My Goals

So as summer quickly approached and I anticipated the thought of having 2 whole months off, I set a lot of goals and things that I wanted to accomplish this summer. So far I have only been working on one of those goals. Weight loss and healthy me. I cannot even believe how much effort and thought is going toward this goal! I am so excited and happy to finally feel like I am getting back to "myself". You see, with all of the cancer stuff and things that have happened with my health in the past two years, I sort of lost focus on who I wanted to be and what I wanted to achieve in life. It kind of became more of a "let's kick this stuff out of me" mindset. Not a bad mindset to have when diagnosed with cancer...but it was all that consumed me. I had anxiety, I thought something was ALWAYS going to be wrong with me. Well now that I feel settled into my teaching job, our apartment is FINALLY big enough for the two of us (no more 1 bedroom nonsense) and our wedding planning is well underway, I am finally starting to get a sense of normalcy to my life again. Gone are the days of blood draws every two weeks, calcium concerns, doctors visits, ultra sounds, and body scans. Don't get me wrong, I still have to do those things every year to make sure all is well, but its not so frequent and fresh on my mind all of the time.

So here I am halfway through week three of my fitness journey. Way back in May, I set it in my mind that I was going to get a trainer, and I was going to lose 20 pounds by the wedding. That is it. That is all I want. Luckily, my parents really good friend has a son who is a personal trainer. He does freelance and will meet you at any gym to help you. He also helps with the nutrition thing, and he lays things right out there for you. Easy right? It actually has not been as bad as I thought it was going to be. We meet twice a week to do heavy weight lifting (he kills me every time) and then I have to do cardio on my own. *his plan of course. He also set a limit on my calories, protein, fat and carbs. So far it seems to be working. I can't believe all of the junk I was eating before, and how many calories I was truly consuming! I mean I did have a slight addiction to fast food and bar food, but seriously I think I was consuming about 3,500 calories a day. SO BAD!

 I absolutely LOVE going to the gym now! I have always been a people watcher and loved going to Starbucks (Ahem-300 calories in my ONE drink I used to get 4x a week!) to watch people and just hang out. Well now, I sit and literally do 45 minutes of cardio just so I can watch people! The gym is the best place! Plus I have to wait for Matt to finish his workouts so it works out for me to do that much cardio. This coming from the girl that used to do 15mins and be done. I am enjoying this journey so far, and have found a new way to people watch. People are so funny at the gym. I saw a guy making lion noises to pump himself up. Ummmm OK?!?! I also love watching those girls that think they are all that, yet they are only lifting like 5lbs and just trying to look pretty. Hmmm hardly a work out ladies.

Well, so far in my third week of this, I have lost 7 pounds. only 13 more to go to reach my short term goal of 20 pounds. Ultimately I would like to lose 50 pounds. I know I will get there if I stay on this path and say no to those foods that were making me fat! I also got really really really cute new gym shoes. They kind of keep me motivated :)

As for my other goals this summer? I want to plan for my new grade. I want to get everything organized for school. I want to organize our closet and office. We also have a couple of trips this summer. I know I need to enjoy the summer and not think about school, but I can't help but get excited for my classroom and my second year of teaching :). I will update more about the summer and our trips soon! Thanks for reading and for all of the support on this fitness journey in 115* weather!

Flagstaff

So I have come to the realization that Flagstaff is truly an amazing place. Growing up, I used to always come up here in the summers and camp for my dad's softball tournaments. I always loved it. I never imagined actually going to NAU and living up here for 5 years though. Weird right? I always dreamed to go to SDSU. Well, reality hit and my parents couldn't afford out of state tuition so I had to choose an in state University. NAU was probably the best decision of my life. I had my first love, joined a sorority, danced on bar tops, met my future husband and found myself in Flagstaff. I will always cherish the memories made up here. Every now and then we get the opportunity to come up here and just visit. Luckily Matt's mom and step dad still live here so we always have somewhere to stay.

As I am sitting in my favorite Starbucks on Milton, I am thankful to have these days. Thankful that Flagstaff will always be here. In my heart of hearts I want to move back so bad, but know that with Matt's job it is not reality. Maybe one day when he makes it rich (I know I won't on a teachers salary) we can get a cabin in the woods and make it our summer home. One day. A girl can dream right?!

I have come a long way in the 3 1/2 years since I left this place. I am happy with where I am now and what I have conquered and accomplished, but I can't help but love this little piece of me. Of Matt. Of both of us. I love this place! Thank you Flagstaff for all the college memories :)

Summer

Why hello there fellow friends! Sorry it has taken me.....8 MONTHS! to post again. Life totally got away from me for a while!
Well, I did it! I successfully completed my first official year of teaching! Wow! I feel like it was just yesterday that I walked into the school and awkwardly met my team and saw my future classroom. I was so overwhelmed and felt like I should not have been there. I had no idea what to do, where to start, and what the heck to teach! Now, I am finished with a whole year and I couldn't be more proud and happy.
I cannot believe how hard teaching is! There is not a day that goes by that I do not think about my classroom, curriculum or kids. I am constantly researching new ideas and ways to teach things. Now we have the new Common Core Standards, so I am researching things on that...
Next year I will be teaching K-1. Which means I get to keep half of my amazing kids and get half new kinders. I am excited because I already know where to start with my first graders. I have all of the info on where we left off, and I can start with them there. First grade is going to be a totally new experience for me! I have to figure out their social and emotional demands as well. (I've always been in a younger classroom so its kind of a change for me) I can't wait to see what it brings, and I am excited to go back to the same school, in the same classroom. I will feel better and more confident going into next school year.

With that being said, I am totally taking advantage of this paid summer thing. I have always worked summers before because the school I was at had summer camps. I liked working summers because it was really laid back and relaxing, but it was still work. I now have 2 full months of NO WORK! At first I was thinking that I wouldn't know what to do with myself. I spoke too soon. This summer is so jam packed that it is going to fly as fast as the past 8 months has! June is totally full with planning with my team, workouts with my new trainer (I'll get to that!) a wedding in Dallas, and wedding planning for our wedding. Then when July hits, we are headed to Flag for the 4th and before we know it San Diego on the 14th. I already have to go back to school the first week of August. In the grand scheme of things, I do not have that much time to just "do whatever". It is nice to be able to sleep in and wake up whenever I please though. I have also been a total fish the past few days and have been out by the pool soaking up the sun. We also went to Vegas a few days after the last day of school. That was such a blast! We all did the zipline over Fremont St. That is a MUST do! It is only $20 bucks. I thought it was going to be more! I totally want to zipline when we go to the Bahamas for the wedding :)

Wedding plans are coming along. We are ordering the invitations and picking out templates this week. We are also meeting with our pastor and picking out linens for the reception. We still have  A LOT to do, but that is why I waited until summertime. I knew I could devote some more time to it. I have a vision in my head for my "perfect" reception. Hopefully I get what I want. Matt has been so easy going with plans. He says as long as it is not over the top and really girly he is OK with what I pick out :).

Matt has been working hard. He is still editing for 3 Gun Nation. He is now considered the editor. He travels a lot, but he loves his job. It is weird for us to adjust being around each other ALL of the time now that I am home. I have to remember that he works from home, and just because he is here doesn't mean I can bug him all of the time ;). He probably loves when I go out to the pool!

Well, there is an update for you! I know it has been a long time, and I could totally write more. I will try   to stay updated this summer and share all of our summer trips and fun things! Thanks for reading! Happy Summer!!!!!