food", and the lack of Oreos in the cupboard.

So far, I've lost 28 lbs through eating clean, and working out. I'd like to get to a point where the numbers on the scale no longer matter to me.

I'd like to use this blog to share my journey, and hopefully inspire others who are tired of hating their bodies!

Have you ever had an "aha" moment? What was it, and what changes did it inspire?