Oh Look, A Blog!

Holy cow Batman, could I go any longer without blogging?!

Oh you mean I have to actually write to make it work? Good god I'm horrible at this ha!

 

Anyway, I'm here to tell you I won't be here for a few weeks (ironic right? Probably could have gone without and no one would have noticed).

Things are chaotic now, but boy will they get even more chaotic! chaotic-er?

Michael has been gone out of state for work for the past 2 months and comes home Monday (yay!) however, he's getting knee surgery (boo) 2 days afterwards. So I will be helping him recover, then it's Christmas time, and before you know it it's New Year's!

 

So the poor little blog here is going to take a hit for a few weeks while I juggle everything at once while standing on one foot. We'll see how it goes.

 

But! I will be back starting in the new year with some new stuff, recipes, and more babbling!

 

Have a wonderful holiday and a safe New Year!

Bahamas Cruise Part Three

Alrighty here we are with the last part to my cruise trip!
I don't think I could drag it out any longer than I have! Apologies to all!

If you missed part one or part two you can find them here and here

The third day of the cruise we docked at the island of Nassau and it looked exactly like I expected it to. It was packed full of brightly colored houses under a bright bright blue sky.

We had a super early dolphin encounter on a separate island called Blue Lagoon so we hopped on the ferry boat that would take us over there. It was about 35 minutes away so it was a good long boat ride that allowed me to see all over the place.

I've never touched a dolphin and it was so cool! I've swam with dolphins in the ocean while I boogie boarded (you can't live around here without being in the water with a dolphin) but I never actually got to touch and see one up close. We got to dance with him, give him a kiss, give him a hug, and touch his teeth. It was so crazy!

It was also our anniversary so it was cool to experience something like this on that day.

After the dolphin encounter it was still pretty early so we trekked over to the beach on the island and plopped ourselves down to enjoy the views. To get on Blue Lagoon island you had to purchase an encounter on the island so thankfully it wasn't overrun with people. We got a shady spot and the water was way clearer and free of jellyfish!

 I swam around a lot and I even got to see some cool looking fish in the water.

Once we were done on the island we headed back to the ship to change and head out on the main island. It was pretty interesting to see and we stopped in on the pirate museum

The fourth day was an entire day at sea which Michael and I spent primarily in our room reading our books. Everyone and I mean everyone was on the pool deck so we could only find chairs in the sun and I was just tired of being in the sun the whole time. I was a little pink so I wanted to keep out of the sun. It was also flippin' hot and our room had air conditioning so that's where we spent our last day. By the end of the cruise I read 3 books, took a nap every day, and remembered what it was like to not have to be anywhere by a certain time. 

The week was definitely a much needed break from the hustle and bustle of every day life. I loved not being able to use my phone and just spend all my time and attention on relaxing with Michael. We talked and enjoyed just spending time with each other.

I did miss home and was glad to get home after the drama of all the flights, but it was definitely one of the best vacations I've ever been on.

We're already planning our next!

Bahamas Cruise Part Two

Hey there!

I'm  back with part two of my wonderful Bahamas cruise!

If you missed part one check it out here

The second day of the cruise we went to Royal Caribbean's private island called Cococay.

It was my first step ever in the Caribbean and it was amazing! It was so warm, the sand was so soft and white. We immediately found the shack to rent snorkel gear and went over to hear the orientation before we set out. Unfortunately they didn't tell us it was jellyfish season before we spent $65 on snorkeling gear. We were told the jellyfish sting was more annoying than painful, but I didn't want to take my chances.

There were sunken ships & airplane crashes in the water you could snorkel around so Michael and I set off for the nearest crash. The whole time I was panicking trying to dodge jellyfish and the water was pretty murky so it was actually really hard to see the translucent jellyfish. Michael almost got one in the face and I had saltwater in my eye so it made it extra hard to see the little buggers. We made it to the airplane crash and boy was it creepy looking. It was obviously planted there, but it was really really creepy to see something like that in the water. After Michael explored it for awhile we decided to head back to shore and rest before hunting down the ship's hull. What I didn't take into account with the swim back was the current. Holy cow! I was just exhausted. At one point we got surrounded by jellyfish and I started having a panic attack, not smart in the water! Eventually we made it back to the shore and I just plopped myself down in the lounge chair and rested

Such a beautiful view too!

The sun is just brutal on the island so we packed up and headed for some shade which was the lunch area and I was surprised to see wild roosters just roaming around

After lunch we headed to a different part of the island which seemed like the adults only section because there were barely any kids there. It was definitely prettier than the other part

Michael and I just bobbed around in the water to stay cool

I started seeing a huge storm coming towards the island so I decided it was time for us to pack up and head back to the ship. We got to see some awesome iguanas on our way back

 They were just crawling around on the ground and climbing in all the trees. It was so cool!

I just couldn't get over how beautiful the water is!

After getting back to the ship we showered and then promptly plopped into bed and passed out!

Next is the island of Nassau!

Stay tuned for part three!

A New Mindset

Hey hey everyone!

I know it's been ages since I've posted, let alone posted anything of value.

Things have been chaotic with a capital C, but there was one thing I was thinking about on my morning commute (I have to commute twice a morning now) and just had to blog about it.

Michael and I went on a cruise (more on that later!) and if you've ever been on a cruise you understand the struggle with cruises.

Unlimited food.

And silly ol' me here thought, "Well I'm a trainer so it shouldn't matter." And that was the same mentality I had about exercising. (Yes yes I understand it's a vacation where you relax).

However, this whole "I'm a trainer" mentality has been my downfall.

I haven't been diligent about exercising nor eating right.

It's been a fine line with healthy eating; if I go too far one way my orthorexia kicks right in, if I go too far the other way I eat like crap, feel like crap, and hate how my body looks & feels.

This all really affected me when I looked in the mirror and stepped on the scale. Suddenly my stomach bloated out and I looked pregnant, my jeans were too tight & uncomfortable, and when I stepped on the scale I was suddenly 5 pounds heavier than I had been.

Before anyone freaks out about the 5 pounds, lemme say this: 1. I know it's not fat (there's no way I ate an excess of 17,500 calories on the cruise) 2. I also know it's not muscle as I've lost muscle tone.

It is however a lot of water weight, meaning I ate way WAY too much sodium (not good).

Now that I've boohoo'ed myself enough let's talk about the real issue here.

I see eating healthy & exercising as something I can do when it fits into my schedule. That just does not work.

As a trainer, my body is my brand. How can I advise people to eat healthy when I'm stuffing my face with crap? And why would anyone put the effort into my workouts when I can't even get myself to commit to working out?

All those people that talk about scheduling workouts in so you don't skip them? I used to wave it off thinking "I workout all the time, I don't need to schedule it" Pure denial right there considering I skipped workouts a lot

I've come to realize, they're right

I can't keep thinking of workouts and healthy eating as a side thing that I can do when I have time, I have to start scheduling it like it's work, because it is part of my work.

Putting that effort in is part of my job and I really need to get that through my thick skull.

So here I am, putting it out there to keep accountable!

Anyone else have to schedule their workouts like work?

Any advice?

Bahamas Cruise Part One

Hello hello everyone!

Recently Michael and I went on a cruise to the Bahamas for our anniversary. It was my first cruise and my first time out of the country and I had a blast! 

We sailed out of Port Canaveral and it was my first encounter with humidity. Lemme say, I definitely prefer the dry heat of California. It was a hard adjustment and during the whole cruise I just couldn't get used to it.

The cruise ship was absolutely beautiful! We were on the Royal Caribbean's Enchantment of the Seas.

During the whole check-in process at the port I was bouncing up and down in my sit with a ridiculous grin plastered to my face. Once we got on the ship to explore I was just blown away with how big it was inside.

 

Of course we had to find the fitness center while we were there!

 Of course I only used it once, barely.

Once it was lunchtime we wandered into the banquet restaurant and holy crap! There was so much food it was insane! Unfortunately they didn't make any vegetarian dishes that weren't pasta (whomp whomp whomp).

The rest of the day we spent relaxing by the pool, drinking pina coladas, and napping.

Those bartenders really knew how to make a pina colada!

We had a nice surprise when we got to our room from Michael's mom

It was so great to have all of that and so thoughtful!

I think the hardest part of the whole trip was actually relaxing. Isn't that bizarre?! Everytime we stayed still for too long I felt like I had to get up and do something or go somewhere. Michael kept having to tell me to relax and stop being on the go. It was so luxurious to nap during the day because I wanted to. No alarm clock, no deadlines, dishes, obligations, nothing! It was wonderful!

Before I overload you with too many pictures at once I'll end part one here.

I'll be back with part two!

Baby Steps

Hello hello everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Michael and I went to the Renaissance Faire on Saturday and had a blast! Michael hasn't been to the local one so we had to make it this year. My mom came with us and we all enjoyed walking around, eating yummy food, looking at cool things, and Michael & I did some archery and Michael did some axe throwing. 

Drinking some meade

 Toad in a hole & frozen chocolate covered cheesecake

 My wonderful man looking so manly!

Sunday morning we woke up bright & early to go apple picking

We know have 3 bags full of apples that we have to figure out what to do with.

And yes, I am, in fact, wearing a Jurassic Park t-shirt.

Now, I know the title of this post makes no step with what I did on my weekend, but I didn't want to just jump into it. 

"Hi, here's what I'm thinking right now. K bye!"

Not how I want my blog to be.

Anywho, let's get into it!

My healthy lifestyle is a joke right now, let's be honest here. It's been incredibly difficult trying to stay on top of eating healthy, exercising, working, keeping the house clean, etc. etc. 

Sounds familiar to everyone right?

However, everyone else that has those problems tackles them by doing small changes.

I, unfortunately, do not. My brain seems to think "well I'm a personal trainer, I can do it all cause that's my job" and I try to jump right into everything and trying to do it all at once.

And where does that get me?

Overwhelmed and exhausted so nothing gets done.

And it is really really frustrating.

I've come to the conclusion (finally) that I can't do it all 100% right out of the gate. So I'm working on taking baby steps to get back into the healthy lifestyle. Right now it's been focusing on exercising and slowly but surely adding in healthy eating.

So we'll see how it all goes!

 

I'm Here

Well I'm alive and I'm still here.

I can't count how many posts I've done with "I'm alive". I'm just so bad at this blogging thing.

However, I have an excuse for all this and I'll do my best to catch you up on it without putting you to sleep on your keyboard.

First off, I haven't been altogether healthy lately. I've been struggling with clinical depression and an anxiety disorder since I was 15. I've been on and off antidepressants for ages, everytime I was off it wasn't by my doctor's choice, but because I didn't want to take it or couldn't afford it. This past bout I've been on since 2012 and consistently been on it. It's managed the depression and anxiety pretty well, but these past few months it hasn't been working quite right. I've been having panic attacks and more depression bouts than I should. 

Part of my recovery has included stepping away from certain obligations I've had, including cutting back at work, so I can focus on my mental health and recovery. Stepping away also meant stepping back from the blog. I've been getting better and am trying to get myself back into the swing of things while being mindful of myself.

Second, like I said, I had to take time away from work. That meant 2 mornings a week I don't step into work and just focus those mornings on my own thing and relaxing. During those times, I wouldn't so much as open my laptop to write a blog post, but now I'm going to try and write at least one post a day.

I'm not as active on here as I am on Instagram, so make sure you follow me @alife_worth_living

With all that said, I hope I can keep up more with the blog, in baby steps. I'm going to shoot for one blog post a week, the more the merrier, but I'm only obligating myself to one post a week!