Inner Strength Training

OH WAIT!  Didn’t you remember that I was going to announce the Blog Anniversary Giveaway Winner tonight?!?!?!

And the winner is…number 47! Jessica at The Process of Healing! 

Congrats Miss Jessica!  Send me an email soon with your address so I can get you your goods!!!

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So, I hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend!  Mine was certainly entertaining!  I’ll do a quick photo recap to keep from boring you:

good homemade food: (like flaxseed french toast w/ cashew and peanut butters!)

(or banana/blueberry smoothie with pb and TJ’s granola)

playing w/ Honey

running a 3.2 mile race

seeing my parents and getting treated to tasty treats (bakery made shortbread lemon bars, two bites)

watching wiener dog races

 

visiting some aunts and cousins for lunch, very early birthday presents and shopping!

(Claim Jumper Green Salad and Oven Roasted Flatbread, 5 pieces, w/o most of the cheese and none of the spinach)

Early Birthday presents!

(There is a story behind this; one of my Aunt’s and my cousins who came to visit has been taking care of my robo hamster Mimi for just over a year now and we were all getting a good laugh out of the fact that I bought a cat and abandoned my hamster…I didn’t abandon her!  It’s very hard for hamsters to travel long distances!  It can kill them very easily!)

Think I look like any of my cousins?!

I was famished when I got home and couldn’t have asked for a better dinner:

• brown rice
• roasted chickpeas
• roasted zucchini
• roasted bell pepper
• roasted onions
• broccoli slaw
• sesame seed ginger dressing

Finished off with a mango and leftover fresh kettle corn from this weekend…thank god the bag is done.  That stuff is like crack.

[[Side Note: Inner Strength Training

This weekend was a weekend of many ups, downs, smiling and crying.

The good things?

• I introduced myself to several new people.
• I ran a race and had no shame about my performance or how I looked in my shorts (one I even bought the day before to make me excited to run and wear them!)
• I laughed and smiled with my parents.
• I’ve decided to start a running team to make new friends and gain some more running buddies.
• I went shopping and bought clothes, dresses and skirts to be more specific (which I sometimes might buy but never end up wearing) in colors that are brighter than all the other wardrobe I own (ie black and blue).

The bad things?

• That lemon bar? Two bites made my mind rage…which is why there were only two bites.  They were delicious yes, but I couldn’t do anymore than that.
• Too much kettle corn makes me want to cry (which I did unfortunately).  I had a breakdown last night about it…woke up the next morning mostly fine w/ no guilt, but alas…
• I butchered my lunch today by taking most of everything off of it that might include the things I’m afraid of (cheese, oil, etc)
• I was obsessed with food the entire time.  EVERY.SINGLE.SECOND.

Alas…I’m sitting here reflecting on the things that I did that were good this weekend.  I’m wracked mentally from the entire weekend, trying not to think negative and such about the things that I didn’t like, that bothered me and made me want to cry…but here I am, still sitting, still standing, still running and thinking and everything.  I am still the same person.  This is what I’m preaching to myself:

“Self, you were strong this weekend.  It was a hard one yes, but you made sure to focus on the support from mom and dad.  You enjoyed their company and the time you got to spend together.  You went out and bought clothes of crazy colors that you believe bring out the tan you have on your skin, the 4 colors in your eyes, crazy highlights you’ve developed out in the desert…and so much more.  If you can do it for three days, you can do it tomorrow.  You can do it next week when you’re terrified to step on the scale at your annual appointment and have that stupid nurse make some remark about how you’ve gained weight since last years appointment…you’ll be strong.  You’ll live through it, learn from it, and move on…” ]]