The first is a topic I hold near and dear to my heart. You guys know how much I struggled and still struggle with body image. I attribute much of my "recovery" to having "the child" but blogging has and does play a BIG role. I’ll be speaking with Heather from MAMAvision, Carla Birnberg, aka MizFitOnline, Claire Mysko, and Kate Harding on how we have changed our self esteem and what we can do with our blogs to help others, especially the younger generations.

Title: Blogs & Body Image: What are we teaching our kids?

Date: Friday July 24th.

Time: 1:15-2:30PM

In a society where more young girls fear becoming fat than they fear cancer, nuclear war, or losing their parents, some bloggers are taking a stand against teaching their children learned behaviors that affect their body image.

Heather from MAMAvision, Carla Birnberg, aka MizFitOnline, Claire Mysko, Kate Harding, and Roni from Roni’s Weigh have worked hard to improve their own self-esteem, and are asking the question:

How can your blogs be a conduit to transformation?

Join this session to discuss how your writing can impact kids, whether you should think twice before publishing that self-deprecating post, and how you have the power to influence positive change.

In the second session (which is actually first time wise) I’m getting my geek on! I’ll be talking to beginners about my favorite blogging software, Wordpress.

Title: Wordpress for Beginners

Date: Friday July 24th.

Time: 11:15-11:45AM

An Introduction to Wordpress: How to get started using one of the most popular blogging platforms. This session will cover the How, What, Where and Why’s of using Wordpress. We’ll include benefits of using it and where to find the best resources.

Unable to attend? Feel free *wink**wink* to tweet the session or post about it on your blog. I’m also hoping to organize a meet and greet with anyone in the area that may not be attending *cough* AJ. ;) More details to come as it gets closer.

And if you aren’t in the Chicago area don’t forget about FitBloggin’ here in Baltimore! I’ve been busy with the move but have made huge strides!! More announcements will be coming soon!

Oh how I LOVE fun stuff!! :)

“Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It’s not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; its when you had everything to do, and you’ve done it.”

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this. Everyone always tells me how busy I am. "How do I get so much done?" "You always have so many things going on." "There always so much on your plate."

I’m crazy, I realize this and sometimes I get overwhelmed with all that try to accomplish but ever since I decided to overcome my body image fears and get out and DO things I’ve been a healthier happier person.

My blogs, the community, a new job, building a new house, training for a marathon, raising a four year old, running a household, cooking, organizing a conference, Geesh I AM nuts! BUT doing things makes me feel alive. This is one of the husband’s and I biggest problems. He would be perfectly content lounging around and doing nothing all day and that drives me bonkers! Guess what he’s doing right now…. that’s right… sleeping! :)

Anyway, I think this quote means more then accomplishing big things I think it’s the little ones which make the bigggest difference. Climbing that rock wall, trying that spinning class after work, taking the extra half and hour to cook a healthy meal WITH your family. It’s these small things that will not only leave you satisfied at the end of the day but help you reach your weight loss goals while finding peace with who you are now. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that when I started doing more I started worrying less about how fat I looked.

Do I still have fat thoughts? Sure. They are never going to go completely away for me. After my moving food fiasco I felt and feel a bit "bleh" but instead of crying about consuming too many calories I’ve been getting out and about. Yesterday I went for a run, walked around the farmers market with the toddler, recorded a video for GreenLiteBites, got my hair done, cooked dinner for the family, went to the driving range and played a game of putt putt. Today we are gearing up for a fireworks display tonight but only after a day at a local beach. Which reminds I got to pack some healthy snacks and lunches! Gotta run… bunches to DO! ;~)

Now go to bed… you are exhausted.

Table provided by Roni’s Food Tweet, Eat, Post Generator.

Right now I’m feeling quite overstuffed after a trip to Bertucci’s. Let’s leave it at the bread bowl because I probably consumed enough calories right there for the entire meal. Did that slow me down? nope. I also most of my entrée, 2 slices of the toddlers pepperoni pizza AND chocolate cake. MAN! I can consume some calories, can’t I?

I’m not beating myself up. Nope. Not going to do it. I moved.. I stressed.. I ate… enough said. Am I a little disappointed in myself for reverting to old habits? Sure. Could I have made some better choices? Yup. But you know what… It’s over. I can either start the yo-yo diet cycle of hell all over again OR I can swing the momentum the other way. I need to remember that one good choice leads to another the same way the "bad" ones have been building up.

All is not lost. I haven’t regained 65 pounds. I didn’t lose all the progress I’ve made running. I’m still fitter then I’ve every been in my life.

OK…. not devoting any more time to this. Let’s move on. We have officially closed on our house!! It’s gone. I can’t believe it. We lived in that house for 8 years. It was our first and I didn’t think I’d get chocked up about it until I signed the papers. But all is good. I love the new house we are building. Which, by the way, is REALLY shaping up…

I can’t believe how much progress they’ve made. It’s so much fun driving by with the toddler and checking it out. Oooops! Did I just say toddler? I keep forgetting my little boy is getting so big. He’s adjusting to the move pretty well. For a day or two he was a bit whiny but I think that was to be expected. Overall he was our little helper and very involved in the whole process. He’s in heaven here at the apartment as there are 2-3 4 year olds in our building, a playground in the back AND a pool down the street!

Right now the husband and I are about to relax as we finally have a living space not cluttered with boxes. We are going to throw in a movie, have a beer and just CHILL! Tomorrow I’m planning on going for a run. I need to get back on track with my marathon training or I’ll never be ready! I’m losing a little of the desire right now but I know once I start running again I’ll get that feeling back.

I hope to be blogging nighty again. I miss it. I am also committing to my food journal. First I used busyness as an excuse, then I used my lack on internet connection. Well I’m fesh out of excuses. Food journal.. run… getting my hair done! Tomorrow is totally going to be a ME day and I can’t wait! :) Talk to you then!

I’ve had many of those scenes today, downing handfuls of chocolate chips and combos. Although I’m not the Closer… I’m the Packer. I’ve been packing, boxing, cleaning and lugging for a straight 48 hours now. It’s midnight and the poor husband is still downstairs clearing out the garage. I’m not sure we realized how hard it would be to separate what can go in storage for 3 months and what needs to come with us to our temporary apartment.

BUT I’m happy to report MOST of our long term storage stuff is in the POD. Friday you may remember this shot as the POD was just delivered.

Well here it is today. I took the picture from the same spot mind you. :)

So right now I’m up too late and I have work tomorrow. It’s my only work day for the week and my last of part time. As of now this is what the rest of the week looks like..

• Monday: Work
• Tuesday: Move remaining belongings into the apartment - clean the house for new owner
• Wednesday: CLOSE ON THE HOUSE! (keep fingers crossed everything works out!)
• Thursday: Unpack and RELAX in the apartment.
• Friday: Do something just for me. I’ve decided on a trip to the salon. I have 2 inch roots and my eye brows are out of control! :)

I’m looking forward to starting up a new routine once we get settled. My eating has gotten a bit crazy these last few days and I’m starting to feel bleh. I miss my kitchen, my fresh veggies and my own cooking!! I can’t wait to hit a local farm stand once we are in the apartment!!

On the workout front I’m doing a little better. I did miss my 5 mile run today BUT I got up early yesterday for a weight training session and did a bit of cardio.

Right now I’ve got to run but not without announcing the winners of the book giveaway! Congrats Mrs. Mommy (WW set) and Annette (low carb set.) You guys didn’t leave blog address so just let me know if you have one. I hope to get the books in the mail on Tuesday.

Oh! One more thing! We drove by the new house today to discover this…

SO exciting!!

The husband was REALLY excited. (note: he always gives the thumbs up in pictures, it’s his "thing")

I spend most of the day packing and going through stuff. Ugh! THANKFULLY, this afternoon, a friend came over and helped moved most of our major pieces of furniture in the POD.

Then it was run to the bank… get the toddler at school… go to Goodwill… and, of course, out to dinner! I was actually going to cook but the husband convinced me otherwise. So we went to Outback. It was nice. The child (notice the context) was on his best behavior. We played, we talked, we laughed and of course we ate. I got the salmon with veggies (no butter) and the toddler got the kids grilled chicken and a plain sweet potato. We shared, swapping sweet potato and veggies and it was a great meal! We didn’t have to but we decided to get desert. I’m not sure if you are aware but you can get a sample portion of any desert there for half the price. It was the PERFECT size and the 3 of us split it. :) Although, I still felt a little overstuffed.

Right now the toddler is up and freaking out that there is a fly in his room. The husband is packing up loose ends and I’m taking a break. We have a little more planning to do on getting everything in the POD and I want to tidy up some of the random things I have laying about.

I’ll be back tomorrow night with an update and the winners of the book giveaway. There’s a lot going on but blogging/journaling helps me stay grounded a bit.

Oh! and I did get a 4 mile run in this morning. As of now my marathon training isn’t perfect but I’m doing what I can when I can!

I track using the Nike+

Oh! Oh! here’s a shot of the new house from this afternoon. I’m not sure why it’s so small. My camera phone is acting up. As the frame goes up I’ll get better shots.

OK, gotta run before the husband gets mad at me for procrastinating. :)

Ok, so just a FEW words… these shots were taken this morning before I left for work. The waffles were pulled from the freezer, I made them with homemade Banana Pancake batter a few days ago. The melon is our Santa Clause melon from this weeks video and I threw in a hard boiled egg (made like this) for protein. See… breakfast can be healthy AND fast EVEN though the house is a mess and half of your belongings are boxed up and in the living room. Let’s just hope I can only keep this up! I don’t want to turn to the dark side and hit the Dunkin’ Donuts drive through like the husband. His breakfast of choice… 3 chocolate frosted donuts… ugh! how come he’s not 300 lbs?!? ;~P

You are going to have to cut yourself some slack these next few weeks. The packing, the moving, the adjustments to a new schedule with working full time. You will find your groove. You always do.

Don’t beat yourself up. You aren’t going to forget how to run. Do what you can when you can and remember the goal. You will cross that marathon finish line come October no matter what. Remember that!

Table provided by Roni’s Food Tweet, Eat, Post Generator.