SDOJ - Days 5-9

I've been slacking on the Summer Days Of Joy posts lately, so I figured it was only appropriate that I do a blog of the last 5 days! Probs not a good sign if I've been slacking and it's not even a week into doing these posts, but at least I'm catching up, right?! Let's all just hope I can remember what I've done the past 5 days to make this post worth reading, haha!

Day 5 - This was a rough day for me... but like I said before, no matter how bad the day may be, there is ALWAYS joy in every day! Even though it started out horrible, I found joy in hanging out with my bestfriend Sydney & her family! For those that don't know, Sydney was my very first friend in Indiana when I moved here. Her family has been nothing but amazing to me and her mom, Robin, is like my second mom! I am beyond thankful for them! When I say this, I mean it... I literally wouldn't be able to make it in Indiana without them! :)

Day 6 - I found joy in spending the day with Sydney, having bestfriend time & just catching up on life!

Day 7 - I found joy in being with my Young Life family, supporting them during The Bed Race! And yes, I said it... Bed Race... it's exactly what it sounds like! We took second place, but we fought a VERY good/hard race, considering the fact that our bed broke during one of our races and we almost quit! So proud of the guys that did it though!

Day 8 - I found joy in being with some Young Life girls and attending their open houses! Still cannot believe they're graduating, but I'm so proud of them! I also found joy in having a sleepover at Margo's (one of my YL girls) and getting to know her even more! :)

  

Audrey!

 

Shelby!

 

Dana!

 

Maggie!

Day 9 - I found joy in going to Kokomo with Steph to attend her brother's open house! I had so much fun jamming out to SoMo in the car on the way there and just being with her awesome family! So thankful for them! :) 

It's been a rough couple of days, but I truly feel like the Lord is opening new doors for me! Although evil keeps trying to peep through them, I know God is holding me in the palm of His hands! Prayers are requested as things are about to start changing for me. Thank you in advance!

xoxo, Ally 

Summer Days Of Joy...

It feels a lot like summer outside, however it's not quite summer yet!

Friday, June 21 is technically the first day of summer, although

these temperatures are telling us different!

It's been BEAUTIFUL outside the past week, and by "beautiful"

I mean that there hasn't been any rain or horrible "wipe your face

as soon as you walk outside because it's so hot" temperatures!

It's the season for things to come to an end..

I successfully finished my second year of college! Even though that was

technically 3 weeks ago, I just needed to get that said in public. ;)

Young Life has come to an end for the semester. 

The kids I nanny finished school!

Spring sports for the kids are also coming to an end.

Crazy, busy, "so many places to go in an hour" schedules are finally

coming to an end. 

However what I've really been learning is that just because things

are coming to an end, doesn't mean the Lord isn't preparing me for

BIG things ahead! I'm so excited for things to come...

The pool is open, so relaxation is upon my life.

Young Life camp is coming up! 

Another 5K is in my future.

And so much more, but I'm just too tired to really think right now!

Even though there are so many great things to be looking forward

to, I've had a hard time finding happiness lately. Let me rephrase that,

I've had a hard time finding joy in my everyday life.

No, I'm not sad everyday and no I do not mope about my life...

but I've been having a hard time finding pure joy. I've been 

thinking about this a lot the past week and I really can't pinpoint 

exactly the reason for this, but all I know is that if I don't

start finding some joy in every day ahead, I'm going to become

miserable and that's the last thing I want to be!

So, starting today I have decided to start finding joy in every single

day this entire summer. So from now, until school starts again, I'm

going to document everyday, whether that's an Instagram post,

Facebook post, journal entry, or even a blog about the joy

I've had that day. 

James 1:2-3 says "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance."

Well, God, I am READY for some perseverance!

Prayers during this time are definitely welcomed! 

Some days may be easy, others may be hard,

but I AM READY!

"Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes

your smile can be the source of your joy."

<3xoxo

My first 5K - Graffiti Run!

You read that title right.. I completed my first EVER 5K!

Do you know how much 5K is?! ONLY 3.1 miles.. I mean, no big deal.

Well, for some it REALLY is no big deal. *snaps for you*

For me, it was a HUGE deal! *big claps for me*

I seriously cannot even believe I did it. 

Preparing up until the run...

I was so nervous, but I was excited. I had been mentally preparing for this 5K since beginning of January, but I didn't actually register until about a month before the run. Not because I was backing out, but mostly because I was freaking myself out. I wasn't physically ready for the run. Mentally, I was already across the finish line. But physically yeaahhhh not at all.  

After I officially registered, I set a goal for myself.
(I had a bad habit of eating horrible, but still going to the gym)
But I decided it was time to stop that and make sure my mind and body were ready!

So I set a goal for myself. I would start eating better and start working out at least every other day. That was a hit! I accomplished my first goal! Whoop whoop!

Two weeks before the run, I made this post about my next goal!

And up until the day of the race, I accomplished it! Go me!!!

The night before the race...

I got a phone call from my bestfriend, Stephanie, telling me that she wanted to sign up for the 5K and do it with me! Which was SUPER exciting! Obviously. (Just to clear things up, no I wasn't planning on doing this run by myself, lol, my friend Stacy was planning on doing it with me... Well now she's doing it with us!)

The day of the race...

My thoughts "Holy crap, am I really about to do this?"
"Heck yeah I'm going to do this!"
I was beyond excited and ready for it, after all, I did spend
what felt like forever preparing for it!
Stacy, Stephanie, and I drove together and as we got to the parking lot, my heart was racing! As we were walking (literally felt like 3 miles) to get to the starting line I kept saying to myself "well, there's not turning back now!" and there really wasn't!

Needless to say...
After the race fun started, it was just amazing!
There were times that I wanted to give up, but Steph and Stacy did an amazing job of keeping me motivated! Steph did so awesome pushing me to run! My goal was to run more than I walked, because I knew I couldn't run the WHOLE thing just yet, and I think I accomplished that goal! I had so much fun with it! 

My favorite part...
Just running to the next color! It was an absolute blast setting goals during the run and pushing myself to complete it. (Steph was a great help with goal setting) Goodness, I am so thankful for her! 

After the race...
Well, Steph & I celebrated with ice cream! :) 

 

My future goals...
I have big plans for the future! My next goal is to do at least 1 more Color Run. 
After that, I plan to start training for a mini-marathon! 
After that, I plan to start training for a half marathon!
And after that, I plan to start training for a full marathon!
I would also LOVE to do a triathlon or a decathlon one day... but that's pretty far in the future!


Thank you, Graffiti Run for an awesome time!
AND THANK YOU STEPH & STACY FOR JOINING ME!
And thank you ALL for supporting me, praying for me, and being excited with me!


I am blessed.
xoxo, Ally

News on the 5K!

Hello again friends! 

It's been quite some time, but I promise I have not forgotten about any of you!

I've been traveling all over America, also known as Vegas and South Dakota, the past month so I haven't had much time to sit and blog about my life!

As much as I want to talk about my progress so far with this healthy lifestyle, this post is meant for something else! I promise, I'll get to that in another post (fingers crossed) hopefully later on this week/weekend!

IN OTHER NEWS!

The 5K I am running, Indy Graffiti Run, at the end

of this month is creeping up really really fast!

Last time I checked, it was February not April!

And not to mention, it's darn near the middle of April!

Although I may not be fully prepared for this 5K, I am really

really excited to do it!

No, I haven't been eating the best but I have been

eating as well as I can for being on vacation off and on the 

past month! For Lent, which no I'm not catholic, but I gave

up meat (not fish) and soda to prove to myself that I really

can give something up if I trust in the Lord! 

*which by the way, I have been doing wonderful and I'm so

 happy I took on the challenge, I might even just stop eating

meat (besides fish and chicken) as a new life style!

As of today, up until the 5K , I will only be eating

fruits, veggies, nuts, and fish and only drinking water!
I have promised myself that I will be going to the gym every day and

I will make no excuses to prepare for this 5K!

(3.1 miles for those that don't know, lolz)

I have 18 days until this 5K and I know that I can do it!

Like I said before, I don't care how I cross that finish line,

I just care about crossing the finish line.

All I ask for is prayer during this time of my preparation.

Prayer for strength, mind and body, and prayer to just

trust in the Lord as I run/walk/crawl/skip/jump my

way to the finish line. I cannot wait to update

you all again after the 5K to let you know how I did! 

Thank you all in advance for the prayers and support!
I couldn't do this without the support of you all!

Until next time, 

Ally <3

It starts now!

As I said in my previous post, I'm starting a new journey to a healthier life!

The progress so far:

I've already started the process of eating better (as of about a month ago) and I've also already started my routine of working out...

 However, just recently, I started doing Zumba at home as well!

I know that there are tons of "at-home workouts" but I don't find any of them fun, but for some reason Zumba has been REALLY fun for me! I love shaking my booty, so getting to shake my booty AND get a workout is the absolute best!

My eating process: I've cut back a lot.I used to eat fast food allllll the time. For just about every meal. Trust me, it sickens me too knowing how much money I wasted on such horrible food. But let's face it, fast food tastes so delicious. Burgers, fries, anything greasy is just so mouth-watering good! Although I do still crave the burgers and fries, I haven't given in but maybe once or twice. Oh and pizza, yeah I did have that yesterday but I deserved a treat after how healthy I've been eating lately!

My favorite things to eat that are healthy: Fruits, veggies, and tuna.

I said it, tuna. I have always liked tuna, but lately I love it! 

My fruits and veggies I try to buy organic, but let's just be honest here, it's expensive! I know, the fast food was expensive too, but I just feel like I'm cutting into my budget with the organic prices. Although everyone and their mom will tell me that organic is so much better, I'll stick with the cheap stuff for now! 

A few questions I've been asked lately:

Have you seen any results? I haven't seen any results but I've felt results!
I have way more energy in the morning and I also feel so much more confident in my workouts. I feel like when I go to the gym, I have the best workout each time! Every time is different, of course, but I still feel like as time is progressing, my workouts are progressing and I'm so much more confident at the gym!

Have you lost any weight? As I said before, I'm not in this for the scale. The scale doesn't define my health. So I would answer that question by just saying, maybe.

Have many days a week do you workout? I try to go to the gym at least 5 times a week. 3 days of cardio and 2 days of free weights. But I also have found the love of Zumba in my room, so I've been doing that at least 3 times a week!

I'm so thankful for all the questions I've been asked and the support of all my family and friends! So thank you again for joining me on this journey! 

I'll leave you with this quote I read today..

I don't diet, I just eat according to my goals.

xoxo
Ally :)

Well..Well..Well..

Wow! It's been almost a year since I've written a blog... I feel like I don't even know what to say! There's too much to even update on but the biggest highlights of the past 9 months...

1) Summer was absolutely amazing!
2) Heaven gained an absolutely beautiful angel.. Jessica Leigh <3 on August 18, 2013!
3) I got to visit Texas... again (woohoo!) in October! It was one of the best trips I've ever had!
4) I got to go home to South Dakota for a week for Thanksgiving, and let's just say my mom makes the BEST food probably EVER.... I keep telling her she needs to open a restaurant or bakery! 
5) Christmas number 2 via Skype with the family, and even though it wasn't the "real" thing, I loved every minute of it!
6) I have officially been a Noblesville Young Life leader for a year! 
7) I surprised my mom (for the second time) by going home for her birthday... she turned 50 so obviously I couldn't NOT surprise her!
8) Valentine's Day just happened and I'm so excited to say that Jesus was my valentine this year and I wouldn't have it any other way!!

So there you have it... the major highlights of the past 9 months. Now on to bigger and better things...
I've really felt The Lord calling me to blog about my healthy life journey... I'm not sure why but I've been going back and forth the past couple of months about it and it's something I really want to do... So instead of this JUST being an update on my life, I want to make this my healthy life journey blog as well! I feel like it'll keep me accountable anyways to eating healthy and living life differently! OH BOY!

Just to update on where I've been with workouts/eating healthy the past year...
As most of you probably know from reading my past blogs, I started working out last February! Welllllllll in June that sort of spiraled down... after Young Life camp I became overwhelmed and couldn't get onto a good schedule. I was having a hard time finding time to workout (I enjoy morning workouts SO much more than evening). I became one of those people that had a gym membership and never went... Umm yeah don't even get me started on the wasted money (so dumb). But as of January 2014 I am pleased to announce...

I'M BACK AT IT, FOLKS!

I truly couldn't be happier! I'm so excited to be back on this journey of living healthy! I am ready to start living healthy again!
*Just to clear things up, weight-loss is not a huge deal to me.. my ultimate goal is to be healthy, not skinny. If I lose weight in the process, WONDERFUL. If not, I'm completely okay with it, as long as I'm healthy. So if the muscle I gain is overpowering the fat I have now and I still weigh the same, then I'm completely okay with that!

I don't plan on stepping on the scale, ever. I will be taking before/progress pictures and I truly feel like that's all the proof I need! I don't want to get discouraged by the scale, I want to be happy this whole journey, not upset because I didn't meet my goal for the week!

OTHER EXCITING NEWS: I'll be running a 5K this April so I'm currently training for that! All of these changes are SO exciting and I cannot wait to see what my future holds!

I plan to update at least once a week with pictures and my healthy eating habits, but I think this is good enough for today! I hope you stay tuned and join me on this journey of eating healthy! <3 

Xoxo
-Ally