Hello, hello! Are you excited tomorrow is Friday?! How did that happen? This week FLEW by, no? Breakfast this morning was an old favorite. Waffle sandwich: two whole wheat waffles, Barney Butter and 1/2 of a banana. I love this breakfast, it tastes awesome and keeps me full for hours.

and a coffee with sugar free vanilla syrup.

Lunch was packed up and eaten at work. I had a turkey sandwich with yellow mustard and lettuce on whole wheat bread with a pear and popchips.

Snacks for the day:

I packed baby carrots with garlic hummus and salt and vinegar almonds. I didn’t end up eating the almonds, they are still in my desk drawer.

After work Adam brought me to Sports Authority to pick up some goggles and a swim cap I need the goggles to feel comfortable with putting my face in the water. If I can’t see where I am going, I panic a little with my face in the water. And then I had a pre-workout snack- low fat string cheese (I split it with Oscar…shhhhhh! He is not supposed to have table food).

Today instead of pool running, I used my OnDemand fitness and rolled out my yoga map for an at-home workout.

I did 40 minutes of pilates followed by a 20 minute ab workout. It was a nice relaxing workout. The ab workout was tough though, I will be hugely surprised if I am not sore tomorrow. It is nice to be able to workout at home especially since my broken foot does not allow me the ability to drive to the gym.

After my workout I made dinner. It was my adapted versions of Bridget’s version of Shepard’s Pie.

Ingrediants:

• 2 GIANT sweet potatoes
• 1.5 pounds of 99% fat free ground turkey
• 1 sweet onion
• 5 handfuls of baby carrots
• 1/5 cups of frozen peas
• 1 can of veggie broth
• 3 teaspoons of dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon of rosemary
• 1 teaspoon of dried fennel
• 1/4 of a cup of whole wheat flour
• 1/4 of a cup of water
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil

I started off by peeling and cubing the sweet potatoes and then steaming them. Once they were steamed I mashed them and put them aside.

Next, I heated up the olive oil in s skillet and added the ground turkey. Once the turkey was cooked I chopped the onion and carrots and added them to the skillet with the can of veggie broth. I brought that to a boil and let it simmer for about 10 minutes so that the carrots cooked.

Meanwhile, I mixed together the rosemary, dried fennel, water and whole wheat flour. After the 10 minutes was up I added the peas and thyme and turned the heat up to high for about a minute. Then I added the flour, water and seasoning mixture. Once it was boiling I removed it and poured it all into a backing dish, topped it with a thin layer of mashed sweet potatoes and baked it for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

It was great! I agree with Bridget that it had a great savory and sweet combination. It makes a HUGE amount thought to be prepared to see TONS of leftovers on my blog over then next days.

My portion:

After dinner, I enjoyed a class of Merlot while watching the Bruins game.

In Other News: 

Other than watching the Bruins game tonight, I also took a test at RealAge.com to determine my actual physical age. The test takes about 25-30 minutes and asks questions about your personal and family health history, your mental health, diet and fitness. It then asks specific questions based on what you answered. once you are done it spits out what you actual physical age is as opposed to your chronological age. Once you see that age you can see what made your number go up and down and it suggests small and larger changes you can make to make your “real age” younger. Chronologically, I am 28.9. But my “real age” is 17.9!!!! Not bad, huh? Take the test and see what you get!

What do you think of tests like this? How do you feel about the notion of chronological ages as opposed to physical age?  If you did take the test, what did you think of you “real age” vs. you actual chronological age? 

Hey everyone! I hope you day was great! Mine was pretty busy, but nice.  :)

Breakfast was packed up and eaten at work while forming and chipping away at my day’s to-d0′s. I had 1 cup of Kashi GoLean Crunch with vanilla greek yogurt and blackberries.

Lunch (unpictured) was eaten during a meeting that was catered by a school that wanted to chat with our staff about their post-high school certificate programs. They had it catered by Panera which was awesome! I had a whole lot of garden salad, a half of a mediterranean veggie sandwich and I split a huge m&m cookie with two other co-workers. I love Panera so this lunch was a great treat.

Snacks throughout the day:

Clementine, low fat cottage cheese and a honey graham Z bar.

After work had a doctors appointment then I came home changed and headed to the gym. I did some strength training and pool running.

Strength:

• 3 sets of overhead tricep extensions with a 20 pound kettlebell
• 3 sets of tricep press with 40 pounds (machine)
• 3 sets of tricep kickbacks with 8 pound dumbbells
• 3 sets of 12 crunches
• 3 30 second planks
• 3 sets of 25 bicycles
• Bonus: 3 sets of 12 (on each side) hip extensions with body weight

Once I finished my strength workout, I changed into my speedo and hit the pool. I strapped on a flotation belt and set out for 35 minutes of solid pool running. The key to pool running is to just go after it as if you are running on land and not get frustrated that you get pretty much nowhere fast. I did end up completing 15 full pool lengths in the 35 minutes of straight pool running. I know people were looking at me like, “What the heck is this girl doing?!” But I didn’t care. I am starting to feel less and less silly with pool running and I actually kind of like it. It is not nearly as enjoyable as actual running but it does the trick. I am glad I found some kind of solution to my inability to run right now due to injury.

After the gym I headed to my part time job to get some work done and FINALLY headed home to make some dinner. I was super hungry by that point. Pool running = really hungry girl! I whipped up a quick stir-fry made up of chicken, broccoli, sugar snap peas, water chestnuts, carrots and low sodium teriyaki sauce. I served it over brown rice. It was delicious!

Switching Gears: 

There are oh so many things that I love about Crossfit. I love that it whips my as* into great shape, encourages me to create new fitness goals, keeps my brain and body guessing so that I never get bored, shows me great results, makes me feel like a rockstar and is a just blast in general. But, one this I really appreciate is the sense of community it gives me and that is really one of the reasons I am super sad that I am out injured for the next 3 months or so. Crossfitters stick together.  Today I got an e-mail from a fellow Crossfitter named Adam, who I have never met because it is a member of a Crossfit gym in Pittsburgh. He wrote to tell me about a member and coach at his Crossfit Gym named Zach Miller.  Zach was involved in a terrible car accident this past summer leaving him in a coma. I wanted to share Zach’s story with you all.

Adam informed me that iWod was selling “All I do is WOD for Zach” shirts (WOD = Workout of the Day). The shirt is pretty sweet and includes the image of Zach busting out an overhead squat! How awesome is this shirt?

The shirt costs $29.99 and 50% of the proceeds from these shirts go towards the Z-Fund. You can order your shirt here.

Please keep Zach and his family in your thoughts and prayers. I know my very first WOD post-injury will be dedicated to Zach.

Goodnight, folks!!!

This weekend I made not one, but two trips to this lovely place!

I know IKEA is always busy and nutty, but I am seriously obsessed with it. LOVE LOVE LOVE! The reason we had to take two trips was because we couldn’t fit everything we wanted in our car.

We got a TON of stuff, but I get the feeling we will be making a few more trips before all is said and done. Here are our lovely new additions to our home:

Candles for the dining room table (that Adam hates) ):

Candles for the coffee table:

Decor for the mantel:

We really loved this Picasso artwork, especially since the sketch in the middle is of a doxie! We hung it in the hallway.

Area rug for our master bedroom:

Chair and throw pillow for out bay window:

Throw pillows for our bed (I have a throw pillow obsession!):

I was actually super nervous about bringing in another pattern since the comforter cover is so busy, but I LOVE how it all looks together!!

Bedside table decor- hers:

Bedside table decor-his:

Additional throw pillows for the guest room bed:

Bookshelves and entertainment center for my office:

Desk and chair for my office:

The desk says the work “love” in a variety of languages all over it. I am IN LOVE (hehehehe) with it!

The chair is a black leather saucer chair on wheels

I also got some chalk for the chalk board wall:

And we hung my ribbon board!

The house is slowly coming together. We will have a running list of things we want/need to buy but we are doing it a little at a time to make sure we are getting exactly what we want. So far, I love the way things are turning out! If you missed my video tour of the house you can find it here

Night!

I love long weekends! I just do. It is so nice to have the three days and as far and I am concerned every weekend should be 3 days. I think 4 days of work and 3 days of play is perfect, no? This morning I slept in until 8am and then chatted with bestie May on the phone for 4 hours. Yes, 4 HOURS! That is what besties do, right?! Once I got off the phone with her I realized I never ate breakfast and it was lunch time already…oops!!! So I got right to making lunch. I had a buffalo tuna salad sandwich (tuna, vegan “mayo” and buffalo sauce) on toasted whole wheat bread with cherries and a single serving bag of smart puffs.

The rest of the day was spent cleaning, doing laundry and ordering this week’s groceries since I can’t really grocery shop because of my injury. Around 4pm, I headed to the gym. Yes…the gym! I went armed with an old friend.

I haven’t worn this bathing suit since I was about 15 years old! The fact that I still have it is actually some kind of a miracle. Before getting into the pool though, I did an upper body strength workout.

My workout focused on my biceps and chest:

• 3 sets of 12 bicep curls with 10 pound dumbbells
• 3 sets of 12 push-ups (on my knees since I can’t use my toes to balance)
• 3 sets of 12 machine arm curls  with 30 pounds
• 3 sets of 12 chest fly with 30 pounds
• 3 sets of 12 hammer curls with 15 pound dumbbells
• 3 sets of 2 chest presses with 30 pounds
• Bonus: 3 set of 12 (on each side) side leg lifts

After my weight training, I hopped into the Speedo and headed down to face THE POOL (cue scary music)…. Luckily, I was greeted by a handsome and eager swim teacher.

You see, I have ALWAYS wanted to learn to swim but I have always had a fear of it. FFF Dad has a huge fear of water and I think I learned the fear of it from him. I did have a great time snorkeling when I was in the BVI’s  this summer, but that took a lot of coaxing and encouragement before I really gave it a real chance and then I was a pro in no time. I always joke that I can swim to stay alive but not to get anywhere. Since swimming has minimal impact, I thought it was time to give it a try since I can’t really do much else. This came along with the hope that I would learn to swim well enough over the next few months that I would be able to finally sign up for a triathlon. Luckily, Adam is a phenomenal swimmer and swam competitively for about 12 years.

We spent about 45 minutes working on free-style stroke without my face in the water yet. I get freaked out when my face is in the water without me being able to see. I am going to need to buy goggles this weekend when someone can take me (I still can’t drive ). I used this flotation device to keep me more upright while I tried to get my legs moving too.

Towards the end of the lesson, I started to use my feet to kick and my left foot felt a little wonky. I could feel my break, so I stopped right away. I will see how I feel in the morning. I also tried the in water running. I used  a float belt to keep upright while I ran in the pool.

The running actually felt great and was MUCH less pressure on my broken foot than the kicking when swimming. If my foot is sore in the morning, I will cease the swim kicking and just focus on the pool running. It felt like I was running but with zero impact since I was in the deep end. I loved it and it is my understanding that it is completely safe for me with my injured foot. It certainly felt like running on land in the sense that I could feel the blood pumping and I could feel my cardiovascular system really working. It’s a lot like regular running….I even lost a toenail.

HAHA! I am kidding, I did loose the toenail, but that bad boy has been hanging on my a tread since my marathon. It finally bit the dust tonight. Don’t worry, I didn’t leave in the pool, I grabbed it and threw it out. We finished our 7 lap or so workout with 10 minutes in the sauna before calling it a night. It felt so great to workout and get the blood flowing. The lifting and pool running felt great.

When I got home I prepared dinner. I made steamed green beans, baked bbq chicken breasts and 7 grain pilaf.

I love this Kashi 7 grain pilaf because it has such a variety of different flavored grains that it has a great nutty taste.

Have you ever had to find a new way to workout when injured? How did you modify your routine? 

Hey everyone! Today was such a busy day for me, but I did manage to kick the crap out of my work to do list! Yippppppppppeeeee! Since I used to blog about running and Crossfit and aren’t able to do both I thought it would be hard for me to think about things to write about and I was afraid that my blog would just drop by the wayside. But, alas I am a busy body and the time that I am not spending running or Crossfitting I am spending doing other things- like reading. So I thought since the workouts have decreased, I can write about what I am reading. I am also thinking about starting an FFF bookclub…would anyone be interested in that?

Anyhow, since bestie May is awesome and bought me a kindle I have had my nose in that thing not stop since I opened the box. I just finished At Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard.

It is no secret that true crime of all kinds fascinates me: hello, obsessions with The Craig’s List Killer, Joran Van Der Sloot, Casey Anthony, the Elizabeth Smart abduction, Columbine and of course Jaycee Dugard. Once she was found, I was shocked that she has survived and wanted to know how she managed that, what she experienced and how she is now. I think a lot of it is the psychologist in me, I want to know what it like for her, what her captures were thinking – the whole situation fascinated me. So when this book came out I was dying to find the time to read it and it was the very first book that I purchased on my kindle.

If you are at all interested in this case, I suggest you read it. It was written by Jaycee herself without a ghostwriter. It is a super simple and matter of fact read (she does only have a 4th grade education after all). What this book lacks in writing talent or style it makes up for in raw emotion. Jaycee described in detail the abduction, and the neglect and abuse she endured. It is, at times, hard to read and I did question if I could actually handle reading the whole book. I did have to take breaks at times. She also articulates the fear she experienced when learning she was pregnant with both of her daughters and delivering them in a tiny room without any doctor or medication.

I think the most interesting part of me was learning about the power of manipulation and about her capture and his wife. After 18 years of captivity Jaycee became so reliant on them and thought she had no skills to survive and raise her children on her own. What she didn’t realize is that her skills to survive and be a mother were far more advanced than most. I found her resilience to be astounding as well as inspiring. I also found her commitment to a very non-conventional form of therapy incredible and I loved learning about her experience with animal therapy.

I think what tugged on my heart strings the most was reading about her relationship with her mom. She thought about her mom everyday, even when years had stolen Jaycee’s ability to remember the sound of her mom’s voice and even what she looked like. The part of the book where they were reunited I think I cried for about an hour after I read it. It was just so loving and so accepting. It made me want to hug my parents.

Though the book is simply written and does jump around a little bit, I highly recommend it!

Ok….now to my eats:

Dinner Last Night-

Turkey tenderloin, roasted asparagus and 1/2 of a baked sweet potato.

I of course topped it with a little bit of Earth Balance “Butter” and cinnamon.

This morning I packed my food for the day to go:

Breakfast: Green Monster- banana, spinach, unsweetened almond milk, frozen strawberries, vanilla protein and flax seeds.

Snacks: Gala apple and a low-fat string cheese

Lunch: Leftover Quinoa Salad and the other half of my baked sweet potato from the night before.

My lunch was super orange, huh?

Has anyone else read the Jaycee Dugard book? If so, did you like it? Would anyone be interested in a FFF Book Club?

Hey everyone! Hope your Humpday was awesome! Mine was one of those “there aren’t enough hours in the day” kind of days, but it was still pretty great, mostly because I love my job  Speaking of which, I recently got a comment from a reader in Europe that said that there were no School Counselors where she lived and she was interested to learn more about the job and what it is exactly that we do. So, I thought I would write a post about it and if there are any School Counselors out there that want to add their ideas or spin on things that would be great

School Counseling or Guidance Counseling has changed a lot over the past few decades. The basic functions of the job change depending on what grade level the counselor is working with and believe it or not, really does vary from school to school. In general, I will touch more on what High School Guidance Counselors do because that is what I am and what I am most familiar with.

Well, the answer is WE DO A LOT! We collaborate with a lot of groups and I think the best way to break down the job’s pieces is to explain how we collaborate with different people in the school and greater community so “what we do with who.”

With Students: 

• Academic success support (organizational, study,  test-taking skills, goal setting and follow-through)
• Academic planning (scheduling, explaining graduation and promotion requirements)
• Post-secondary planning, college application process, write recommendations letters for scholarships and college admission, standardized testing or transition plans
• Career planning (career awareness, understanding of the world of work, interview coaching)
• Peer relationship support (effective social skills, communication, problem-solving, decision-making, conflict resolution)
• Educate students on certain issues they may face (i.e. substance abuse education, multicultural/diversity awareness, teen pregnancy)
• Individual and small-group counseling
• Student/Family/School crisis intervention
• Administering, organizing and explaining standardized tests and the results of those tests.

With Parents: 

• Academic planning
• Post-secondary planning
• Scholarship and Financial comprehension and planning
• School-to-parent (or teacher-to-parent) communications
• Parent conferencing
• Referrals to outside agencies

With Teachers: 

• Working collaboratively on student’s post-secondary plans
• Classroom guidance lessons and planing of  teacher and guidance organized events for students (speakers, workshops etc.)
• Academic support working collaboratively to help students succeed
• At-risk student identification and implementation of interventions

With Administrators: 

• Academic support interventions
• Behavioral management plans
• Student needs assessments
• Data collecting and distribution

With Outside Community: 

• Referrals
• Job shadowing or observation
• Career exploration

I guess when you look at all the ways in which counselors collaborate with different people you will notice that it all surrounding student support. I like to think we work in three main umbrellas of tasks which are : Academic Support, College and Career Exploration and Social/Emotional Counseling. It really does vary from state to state, district to district and school to school on what tasks are on the Guidance Counselor’s plate and which are not.

Different states also have different certification standards. In the state of Massachusetts (where I will be licensed), counselors are now required to have a Master of Education in School Counseling (M.Ed) and have passed the Communication Literacy portion of the Massachusetts Test of Educator Licensure (MTEL).

Each day had been different for me so far and I think that as the year goes on I will notice that different times of the year require a focus on different tasks. I guess I can elaborate more as the year goes on if there is and interest in that. So, there you have it- that is what we do!

My Eats:

Dinner last night:

Please direct your attention to my adorable cupcake muffin to-go container. It was a gift from a friend. It is pretty awesome and ensures that my cupcakes muffins don’t get squished

Oh yeah and I took some coffee to go too

Today I went to the fracture specialist to find out more about my foot’s prognosis. Turns out, quite ironically, that the nickname for the fracture I have is called “The Dancer’s Break” because it is so common in ballet dancers. Apparently, my foot did not get the message that my body is not NEARLY as graceful as a ballerina’s. My break is pretty nasty looking, huh?

My x-ray also showed another foot injury that was healed. I was unaware of this previous injury. They are completely unrelated. I guess “pushing through it” isn’t always wise. I am sure it was some nagging pain I had that I ignored. Way to go, Ali!

So what did I find out from the appointment? 

1. I CAN begin to put pressure on the foot while it is in the walking boot. This means I can loose the annoying crutches, but may need to rely on them by the end of the day because my foot will mostly likely be sore after walking on the break all day.
2. I can take the boot off to sleep! I was so psyched about this. You cannot even imagine how much it has sucked sleeping with that boot on!
3. I still cannot drive for about 4-5 weeks or so
4. I mostly likely will not be able to run for about 3 months (this news actually brought a tear to my eye, I will miss running so much).
5. I will most likely not need surgery
6. These breaks usually heal a little off center, but in most cases it has no effect on walking or athletically preforming.
7. I will go back to the doctor in 5 weeks and may (fingers crossed) get the boot off and be able to walk in supportive shoes.
8. Ibuprofen had a chemical in it that causes fractures to heal much slower, so I should use Tylenol to dull the pain.

I will admit, I was not expecting it to take 3 months to heal. I am really going to struggle with no being about to run, do yoga or Crossfit. But, this weekend, since my husband is off and can cart me around, I plan on buying some dumbbells and a resistance band so that I can workout my upper body. I will have to create some modified workouts for myself. So look forward to seeing what I manage to mish mosh together. It is going to be though, but in the grand scheme of things 3 months is not all that long, right?!

Anyhow, it was an interesting day overall. I woke up this morning to no heat and no hot water. All is good now but washing my hair in FREEZING cold water was unpleasant. Although I think I learned that really cold water and no conditioner is the key to me having a great hair day because my hair looked great! Give and take

Breakfast was a repeat of yesterday, two whole wheat blueberry muffins with Earth Balance “Butter”.

Lunch and snacks packed for the day:

Salad, leftover turkey burger, grapes and a cappuccino Larabar (sent my the folks at Larabar).

I also had a french vanilla coffee with half and half while waiting with my mom for the doctor. I am like a little kid with my mommy bringing me to the doctor since I can’t drive.

I am trying to get back to my daily outfit posts too! I guess it is just hard to create outfits that work with my lovely new boot! I don’t have many pants that are wide enough to fit over it.

Today’s Outfit: 

• Plaid wide leg trousers (Gap)
• White Cami (H&M)
• Navy Cardigan (JCrew)
• Tan Flat (Tory Burch)
• Gold clover long necklace (Stella and Dot)

If you had a foot injury, what exercises would you do in while you heal to keep yourself active and to relieve stress? Have you ever been injured and had to make due? What was that like for you? 

Last night my boredom turned me into Betty Crocker herself. There was a whole lot of baking going on in the FFF household. I made chocolate chip cookies for Adam.

Somehow these also ended up in my mouth. Not really sure how

I also used this muffin mix to make whole wheat blueberry and walnut muffins.

Having two ovens makes my life VERY easy

Can you guess what I had for breakfast today?

Two mini muffins with earth balance “butter”.

After I finished my muffins I packed up my food for the day. Salt and vinegar almonds (which my co-workers are now in love with), grapes, turkey on whole wheat, low fat cottage cheese and a clementine.

Since I didn’t sleep all that well last night I was so tired by the time I got home for work. I spent the late afternoon with my kindle and a cup of french vanilla coffee.

the Kindle was a gift from bestie May and I loooooooove it! I am so grateful for this gift and it is coming in handy with my broken foot. I am currently reading the Jaycee Dugard book A Stolen Life. It is disturbing but also really interesting. Talk about resilience, huh? I seriously cannot put this book down.  It is difficult to read about her 18 years of captivity but also helps the reader realize the unbelievably tough spot she was in with having two daughters by the man to kidnapped her.  What books have you been unable to put down lately? 

But I did manage to put it down for a few minutes to prepare dinner. Tonight Adam and I had homemade turkey burgers with low fat, low sodium american cheese on whole wheat buns and big salads.

We used our griddle for the first time and it was awesome the burgers came out way better than they do on the Forman or even a regular grill. Totally worth the money especially since we live in a part of the country where we can’t really grill outside for a good part of the year.

I wanted to leave you all with one of my favorite photos that I have taken in a while. Yesterday afternoon we went as a family to visit with my Pa. FFF brother introduced Pa to his great-granddaughter for the the very first time and I was so glad that I was able to capture that moment.

So beautiful…

Hey everyone! Well, since I broke my stupid foot last week my life has had to slow down a lot. Certainly there has been NO running or working out. I can’t drive so that means no running errands or grocery shopping. I can barely get around my house without help from Adam or friends. It sucks. I am not going to sugarcoat it. I am super independent and always on the go, so this is a huge adjustment. My friend Dan thinks that this is a mixed blessing because it will force me to learn patience, especially with my body which I severely lack. I just roll my eyes at him. He is right, Dan usually is because he is very wise. But, I don’t want to learn patience I like myself as I am. Impatient and all

Anyhow it is not all bad, there are things that are making life awesome right now. I thought I would share a few things that are brightening up me day lately. First of all. Peapod! You order the groceries online and then they deliver it right to your kitchen! I love picking out my own meat and my own produce but since grocery shopping is not possible right now Peapod is pretty much making my life awesome! Lord knows if I sent Adam to by groceries we would be living off of Stouffer’s french bread pizzas and Bud Light.

If you have been reading my blog for any length of time, you will know I have a huge love for all things salt and vinegar. When I saw these salt and vinegar almonds on the Peapod site I thought ,  ”OMG! No Way! Is this real life?! I NNNNNEEEEDDDD THESE!”. Let me tell you, they are EVEN BETTER than I thought they would be. They are out of this world. If you like salt and vinegar flavored things, you have got to get yourself some of these. But be careful, they are addicting!

Another thing making my life awesome these days…since I can’t really do much, I feel zero guilt about spending 2 hours of my Sunday morning like this:

Pups and coffee for two hours on a Sunday…how can that NOT be awesome?!

Oh and then there was this that I received in the mail from bestie May. This one goes out to all you crazy commenters that so rudely commented on this post. Having a sense of humor about people commenting rudely about your body is really awesome. And having friends that have a sense of humor about it is double awesome.

And last but not least, my breakfast this morning was especially awesome. Whole wheat bagel thin topped with laughing cow, smoked salmon and capers. Sunday morning perfection!

Even thought my situation is not ideal right now, there are still things that are making my life pretty great! What is making your life awesome these days?! 

Well every year, just like millions of other people, I make a set resolutions to make me stronger, happier, nicer, healthy and better for the next year. I REALLY hate to toot my own horn…but “toot, toot” homegirl pretty much always sticks to her resolutions. I always make a huge list too. It is never just one or two resolutions with me. So last year I made this giant list… Remmber?

Crossed off are the ones I completed…

Health:

• Run 10 races-  I am super excited about this one and am already registered for 2 (Um…I ran 11 races!)
• Run 2 Half Marathons – I am already registered for one in April and one in May.   ( Yeah…I also ran a marathon)
• Focus on becoming stronger-  This should translate into 2-3 strength workouts a week.  (Hello, Crossfit!) 
• Take a multivitamin once a day
  
• Work on Oral Health- I know I have written about my fear of the dentist and how I have not gone to see him in a few years. This year I am going to see him twice (my insurance pays for it so why not?), brush twice a day and Listerine at least once a day.
• Cut back on drinking- Not to say that it is an issue by any means, but sometimes I may indulge in beer and wine a little too much.
• Stretch after every run for a decent amount of time.

Professional:

• Do well in my classes- I know school may not fall into the “professional” category for most, but since my M.Ed with advance me very much professionally it does for me.
• Get an Internship for Fall
• Work on writing- Since I do write part-time I would life to focus on improving my writing skills and creativity surrounding my writing. That includes my blog and my freelance stuff.

Personal:

• Find more healthy meals for Adam and I to cook at home- It is not a secret that Adam is a picky eater and sometimes finding meals that we both like that are healthy is hard for us.  I really hope I can find more things we can both enjoy.
• Get my house re-done- If you have been reading my blog for any length of time you might be aware that Adam and I a re-doing our house. I am sure there will be a lot of things I need to do and decisions I need to make. I am hoping to get all of these things done in a timely manner and create the place that will be our home for the rest of our lives.  (!!!!!!)  ( Um…have you seen this beauty?)
• Find More Time for Myself
• Work on my relationships- I consider myself to be a great friend, wife, granddaughter, daughter and dog mom, but there is always room for improvement.
• Enjoy the weekdays- I get into a rut of work, workout, shower, eat, tv, bed over and over on workdays. I also spend my lunch running errands, or sitting in the lounge eating my lunch starring at the wall. I am hoping to find ways to make my workday evenings or lunch breaks more fun this year.
• Stay on top of the laundry- Laundry is seriously stressful for Adam and I for some reason. My goal is to find a way to eliminate that stress, which is probably just doing it more often.

Ok…so I bit off waaaaaaayyyyy more than I could chew. I am aware of that. I still managed to do really well, though, no?  I think some of these will carry over to this year and I will be adding new ones. So (drum roll please), I present you with the 2012 New Years Resolutions:

Health:

• Let my foot HEAL: I will really, really try to be patient and allow my foot to heal properly by not pushing it a follow doctors orders.
• Make my slow return to working out and running when I have to go ahead from my doctors: This is kind of like two reminders to myself to take it easy.
• Take my iron pills and multivitamin daily: I am prescribed 800 mg of iron a day to make up for my low red blood cell count. I take it here and there because I forget. I NEED to be taking it consistently. A multivitamin wouldn’t hurt either.
• Get back to eating foods that make me feel good: Sometimes I loose sight of what makes my body happy and just eat crap. I’m human. But it makes me feel sluggish and tired.

Professional:

• Just keep writing: Nuf said.
• Finish my Master’s Degree: I am ONE class away from being Ali Fornash, M.Ed
• Be the best 9th grade Guidance Counselor I can be
• Get a full time counseling job for the Fall: I have a long-term sub position that is good until June 2012, but I do need a job for the fall.

Personal

• Be a better friend: I have started to loose touch with some friends that are super important in my life. It is a total two way street and also has a lot to do with our schedules not matching up. But I want to make sure I am REALLY doing my part to make time and make it work. 
• Laugh more: Self-explanatory
• Be an awesome Auntie: I have 12 nieces and nephews….yes, 12!!!! I want to really work on being a more active in their lives and be a more fun aunt.
• Forgive myself: I have a really hard time forgiving myself for mistakes, whether they  are huge or tiny. I am really going to work on that.

My MOST important goal:

• Be a better wife: I am a pretty darn good wife, but Adam and I have admittedly had a lot of  unexpected stress in our lives this past year and it makes things difficult for us. I want to be real with you guys, marriage is HARD! I know we all love to think it is some fantasy and it’s all rainbows and butterflies, and it is a lot of the time, but not always. People are complex, when you add two people to the mix- it is double complex. I think sometimes the stress makes me loose sight of how great things are and how much better my life is because he is in it. I thank God for the day I married Adam every night before I got to sleep. It is time Adam knows that I am that I am thankful for that day too!

At the risk of being obnoxiously mushy, This one is for you Adam:

What were your resolutions last year? How did you do? What are the new ones for this year?