Defeated.

Lately I have been feeling a little defeated when it comes to getting to where I want to be physically.  If you know me, you know that I will always have an excuse for not working out...and as much as I try to eat healthily, I am a SUCKER for mexican.  I recently found something to get me back into the workout groove, Pirate Fit @ ECU. It is a new, work-out motivation program through the Student Rec Center that awards coming to the gym with various prizes--even an iPad :) You would think getting rid of this booty and thunder thighs is enough incentive to work out, but free stuff is just the icing on the cake.  My current method of getting rid of the excess lower body flab is something I actually feel extremely defeated by...the spinning bike.  Today was my 2nd day on the bike.  Only made it 5 minutes on day 1, but today (with the help of Women's Health magazine) I made it 10.  It is certainly a love-hate relationship.  On another high note...I ate only healthy foods today.  That means no left over wedding cake, no Reece's cups, no pumpkin cake, and no ice cream {and yes all of these things currently inhabit my kitchen}. No promises for tomorrow, but I am going to try my best before I end up like this lovely lady. 

Wedding fever!

All of these beautiful weddings in the past few months have really pushed me into wedding fever! Now that I am getting to the point in my life where I am approaching the end of grad school classes and my move to Chapel Hill, contemplating my own wedding has become more of a reality.  It's gotten so bad that Clint has started commenting that we are just going to have a shotgun wedding since I will have everything planned before he can even pop the question!  Now if I could just begin to channel this wedding obsession into a workout obsession I would be alright!!

Love this picture from Clint's sister Sarah's wedding :) 

On the home stretch

I have been a bit slack about posting, but with school starting tomorrow I thought I should get back on the ball.  

{For starters, surgery went well! The doctor removed not one, but five polyps and he thinks the pathology report will come back fine :) I am still a little sore and crampy but feeling much better on the whole!}

I had a great 3 weeks off and although I am not dying to get back to classes, I am in desperate need to get back to some sort of schedule. My break was packed with lots of fun including my 22nd birthday, a road trip to Ohio with my love for a (super fun!) wedding, my surgery, and lots of play dates for Bailey with her BFF Greta.

But now..... IT'S MY LAST YEAR OF SCHOOL!!!  After circa 18 years of school, I am SO ready to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  This year will be crammed full of classes, work, research for my thesis, and writing my thesis.  Not to mention 1 week of fieldwork in both October and March!  It's already hard to believe that I will finally be moving to Chapel Hill to be close to Clint in only 9 short months :) So many exciting things in my future and I am ready to embrace it!  

Medical update

First off, thanks for the kind words and prayers :)  I had two different songrams on Wednesday.  The first was painless and showed normal results.  The doctor wanted to be a bit more through so he did a 2nd sonogram where he threaded a tube into an opening in my uterus, pumped water inside, and then took a look around.  This was 0% fun, especially since I did not realize it was going to hurt.  This time the Dr. found what he thinks is a polyp, which is hopefully the cause of the bleeding.  To get rid of the polyp, he is going to do two different surgical procedures... 1) a hysteroscopy and 2) a D&C.  The hysteroscopy is where they insert a lighted scope into my cervix and into my uterus so they can easily see the polyp.  Then the Dr. can insert a surgical instrument through the hysteroscope to remove the polyp.  The D&C will be a scraping of the lining of my uterus to determine where the polyp came from and if I am at risk for developing more.  It will be an outpatient procedure with a 5-7 day recoup window since I will apparently have a lot of soreness and cramping.  Due to changes in my family's insurance plan, I cannot have the surgery until August 18th...which has its pros and cons. PRO: I won't have to miss class or any upcoming weekend plans (weddings, birthdays) that I already have planned. CON: I will keep bleeding for another month and a half, and will continue to bleed for a few weeks after the procedure.  I also cannot swim for 2 weeks after the surgery or run/jog for 4 weeks afterwards, so I guess I should hit the gym hard before August 18th! Thanks again for all the support!

Power of Prayer

Lately I have been attending Eastern Pines Church of Christ in Greenville and I absolutely love it.  I have been going at least once a week, either to Sunday service or Wednesday bible study, and have met some really great people!  Going to church more often has really renewed my feelings about the power of prayer and how it can really make a difference.  With all of that said I could use a little prayer this week.  I started having abnormally heavy periods about 8 months so I my doctor changed my BC.  It didn't help so we changed it again.  Then 3 months ago I started spotting and it has not stopped since then.  I finally went to my doctor and after an exam he determined that I am having abnormal cervical bleeding.  He put me on 2 weeks of antibiotics with no positive result.  I go back for another exam and further testing this Wednesday and I am praying for the best (even though I can't get the worst out of my head).  I normally wouldn't be this public with these sorts of issues, but I am asking you to keep me in your prayers the next couple of days.  Clint claims that I just over worrying as usual... I am hoping he is right in this case!  Thanks in advance :) 

Buggin'

I have been known to make some rash financial decisions at times, so I need some help figuring out if my newest temptation is worth it or not.

The Body Bugg

If you have not heard of it, it is pretty much the coolest thing ever.  It tracks all your calories IN and OUT, so that you can try to reach your weight loss goal.  

My Pros:

• It will certainly help me lose weight because I will be able to see the impacts of my snacking habits visually
• It will encourage me to take move around more (i.e. take Bailey on more walks, start running, walk to class)

My Cons:

• Wearing it on my arm will most likely not be the season's best fashion statement when wearing anything without sleeves
• It will set me back $175.

I am anxious to hear some opinions! Thanks in advance :)

Finding balance

"Happiness is not a matter of intensity, but of balance, rhythm and harmony."  -Thomas Merton


...So true!  
Recently I have realized that I have felt a bit off due to a crazy, inconsistent schedule and no desire to get back into my workout groove.  As I decided to jump back on my Wii Fit this morning, I realized I have gained 10 lbs since before the cruise in March!  WOW!  Prior to the cruise, I was super busy with school but I was still eating right and working out, in some form or fashion, daily.  This lifestyle brought me down 13 pounds and even below my "ideal weight" of 130! Now I am back up a whopping +7 up from my ideal weight and I am feeling quite worthless!  Let me interject with, it is not about the weight anymore for me.  It is about feeling great and being healthy, and to get there I need to find some BALANCE with...

• eating right
• exercise
• quality time with family and friends
• spiritual life
• finances

Now, how I am going to do that?

Eating right will be a piece of cake granola bar.  I know what to do, I just have to start making wise choices, again.

Exercise is something I have to make time for.  It is not that I don't have the time, I just don't think about making the time.  Therefore, I am going to start writing my workouts in my planner so I will think of it more as a "must do" opposed to an "uh, I'd rather lay on the couch and watch Hoarders." 

Quality time is something that I think I have under control. But when you think about it, Is it really quality time when you are sitting on the couch watching a movie and not talking to each other? Maybe to some, but take a peak at The 5 love languages-- truly life changing. 

Spiritual life is something that I used to make a lot of time for, but my church going and bible reading has dramatically decreased over the college years.  I have made small steps to going to church more often, reading devotions nightly with Clint and reading The Shack.  Tonight I will make another small step in attending a bible study group!

Finances..YUCK! Hate dealing with finances and quite frankly I am not as great at saving money as I think I am.  I have recently taken up coupon cutting which has been helpful, but I still have a long way to go.  In my defense, it is pretty difficult to save when in graduate school and can only hold a part time job, but still have those lovely bills coming in each month.  

With a little dedication and a lot of encouragement I might actually be able to pull this off.  After all, you only live once!