I made that!!! ^^^ If I can, annnnnnyyybody can!

In my quest to make chicken a bit more exciting I began searching for new recipes and I stumbled upon this honey lime chicken recipe. I have never had chicken with honey OR lime and tend to be a bit picky – though I’m getting better as I get older. When I tasted this chicken fresh off the grill, it was mouth. watering. It was like my taste buds were dancing.

Most of my life I’ve eaten just about everything pretty plain. Lately I’ve been starting to experiment more with peppers, onions, seasonings and spices and I feel like I’ve been missing out all this time!

AND…is it wrong to get excited while boiling beans? Because I totally did. I haven’t made them before and it was awesome watching them boil and turn from a blah green to a bright green. It was magical.

See? (and if you look closely, you can even see steam)

Aren’t they beautiful? They tasted SO MUCH BETTER than green beans in a can and we didn’t add a thing to them. No added salt, butter, nothin. No, I’m not surprised at how great they tasted, I only wish we had started making more fresh foods sooner!  They were DE-LISH.

And in an effort to keep your mouth watering, here is the plate of the honey lime chicken:

That is restaurant quality right there. I don’t care what anybody says.

The taste was amazing and the chicken was tender and juicy, not dry. And guess what? Even the kids loved it!

Ingredients:

• boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 cup lime juice (or 4 limes)
• garlic powder
• salt
• pepper

Preparing the chicken

All I did to the chicken was wash it, remove the big fatty pieces and then I smashed it with a mallet to tenderize it. THAT was fun. We only had one big freezer bag (left from the homemade rhubarb cake that my mom-in-law brought over) and it had a hole in it so I couldn’t use it for the marinade. Sooo, I used it for the tenderizing. I simply cut the bag and placed the chicken in between the layers and smashed it just enough to make it flat. It worked pretty well and made no mess. Yay!

Preparing the marinade

To make the marinade, I combined the honey, lime juice, garlic powder, salt and pepper into a casserole dish and mixed it all together pretty well. Then I let the chicken marinate in the covered casserole dish for about an hour. After that, it was thrown on the grill for a few minutes and that’s it!

Super easy, delicious and healthy.

Q. What’s your favorite way to make chicken?

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This girl is a Gaiam fan. My first experience with the company came over a year ago when I was given the opportunity to review their Step 360 fitness program. If you haven’t heard of Step 360 yet you can read my reviews: Step 360 Part 1 and Step 360 Part 2. I STILL use that thing and love, love, LOVE it! I used it during LiveFit and Les Mills Pump when I wanted more of a challenge!

First, about Gaiam (from Gaiam.com):

Gaiam is a lifestyle media company that focuses on conscious solutions for personal transformation. We offer the resources you need to achieve self-growth, live a healthy lifestyle or to positively transform your life. Our personal growth media empowers you to create your own personal development path toward the life transformation you seek.

Now I’m back to review Gaiam TV.

In a nutshell, it’s like Netflix for fitness!

Gaiam TV is a website that allows you to stream various types of fitness and lifestyle videos including yoga, strength workouts, cardio workouts and a ton of other content, straight to your computer, TV, iPad, iPhone and more. There are thousands of videos to choose from and your first 10 days are free! After that you are billed on a monthly basis at the current rate of $9.95. Not bad at all considering you can stream these videos anywhere – even if you aren’t at home. New videos are added on a regular basis and you can check out the “Recently Added” section at any time to see what’s new.

Searching for videos is easy and you can search by level of fitness, style of workout, trainer, length of workout and special collections (pregnancy, The FIRM, On the Road, etc.) There is also an informative description of each video along with the trainer’s name to check out to help you get more familiar with a program before you decide to stream it.

Categories include:

• Yoga Studio
• Fitness Studio
• Spirituality
• Wellness Center
• Films & TV
• Environment
• + more

I was pretty excited to find out that there are several Jillian Michaels’ workout programs available for streaming including Ripped in 30, Extreme Shed and Shred and Killer Buns and Thighs. Love her or hate her, but her workouts are the real deal.

Other trainers include:

• Gwen Lawrence
• Rodney Yee
• Mari Winsor
• + more

P.S. NO COMMERCIALS!

Also, cancelling your subscription is easy! It can be done in just a few clicks online. No calls to make whatsoever. I like that. There is currently no closed captioning but according to the FAQ section, it will be added in the future. I like that too!

Now, the super duper good news is that one lucky reader will win a free membership for a month to GaiamTV.com! It’s the perfect way to try before you buy and you’ll get a full month instead of 10 days. This will give you plenty of time for a test drive!

It’s EASY to enter!

You MUST leave a comment for your entry to count! Failure to do so will result in your entry(ies) being removed. Thank you!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This is not a paid review. I was given a complimentary 30-day membership to try Gaiam TV. All opinions and views expressed here are my own – like usual!

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I made it! Last week I started participating in Menu Plan Monday and I LOVE it. This is something I’m definitely going to continue doing. Knowing that dinner is covered for the week (and we already know what we’re making) really helps a lot.

The meals have been planned and the grocery shopping is done!

Monday: Grilled honey lime chicken, green beans + brown rice (adapted from Mommy’s Kitchen)

Tuesday: Spicy spaghetti

Wednesday: Lemon chicken, pea  pods + red potatoes

Thursday: Beef and potato pie (adapted from All You Magazine; June 22, 2012)

Friday: Pork tenderloin

Saturday: Pasta alfredo casserole (adapted from 5 Dollar Dinners)

Sunday: Leftovers

Look at that! I even added Saturday and Sunday this time.

To get ideas for yourself and participate in Menu Plan Monday feel free to learn more here and link up!

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This past weekend was a busy one and we barely left the house. The weather was amazing so we spent most of our time outside. It feels great after being cooped up the past few months.

For those who don’t know, my husband and I became homeowners last fall and I’ve completely fallen into that role. I’ve got so many projects I want to do – might have to start another blog just for those! I haven’t dug in too much yet but I’ve known for the past couple years that I wanted to start a garden after we bought a home. Guess what happened this weekend? We made a garden!

I never realized how therapeutic gardening could be. I’m also excited for the kids to be able to help take care of it and watch some of their favorite fruits and vegetables grow. It’s not a bad workout either.

Planning our garden

Our yard isn’t overly huge – especially with the addition of a 15′ trampoline and having two dogs tied up out there. (Not all the time! But we do tie up our dogs outside to go potty, unlike one of our neighbors…) Anyway, because of that we had to get kind of creative as far as positioning the garden so it didn’t get peed on by the dogs or trampled on by kid armies.

It really was pretty simple. We just used a measuring tape and small posts to mark an area/size that we liked and would work with our current backyard setup. Then we bought some stakes and garden fencing to keep the bunnies out. After that, we thought about what we wanted to plant and marked where we’d put the rows and what each row would have. Then we started planting!

Here’s the pic of the area before we started:

We had to completely dig it out (using a tiller). We didn’t mind ripping up the grass at all because it’s very thin in our backyard as it is. We aren’t gonna try making it pretty right now having two bulldogs that pee all over it.

I think the tilling took Roger almost 2 hours. We decided to make it a triangular shape in the back corner of the yard. It’s perfect!

Here’s what it looked like after the first tilling job and a bit of raking:

I think we spent about 2 hours all together raking after the first tilling.

This is not a tan line, this is just how dirty my legs got. You can even see the dirt in my toes. Ew. Felt great to get dirty though!

My dirtiness did NOT compare to Cayden’s:

Here’s a shot of the garden after we fenced it all in and raked some more:

Then we decided to start planting. We didn’t plant everything we have yet but we did plant strawberries, red and yellow peppers and carrots.

We’ll be adding some peas, green beans, watermelons, mini pumpkins and sunflowers too. I think that might be all we have room for right now but we’ll see how it “grows”.

So the gardening pretty much took up all of Saturday and then Sunday morning it was time for grocery shopping.

But first, here’s what I woke up to:

An assortment of Lego people heads in a Thomas the Train train car. Creepy right? I thought so.

We usually grocery shop on a weekly basis because of how fast we go through produce. Here’s a shot of our countertop after the trip:

The cat can’t stay outta the bags!

Here’s the bulk of what we got: (this is by no means a complete grocery list, just what we needed for this week)

MEAT

• Pork tenderloin
• Lean beef
• Brats
• (we usually get frozen chicken breasts too but have a ton)

PRODUCE

• Strawberries
• Carrots
• Celery
• Fresh green beans
• Fresh pea pods
• Gold potatoes
• Red potatoes
• Grapefruit
• Lime
• Bananas
• Lettuce

OTHER PACKAGED ITEMS

• Peanut butter
• Rotini pasta
• Honey
• Spaghetti Sauce
• Kids’ cereal
• Waffles
• Pancake mix
• Pretzels
• Bread

After we pack all the food away, I immediately wash and cut up all the fruits and veggies I can so they’re ready for snacking. If I don’t do this, I’m always too lazy to wash and cut up things for each meal and find that a lot of it ends up rotting before we get to it. To save money and eat better too, I make time to prepare as many things ahead of time as possible. It’s a HUGE help!

I feel very accomplished after this weekend! Now I can’t wait to plant the rest of our fruits and vegetables and see if any food is actually produced. Ha!

Q. Do you garden? If so, what is your best gardening tip? If you don’t, what’s a “must-have” on your grocery list?

I hope you had a great weekend!

Mindi

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This post isn’t just for people feeling depressed, this is for everybody who’s looking for ways to get motivated! There are varying degrees of depression but one thing is certain: When you’re depressed or sad, it can be hard to be motivated to do anything. Heck, motivation can be hard to come by when everything is going okay! This post is a continuation of Can Exercise Cure Depression? Part 1.

I have found that getting motivated enough to workout gets the ball rolling and I become more motivated and optimistic in other areas of my life. The mind and body connection really is amazing. When everything is “working” together, life can feel pretty amazing too.

First, the more serious side of things:

Deal with your Issues

Everyone has their own issues so don’t think I’m putting you down by saying to deal with yours. Bottom line is that you’ll need to work through what’s got you down in order to rise back up. Whether it’s something that happened in your childhood, the passing of a loved one or a serious illness, you’ve got to go through the grieving process and then move on from it (and NOT be bitter). Life’s too short to waste time being unhappy.

I recently started going through Self Matters: Creating Your Life from the Inside Out and dealing with your issues is exactly what this book is about. You write out all of the defining moments in your life (good and bad) so you can free yourself and focus on your “authentic self” and what’s helped shape you along the way.

Work Diligently to Find Yourself Again

During my bout of depression, I completely lost myself. I forgot who I was, I forgot what I enjoyed doing, I forgot the things I liked, I forgot what made me ME. Take some time to reflect on who you are and what makes you special or what makes you YOU and what makes you HAPPY.  Maybe it’s your fun sense of humor, the way you laugh, doing crafts, spending time outdoors or dancing like it’s nobody’s business! You can’t find happiness, you have to create it. Sitting around waiting for it to show up at your door with a smile on its face is not gonna work.

Now, it’s time for a little fun!

Here’s an ongoing list all of the different things I can think of that motivate me:

Dancing

Any kind of dancing motivates me – live performances, movies and TV shows! I don’t know the first thing about dancing (hello, have you watched any of my TurboFire videos?), but I find a tremendous amount of joy in watching others dance. I grew up watching my younger sister’s dance recitals and they were always so amazing! Dancing with the Stars works for me too. The bodies of professional dancers are insanely strong and the way they move is incredible. Watching people dance makes me wanna dance and nobody is EVER gonna see that!

Spring and Summer

I don’t know if it’s because Minnesota goes through like 6 months of winter, but by the time it starts to warm up around here, it’s a miraculous event. Warmer weather always motivates me to get moving. It’s hard on the super humid days, but the hard work is worthwhile when I can see the definition in my arms, shoulders and back while wearing a tank top!

Music

Music a HUGE motivator for me – in all areas of life. I think music saved my life to begin with and it really has the ability to lift your mood and give you strength. Music is powerful – no matter what genre you like. For me, I find that artists like Rob Zombie, Papa Roach, Hollywood Undead, Shinedown and Avril Lavigne motivate me best though there’s definitely a huge range of different kinds of music that I love.

I like this one right now especially:

Fitness Magazines

I love fitness magazines for all kinds of different reasons. The model(s) on the front covers are always inspiring and make me wanna workout. It’s always fun getting the new Oxygen and Muscle and Fitness (His and Hers) in my mailbox. The very first fitness magazine I started reading was Muscle and Fitness!

(Source: Oxygen Magazine June 2012)

Seeing New Summer Clothing in Stores

I have no real fashion sense whatsoever (unless wifebeaters, sweat shorts, sports bras and sweatpants count?) but I always get excited when I start seeing tank tops, shorts and sandals in stores and online. I used to NEVER wear shorts. It took 2 years of working out before I started wearing them outside – and I just started doing that last summer! I’m a dork.

Gina Carano

I first learned about Gina Carano (aka Crush) while watching American Gladiators back in 2008. Around that time she was featured in Muscle and Fitness Magazine and I learned she was an MMA fighter. I tore out one of the pages of her and taped it to a cocoa pebbles cereal box! I still have the pic in my basement:

(you can totally see “Family Size” written at the top of the box.)

After I saw Gina on AG, I seemed to really realize for the first time how women can be beautiful AND strong. That might sound stupid but I don’t know how else to put it. She’s the reason I was excited to start lifting and I’ve loved it ever since. Oh what I’d do to train with her for a day!

Remembering the Things You’ve Accomplished

Once you start living an active, healthy lifestyle, you begin to notice accomplishments – no matter how small or large they might be. You can use these to keep you going and use them as fuel to keep the fire inside burning!

Give Yourself 5 Minutes

On the days you don’t feel like working out, give yourself 5 minutes. Make a promise to yourself to workout for at least 5 minutes and I’ll bet you’ll go even longer. And any workout is better than no workout. You’ll feel so much better after your workout too – physically and mentally.

Quotes

“Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or faster man.
Sooner or later the man who wins is the man who thinks he can.” -Vince Lombardi

“If nothing ever changed, there’d be no butterflies.” -Anonymous

(I forgot where I got this image, if it’s yours please let me know and I’ll credit you with a link!)

I think that’s enough for now.

Q. What motivates YOU?

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We have been eating A LOT of baked chicken over the past few months and haven’t really played around with it too much. As soon as you begin to add things like marinades to chicken, the sodium content packs a punch QUICKLY. Still, we were ready for something different, something more bold and that’s what we got with the crockpot teriyaki chicken I made last night. Yeah, that’s right. “I” made it! Hey, I’m learning.

The recipe I ended up with was adapted from this Slow Cooker Meal: Teriyaki Chicken recipe I found on the Rachael Ray Show website. Her recipe has a bazillion things which I’m sure make it taste incredible but in the spirit of keeping things simple, I narrowed the ingredients list down to 7 to work with what we already had in our kitchen.

Crockpot Teriyaki Chicken Ingredients:

• 5 frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 bottle teriyaki sauce  –  will be using less next time (maybe 1/2 a bottle?)
• 2 T honey
• salt (a little)
• pepper (a little more)
• 1-1/2 tsp garlic minced (or 3 cloves)
• 2 cups water

Once I figured out the ingredients I had on hand available for use, I started by putting the frozen chicken breasts in the crockpot:

Then I added the honey, garlic, salt, pepper, water and teriyaki sauce.

Then I just set the crockpot to cook for 6 hours and left it to do its thing!

About an hour prior to dinnertime, I decided to add some brown rice right to the crockpot to make it a bit more filling – I’m so glad I did. I actually added the rice (2 cups + a little more water) when there was about 25 minutes left so it didn’t get too mushy.

I promise no matter how bad my food photography is, this tasted good. (Blake-approved!)

The chicken was SO tender and both the chicken and rice were so full of flavor. The only thing I’ll change next time is to reduce the amount of teriyaki sauce that was used but it was still delicious!

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Menu Plan Monday isn’t brand new, but it’s new to me. Orgjunkie.com hosts “Menu Plan Monday” each week where bloggers link up and post about their meal plans for the week. I have decided to join Menu Plan Monday because both my husband and myself are constantly asking each other…”what’s for dinner?” We do this just about every night and in search of ways to make this easier and stop flying by the seats of our pants when it comes to dinner, what better way to do it than to plan our meals each week.

I know… some of you are probably like “derrrrrrrrrr”. Sometimes I’m slow! I’m not the best at planning things. I don’t even grocery shop with a list. (gasp!) I’ve learned to buy most of my items from the deli and the produce sections so I actually do okay without a list these days. The only exception is if I found a recipe I want to make and don’t wanna forget the ingredients needed – then I’ll make a list of those items.

Hasn’t always been that way though….

So, here’s my very first “Menu Plan Monday”:

Monday: Teriyaki chicken + brown rice
Tuesday: Sloppy joes
Wednesday: Steak + red potatoes
Thursday: Chicken Fajitas
Friday: Baked or broiled chicken + squash (haven’t had squash before, just got some from my mother-in-law and excited to try it!)

*I don’t plan ahead on the weekends. If I can get 5 of 7 days planned, I’m doing AWESOME.

If you’re interested in joining in on the fun please visit orgjunkie.com (Meal Planning section) and link up! It’s a great way to get dinner ideas too.

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Here’s the last Burn Circuit workout! I don’t have a video of this workout posted yet so here it is:

You can also find Burn Circuit 1, Burn Circuit 2 and Burn Intervals on my YouTube channel if you’re interested!

I’ve got a couple workouts left in the “Burn” phase and then I’ll be starting the “Push” phase on Tuesday. Lower reps, higher weight. I’m excited! Except for the pain in my left wrist…I’m hoping it subsides. I used wrist straps today when lifting the heavier dumbbells to lessen the strain but I hope it’s nothing serious.

Have a great weekend!! And Happy Mother’s Day to all the mamas!!

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I read this somewhere recently and it really resonated with me. Mostly because it’s true:

A Healthy Body Empowers the Mind.

Disclaimer: I am not a professional or expert of any kind. However, I have been diagnosed with various mental health disorders in the past including bipolar disorder, PTSD, anxiety and clinical depression. What I’m about to share here are my personal thoughts based on MY OWN experience in hopes that this will help even just ONE person. I know what it feels like to struggle in the depths of despair. If I can overcome it, I know you can too.

A bit of background:

I’m not going to dig too deep into my past here – if you wanna read more about me, please read: “Meet Mindi”. However, sexual abuse is a part of my past and you can couple that with an extensive family history of clinical depression. (that is NOT an understatement) Case in point? I probably didn’t have a chance. I’ve experienced something that was worse than simply “the blues”. I can’t tell you how many people kept telling me I was “just sad” and to “snap out of it”. For those who aren’t familiar, clinical depression isn’t easily “snapped out of”. If you’re struggling, or have struggled with depression, I’m thinking you can relate to statements like those?

From 1999 – 2009 I was prescribed the following medications at one time or another:

*Lexapro
*Prozac
*Seroquel
*Wellbutrin
*Paxil
(these are the ones I remember)

Not once did a doctor or therapist ever recommend exercise as part of my treatment plan. Surely they knew the positive effects exercise has on the brain? I had never had a doctor even ask me IF I exercise until I saw my ob/gyn LAST MONTH. And you know what? She was THRILLED when I told her that I was regularly active and how much it’s helped me. That brought a tear to my eye.

I’m not gonna sit here and say I’ve had the most difficulty of all people since the beginning of time, but I do know what it feels like to struggle, to lose hope, to be angry at God and to lose all interest in life and everything in it. The summer of 1998 was the last time I felt “normal”. Whatever that is…

WAIT!

I’m not saying people shouldn’t be on anti-depressants. Not at all. At the time of my diagnosis I’m pretty sure exercise alone wouldn’t have saved me. Maybe not even exercise and therapy, but I’ll never know. Looking back sometimes I often wonder how I made it through certain days because if I think on it too much, I can still feel now how sad I felt then. That’s crazy to me. The medication is definitely what helped me get outta bed some days…and into the shower.

In 2008, I started my fitness journey and my life hasn’t been the same since. I’m forever changed. Workouts have been my miracle drug. No, it didn’t happen overnight. I didn’t pick up a pair of dumbbells one day and feel “cured” the next day. But you know what? I did feel stronger. As stupid as that sounds. And it just gradually got better and better. It hasn’t turned me into little miss sunshine and bunnies all the live long day, but I’m feeling SO. MUCH. BETTER. And now I notice the bunnies and sunshine parts of life. Because they ARE there. Notice how I STARTED my journey in ’08 and the last time I was on any kind of medication was in ’09? I don’t think that’s a coincidence.

I think good workouts are like therapy. When you’re putting all you’ve got into your workouts and expending that energy in a physical way like that, I think it can only do good things.

Sure you might need to stay on meds when beginning your exercise program (maybe for months, maybe even years), but isn’t it worth seeing if exercise will allow you to lower the potency and/or dosage of your meds? Or even the remote possibility of getting completely off of them?

Will exercise cure your depression? I don’t know. But I feel that it is my cure. I feel the anti-depressants were a Godsend at first, but I think there comes a time when you at least have to try things like exercise and eating well to see if it helps. If you’re otherwise healthy and are able to exercise (even walk), IT CAN’T HURT! At the very least, it’s very possible that you’ll lessen the severity of your depression. What’s not to like about that?

Ok Mindi, Not So Fast.

I know what you’re thinking. How on earth can I get/stay/be motivated enough to even attempt exercise? While exercise could potentially be a possible anti-depressant medication substitute for some, the tough part lies in staying motivated while depressed. If you can’t stay on a regular exercise schedule, it’s not really gonna work is it?

In part 2 of this series, I’ll go into detail about how to stay motivated while depressed and what has worked for me personally.

*Always consult a doctor prior to starting an exercise program and NEVER attempt to stop taking meds without the guidance and consult of your physician.

Helpful Resources:

Exercise and Depression Report Excerpt:
http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/Exercise-and-Depression-report-excerpt.htm

Walking for Depression or Depressive Symptoms: a systematic review
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1755296612000099?v=s5

Prescribing Exercise to Treat Depression:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/31/prescribing-exercise-to-treat-depression

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“Flipping the bird” is a gesture I’ve used a time or two. Maybe you have as well? I’ve mostly used it in the car while driving I think, though sometimes I playfully flip off my husband. Yeah, we’re like that. Maybe it’s more just me though. I’m not sure he’s ever flipped me off? Sometimes words can’t come out fast enough and I go right to my finger. I am not proud. (but I can think it’s funny!)

I think maybe taking a photo of the mother of your child who is in labor warrants this kind of gesture.

Date: March 25, 2008

I remember it going something like this:

“Here hon, chew on some ice chips. It’s not like you can eat or drink anything right now. By the way, I’m gonna take a pic too.” (he didn’t say that, but those were his actions)

And you know what? He can’t even use the excuse of wanting to take a photo of my huge belly on the last day of my pregnancy because you can barely see it!

Having a child on your golden birthday is amazing. What are the chances? Saying that I was excited was an understatement. I wasn’t sure my little guy would be born on the night of the 25th or the early morning of the 26th, but at 9:56 pm on March 25, 2008, I had my second bio-son.

However, it wasn’t all bunnies and sunshine leading up to that point.

This photo was taken about an hour before our little guy was born via c-section. I had to wait until I was dilated to at least 3 and I was about a 4 here. Translation: I wasn’t feeling the greatest. Oh to be a guy.

Anyway…

Going back to the finger thing (stay classy, right?), haha.

You’ll soon see that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, as they say.

Date: April 3, 2008

I hope this was for daddy!

Ha!

Don’t worry though, we’re not an angry bunch.

Mother’s Day 2008:

See?

Shortly after this photo was taken, I began my fitness journey. After a few weeks of working out, I decided to start blogging about my journey and on June 30, 2008 I published my first post on my old blog here. I cringe reading my old stuff. No judging! I’m coming up on my 4th year now and although I’ve slid off track at times, I’m proud to have come so far. I guess maybe I should be looking like a fitness model by now. Haha!

My intention ever since I started has been to just concentrate on the journey and to keep going, to continue making small changes and of course, to never stop. I’m in better shape now than I was when I graduated high school a long time ago AND I have 4 kids now too. There’s nothing NOT to love about that!

2008 will always have a special place in my heart – bird flippage and all.

Q. What year did you start your fitness journey?

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