Life in fast forward...

When JJ and I first moved to Bloomington, I hated my job, had no friends, and knew we would only be here for 2 years or so, do I didn't want to get invested.

What a horrible way to live life. And I am so sad I wasted a whole year of my life like that.

Last summer, I found a new job that I LOVE, met new people and established relationships, and got a little more involved in the community. It has been one of the best years of my life. I'm pretty shocked that during that year I was able to lose as much weight as I did because I was unhappy, but at the same time, I totally isolated myself and working out and eating right was my main focus. I've finally learned that there is balance between health, fitness, life, friends, love, family, fun times and money.

Well let me tell you, I am not happy about moving, but I'm not sad. I don't want to leave my friends, job, home, running trail, grocery stores, etc., but at the same time I'm excited for a new start. I wish it didn't take me 1/4 of my life to realize these things, but it's better that never, right?

I think the mindset change is most evident in the past 2 weeks. Work has been SO hectic, it was my birthday, and IU went on to win the Big 10 Tourney in baseball. It was a struggle, but I kept the balance and had the most wonderful 2 weeks of my life, and it is probably the perfect way to end our life in Bloomington (we still have 2 months until we move though).

So here is a photo of JJ and I at my birthday dinner. The team played Michigan State in baseball earlier in the day, I went to the game and they won! Then we went out with a few of the other trainers. I had such a fun night!

On my desk at work for my birthday was this: A bunch of bananas with a candle. My wonderful boss and co-workers know that I'm trying to be healthy and lose a little more weight, so rather than get the normal birthday cake, they brought in a fruit/veggie platter and this!

It seriously made my day!

JJ's gifts for me were a flower arrangement sent to my office and then this knife sharpener and a new santoku knife. He likes to tell me that he only ever says my cooking is 'ok' so I don't get a big head and so I keep trying new and better things... haha. I love him so much.

This brings me to the past weekend. WHAT A WEEKEND! I was having such a hard time deciding if I should drive up to Columbus, OH for the Big 10 Baseball Tourney. IU was the #3 seed, but we knew they were going to do really well. Money is super tight for us right now, and I had to stay at the hotel where the team was if I wanted JJ to stay in my room, plus I had to do something with Pumpkin for the weekend, and it was a 5 hour drive... I was so torn about going or not.

JJ and I decided that if they made it to the championship game, I'd just go to that and stay one night at the hotel. My mom, who is so awesome and I love so much, offered to meet me in Dayton and pick up Pumpkin so I wouldn't have to drive an hour out of the way and drop her off in Cincinnati. Plans worked out perfectly. The game was wonderful, and they WON!!!!!

IU seriously was just unstoppable, they outscored their opponents 47-9 in 4 games, had a .414 batting average for the team, and their pitching was amazing. They totally deserved it, and I am so happy I was there to witness it.
(JJ is kneeling in the bottom right, wearing khaki shorts)

Sometimes I struggle with going out of town and letting food get the best of me. This weekend I was determined to NOT let that happen. I was feeling skinny on Friday morning, and I weighed in at 171.5, and I'm so so so so determined to make it into the 160's by June 1, so I let that thought sit in my mind all weekend. I packed the cooler with fruit, yogurt (Oikos Honey is my new OBSESSION, it's SO GOOD!), and some other good food.

On Saturday, JJ and I went to Mongolian BBQ for lunch. I love going there because you go through a bar and pick out what you want and they cook it on the flat top in front of you. I filled a giant bowl with tofu, broccoli, snap peas, water chestnuts, peppers and bean sprouts. It was the most delicious meal I've had out in a long time, it was so healthy, and I felt so good getting that many veggies in at lunch because I knew all night I'd be at the ballpark and my choices would be limited.

Here comes the shocker of the night... Usually when I'm emotional, I eat. Happy/sad/nervous/mad, no matter the emotion, I eat. I did not get a single thing at the ballpark even though I was so nervous and happy and excited. I had a diet coke, water, and a banana that I snuck in. Seriously, I'm so proud of myself. Sometimes when people say do you worry the weight will come back on, I say HELL NO! And here's why, weight loss and healthy lifestyles are 90% mental and 10% physical in my opinion. I've got it in my brain what's right and wrong, what's healthy and not, and now I can control my emotional ties to food. I can be sensible and think through cravings. For 2 years now I've been living this way, and I'm not going back. I'm too happy and too set in my ways to go back.

On Sunday morning, I went down to the hotel's fitness room. I got on a treadmill, hoping to do 30 minutes. After 5, I was bored to death. I didn't want to run around the city, but the arena district is actually really safe and nice, so I decided to go run around there. I found a cute little park that had a .5 mile loop, so I ran that a few times and then looped around the ball park and area, I ran about 30 minutes. Then I found a Starbucks and read the paper. I'm an early riser, this was around 7:30 am, no way JJ was going to be getting out of bed anytime soon...

It was a wonderful morning, wonderful weekend, wonderful birthday, etc.

Hope you all have a fantastic Memorial Day weekend!

Next Monday my little Pumpkin Spice turns 4!