Happy Monday!! I am currently laying in bed writing this post and the sun is beaming through my window.  I can’t wait to go outside for my run! :)

My mom and Bob came to Warrensburg the Wednesday before spring break to go to the banquet for my major with me.  It wasn’t a huge deal, but it meant a lot that they were able to come and meet my professors before I graduate in May.  We headed back to St. Louis that night and so began spring break!  I didn’t have any big plans except for preparing for a big job interview (which I will fill you all in on this afternoon for the sake of not letting this post become a novel), celebrating my birthday, hanging out at home, going hiking with my mom and Bob a bunch, doing a little bit of post interview celebrating with Jen, and seeing the puppies! :)

Obviously seeing the pups was the most important thing…obviously.

And celebrating my birthday, which is also conveniently St. Patrick’s Day.  Birthday’s around here= cake….

And maybe a little tequila… :)

I went over and hung out with Jen and the boys the next day and we had a lot of fun just bumming around the house.  I realized that Jake looks JUST like Alton Brown with his glasses on.

And I realized that Wil looks just like… a robot?  I think?  Haha!

 

Throughout the rest of the week, I pretty much stayed at mom’s house.  It was a lot of fun to have time to just relax and hang out with her, while I prepared for my job interview.  We went to Castlewood A LOT to hike and it was AMAZING!

 

Also, her and Bob started a new eating plan right when I got home, so I got to try out all of the new recipes with them!  This also meant that the house was LOADED with fresh fruits and vegetables (and a huge bag of frozen blueberries that I demolished throughout the week).  I was definitely a happy girl.

 

 

My interview was Friday and between the nerves leading up to it, tons of work put into it and the lack of sleep, by the time I got out of there I was relieved and ready to celebrate a bit!  Jen took me to Jilly’s Cupcakes (she won cupcake wars on tv!!!) and we each tried a cupcake.  Silly me completely forgot to snap a picture of mine!!! The one that I got was called the Reese’s Chunkage and it was to die for.  So, so rich though!

 

After finishing, we decided to run next door to Down Under and grab two waters (and a margarita for me?) to wash them down.  :)

 

Saturday was spent just kind of bumming around and getting my stuff together to head back to school Sunday morning.  And of course there was a promised trip to fro yo with Jake, as well as shopping for a birthday present for his girlfriend.  :)

 

So there ya have it!  Spring break St. Louis style!

 

 

Well it’s time to go throw something together for breakfast and then head out for a run.  Hope you all have a great morning!

 

 

Here’s a Thought:

 

Talkatchalater,

Happy Hippie

 

 

Hey there!

 

It has obviously been a LONG time since I last posted on here, but I can safely say that my break is over now.  However, it was much needed.  Life has a funny way of taking over sometimes and I think that while it definitely stepped in for a good while, the effects of it didn’t fully catch up to me until the past couple of weeks and I knew that I just needed to take a step back from a lot of things, including the blog.  I realized that one of the things that I needed to stop focusing on was food and, while the blog is completely about healthy living, fitness, balanced lifestyle, etc… food was just one thing that I needed to pull my focus off of for a little bit.

Food is a funny thing. It’s something that our bodies need to live.  We need the nourishment from the different vitamins and minerals that it contains, the energy that it fuels us with and so many other things that it provides.  However, there is this whole other side to food that can literally consume you.  Whether it’s not eating enough, eating too much and feeling guilty about it, eating the wrong kinds of foods, counting calories obsessively, exercising obsessively to burn off the food that you eat, or just having a relatively unhealthy relationship with food; it can consume you.  I see it the most often in girls (and I am most definitely guilty of a few of these too, so don’t think that I’m just talking about other people) and it’s just so sad.  This is something that I have been wanting to write about for awhile now, but every time I sat down to write, it was just a jumbled mess that I ended up deleting.  This time though, I’m posting it regardless of how jumbled, blunt and completely honest it ends up being.  At first, what I was writing was just about how it literally ties my stomach in knots and breaks my heart to see/ hear about/ know people who struggle immensely with food.  If you step back and look at it, it just seems like such a small and insignificant thing, but the fact is that it’s just not so small for some people.  It’s something that starts small, and begins to grow and grow and ultimately spirals downward and completely out of control.  It ultimately takes control and tears apart that person’s life, affecting them and their families and close friends.  It is a horrible thing.

I hate that supermodels are a size zero because they are the women on the covers of hundreds of magazines across the country, portraying the ideal woman and staring back into the eyes of every little girl, adolescent, teen and adult who waits in line at the supermarket to buy groceries each day.  Zero is NOT a size.  I hate that we see celebrities withering away to nothing in magazines, online, on television, etc… I hate that a number on a scale can determine someone’s mood for that entire day, week, month, year, or several years.  I hate that little girls talk about losing weight, or look in the mirror and think that they’re not good enough because of how their bodies are shaped.  I hate that eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.  I hate that anorexia is the 3rd most common illness among adolescents.  I hate that treatment centers charge THOUSANDS of dollars PER DAY to treat people suffering from these illnesses.  I hate that I know all of this, but I feel like being educated now can help me to be an advocate for those who struggle with this and for their families.

Now, I don’t want you to think that by saying all of this that I’m bashing a healthy lifestyle or discouraging fitness and exercise because I’m absolutely NOT.  I think it’s so important to maintain a healthy diet and to exercise every day (even if it’s just a little bit) in order to keep your body healthy and your heart strong.  I also am not discouraging weight loss.  I believe that if someone needs to lose weight in order to reach their healthy body weight (according to their bmi) and approaches it in a healthy and balanced way, then it is absolutely ok!    You know that I am obviously a huge advocate for healthy living, or this blog wouldn’t have come to be in the first place.  My little bit of word vomit above is more so just getting a little bit of built up frustration off of my chest.

 

 

Alright, well I’m sorry for starting on such a frustrated note, but it kind of needed to be said and I feel SO much better.  Now it’s time to catch you up on the past week or so of life!  I know it’s been longer, but last week was spring break and I have a few pictures of that, so that’s what we’re going with.  :)

 

That post, however, will be up in the morning because this is going to be a novel if I don’t stop typing.  And it’s time to make a little popcorn and catch up on GCB.  Gotta end the night on a light note. :)

 

 

Considering the seriousness of the topic of tonight’s post, I feel that it’s probably a good idea to post links to a couple of resources for help in dealing with eating disorders personally, as a family member, or as a friend.  They are also full of ways that you can get involved and support the cause.

 

National Eating Disorders Association

Eating Disorder Help

 

 

Here’s a thought:

 

Talkatchalater,

Happy Hippie