Sporadically Sandra

Quite a few people I know have this misconception that to eat healthy you must cut out everything delicious. And, I wouldn't actually care, except if you ask them what they are eating, they sigh, look kind of down and out and with a sigh reply "Oh, just this *bland diet food*. I'm trying to watch my weight."

Well, guess what. Eating healthy can be delicious, versatile, comforting and an adventure for the taste buds. I love eating unhealthy food (clearly) but I also make sure that every "healthy" thing I eat is just as delicious. I eat lots of lean meats, low fat dairies, fresh fruits and vegetables. I get, at a minimum, 6 fruit & vegetable servings a day, 2 dairies, 2-3 servings of lean protein. I drink at least 6 glasses of water a day because I truly love it. And most days, some sort of chocolate enters my body.

All it takes is some creativity and some patience. I've slowly built up a stash of "healthy" and delicious recipes so that I always have recipes I like on the back burner. In addition, I have a healthy stash of blogs that post ridiculously delicious (and sinfully decadent) tasting recipes.

This is a *mostly* accurate picture of what I eat each day. Of course, my breakfast did not taste good (new recipe, boo) so today I had a few extra points for an evening snack.  I also forgot to take a picture of my afternoon snack: romaine lettuce with red onion and Hot Bacon Honey Mustard Dressing (delicious).

Meals pictured: Morning Snack 1 - Cheese Stick, Morning Snack 2 - Banana, Lunch - Santa Fe Chicken Burrito Bowl, Dinner - Bubble Up Enchilada Casserole & Sugar Snap Peas, Evening Snack/Dessert - Dark Hot Chocolate, Nuts & Bolts (Family recipe chex mix), a piece of fudge and peppermint marshmallows.

So, don't let "healthy" food get you down, because if you aren't enjoying it, you aren't doing it right!

So, it's January 1st, 2012. It's a brand new year which means I have to do last years taxes, my vacation time has been refilled and it's time for me to figure out what I want to make of 2012.

Resolutions, goals, whatever you want to call them, I enjoy making them every year. I enjoy trying to better myself It annoys me when people get so negative on how stupid it is to make a resolution because no one ever succeeds, because it's such a negative viewpoint. Sure, I might mess or give up, but that doesn't mean even just trying to be better, isn't positive in its own right.

My goals for this year:

I want to be more fit then I ever have. Which, granted, won't be too hard since I've never really focused much of overall fitness even when I used to dance (great legs, weak arms). But I truly want to work on my overall fitness. I want to run, do yoga, strength train, jump rope, play, if it is movement I want to do it.

I want to get a handle of this whole food thing. I swing from being such a great eater to eating like total crap with no real happy medium. I really want to learn how to enjoy my food without having to over indulge in. I want to have a healthy relationship with food and not an obsessive one.

I want to do a better job of housekeeping. I want my house to be able to be company ready in 15 minutes or less. I don't have children to clean up after, so I don't have any real excuses. I feel like having a clean, organized and neat home will really help focus my life to be more organized in all areas.

I want to focus more on sticking to the budget. Although Joseph and I always get our bills paid, and always pay extra on whatever we might owe, after that, it can be sort of a mess. I really want to get true control over all of our money and not just what we use to pay bills.

4 Goals, that's what I want for this year. Those are the ways I want to better myself. I don't have to do it all myself, in fact the last two are things that Joseph has to help with and have a say with, but he also influences the first two because, well, I'm married to him and his attitude motivates me. I'm sure I will mess up, want to give up, and fall so under the bar, but that doesn't mean I won't better myself through the next year. I'm not looking to be perfect, I'm not looking to make a complete 180 from who I am now. I simply want to find a balance, a happy medium. I want to even out these areas of my life.

Today was my return to work after having Thursday- Monday off. I love my job and my boss, but man, sitting around doing nothing for five days was great.

I kicked Katie's butt back to the gym where we did this workout, with the exception of skipping tucks because I have no clue what those are. Anyone care to explain?

Joseph has been sick since Christmas. Low grade fever, general tired and achieness. Not too whiny considering he is a man, but it's hard to whine when you just keep sleeping.

Christmas was great. I got some new kitchen knives, a pandora bracelet, owl pajamas, an owl mug and a firepit, to go over the highlights. Mostly, I enjoyed all the time with family and all the great food we had. Which is why now I really need to return to working out. I also need to purge all the sweets from my life. It's ridiculous how much we have right now.

So, after the very emotional week I had, I was ready for some fun.

My department and the admin department at work went bowling together. Last year, accounting had kept it to just us, but hey, we're a friendly bunch. So, my boss and I, all week, debated on who was the worst bowler. I typically average in the mid 60's with a few gutter balls thrown in. It's okay, I've learned to embrace my SUCKTASTIC bowling skills.

I mean, playing Golf Bowling, lowest score wins, is what I'm great at.

So I get there a little early with my boss and my coworker and we get some drinks (Skinny Raspberry Lemonade (or maybe it was blackberry)) while we wait for everyone to show up. I'm stuck on a team with one of the better bowlers in our department, but what do I care, I'm going for lowest score.

The bowling begins. I hit a spare, then a strike and I continue to actually MISS the gutters.

Then, the most magical, amazing and miraculous moment of all... in the tenth frame I hit 3 strikes in a row. Otherwise known as a TURKEY.

I scored 118 in all.

I beat the good bowler on our team by six (and don't think I'm going to let him forget that!)

I scored over 100 the first time ever.

AND because of it, Joseph now has to buy me bowling shoes.

That's all I need to be a happier girl.

This week has been stressful and emotional. It's been really hard. Joe's uncle passed away early this morning after a week of uncertainty and stress. My heart hurts for his family and their loss. Although his uncle is now in a much better place and has gone to be with the Lord, it still hurts.

Since I've been an adult and truly understand the concept of life and death, I haven't been in the position to wait out someone's last hours and it is hard. Even though I didn't really know his uncle (he has a HUGE family) it has effected me. I know his cousins and their kids and to see them hurt, it's painful.

Give your loved ones an extra hug today, call up your family you haven't spoken to in a while. Life is fleeting.

And please, just keep Joe's family in your thoughts and prayers.

So, because I am on Pinterest, ALL THE TIME, I run across a lot of boards with the name "Thinspiration" and I have to say it irks me.

It irks me because, well, it isn't usually healthy or beneficial. It's filled with pictures of girls who have been SO photoshopped that they look unnatural and isn't realistic.

It irks me because it takes away any sort of health aspect of losing weight and just makes it about a clothing size and a number on the scale.

Being thin does not equal being healthy or beautiful and "Thinspiration" is usually proof of exactly that.

Don't get me wrong, you can be thin, healthy and beautiful. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be thin or working hard for it, but you shouldn't lose sight of the importance of health just for looks. And focusing on pictures of half naked ladies so thin you can see all their bones, or pictures accompanied by tips such as "eat ice to trick your body into not being hungry when living off 400 calories a day".

These are some of my favorite pins that not only relate to losing weight, but do so in a healthy and fulfilling manner, which can be found on my "Motivation" board

So, I took a bit of a break from the blog. The biggest reason was November is NANOWRIMO! It's one of my favorite times of the year. Nanowrimo stands for National Novel Writing Month and the goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in one month. I've participated 3 years in a row and accomplished my goal.

I love the challenge but by the time I'm done writing, I hate writing so much I have to take a break. So, even though I finished on the 18th or so (new record even for me), I wasn't ready to write yet. But, now we are in my favorite season, Christmas season.

Christmas is my favorite holiday and surprisingly or not, has nothing to do with presents. Although I do love them. As a child, Christmas would always mean going to my grandparents' (mom's side) where grandpa would have set up the fake fire place. We all have handmade stockings, courtesy of my grandmother, and a little drummer boy mechanic set. We would make Xmas cookies and go to bed early so that we could wake up early. My family takes stocking stuffers to a whole new level with a grocery bag full of stocking stuffers as well as the stockings. Breakfast is always pastries and egg strada and dinner was always standing rib roast, yorkshire puddings, twice baked potatoes and broccoli or asparagus with holindaise sauce, delish! I adore this season.

Although those grandparents have passed on, my love for Christmas and tradition remain the same. I've made stockings for my husband, nephew and sister's boyfriend so that they all match. We still have the same dinner and breakfast, still have ridiculous stocking stuffers and still have a great time together as a family. Now that I'm married, I've gotten to add on to those traditions with more family. Typically we get together on Christmas eve with Joe's mom and that side of his family and sporadically through the month we will visit his dad. Since I actually LIKE my in laws (lucky girl, woot), it really only enhances my awesome Christmas because I love getting to spend time with the family I love.

And Christmas lights only make it all better.