ToT MTW #1: not a great start

ToT = Tale of the Turtle

MTW = marathon training week

First week of marathon training did not go as planned.

I only did one running workout, a few yoga workouts (practices?! still not sure what to call it), and a bit of non-strenuous walking.

I started the week very excited to start training. My first run started great. I was running 30 second intervals followed by walks of 60 seconds. I did 12 rounds of that for a total of 1.42 miles. Then the treadmill broke.

I have been told (after the fact, and not helpful at all) the motor was on its way out and could have “gone” at any time. -_- (I am borrowing Thea’s eyes for this one). I felt like that fat chick who broke the plastic picnic chair at the family reunion. 

But before the treadmill broke, I was running. 30 seconds at a time. And I didn’t feel like I was going to die. I worked up a sweat but my leg felt good! My arch was a bit twingy (not a pain, just feeling the muscle sort of feeling) which is a normal side-effect from my surgery. I need to build up the muscles in my foot and calf. I used my HRM and my HR shot up during the runs, but not to the way tippy-top of the scale, and during the walking intevals, my HR recovered nicely. It needs work, my muscles in my legs and my heart & lungs, but that is what I am after!

This week may not have been my best display of awesomeness in training but it was a lesson learned in the tale of the turtle!

• I need a plan and a back-up plan. I should plan ALL my workouts, not just my run/walks. I could make excuses why I did not complete my plan as planned, but I won’t.
• I NEED yoga in my life. A few times a week is ok, IF I am following one of my dvds. I get a more intense stretch and relaxation from my dvd. (Stay tuned, I need to write about my new found appreciation for yoga!)
• When I workout regularly, I eat better want to keep up with my plan. Its my own little mindf$%k. I have to avoid the cycle of laziness (which is easy for me to want to fall into) and increase the cycle of movement. When I move more, I feel better. When I feel better, I eat better. When I move more, I find myself paying more attention to my food intake. When I move more, I eat with more of a purpose, more mindful. When I move more, I want to move more!
• ALSO, when I am consistently moving more, I sleep better. And I wake up easier. Now, its been cold (and I still don’t have the heat in my house fixed) so getting out of bed is a whole other story!
• I must and I will keep this all in my mind as I go about this week!
• For now, while I only have 3 run/walks on my training plan, I going to run Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Mondays are just not my forte. I always seem to stay up too late on Sundays and then I am tired on Mondays. Instead of fighting against the tide, I am adjusting to work for me.
• I have this one yoga dvd that has 2 programs – a hatha & a flow practice. I have the hardest time with the flow, so I am going to do hatha twice a week and the flow once a week until I can do them comfortably. I have other yoga dvds to move on to but I need to “prefect” this one first!  I sort of have to, I want to do it!
• I MUST NOT forget my squats, planks, bridges, stairs and kettlebells. I need to work the strength in my legs in other ways than my run/walks. I can add in squats, planks, bridges, stairs and kettlebells in some variety or fashion every day.
• Food. I cannot outtrain a bad diet. My diet has not been terrible. In fact, I have been making strides. I am going to stick to a strict no-sweets, mostly low-carb, mostly unprocessed, sorta paleo thing – I know its a mouthful, but basically, I am going to make best choice, EVERY time I eat something. I am hoping to find the balance that works best for me!
• Tomorrow I have a few errands to run after school and the heating guy coming to the house at some point after.  Since I need to be on standby, I will do a 2-3 mile walk-away-the-pounds dvd and a hatha yoga practice.
• I am not planning specifics for the rest of the week until I know heater guy has my heat all fixed. If all goes according to my picture perfect scenario in my head, my heat will be fixed tomorrow and I can jump back into regular programming – run/walk on Wednesday & Thursday & Saturday, yoga on Friday & Sunday.
• Maybe my first week wasn’t the greatest start but I usually go so gung-ho in the beginning and then don’t follow through, so I will take this complete opposite of my norm as a sign of good things to come! Plus, anytime I learn something new is a great time. When I am learning about myself it is even greater!

To Be Continued….

When the seed was planted

I recently announced I am training for and will finish the 2013 Philadelphia Marathon. The next 52 weeks will be the “Tale of the Turtle” as I take this journey step by step. Slow and steady #FTW!!!
I have been thinking about setting this goal for a while. I have been missing something…not something I could put my finger on exactly what was missing. Missing may be the wrong word.
Today I was in need of a winter hat and I found the seed. The first seed of the marathon variety.
At Fitbloggin ’11 we were all given these cool beanie hats in our swag bag. Robby from the iBeanie company was on hand with other hats to show off. I asked if they had a winter headband type and he gave me one. It was a pretty pale pink and I thanked him but walked

I told you it was pretty!!

away disappointed. That pretty pink headband with headphones built in has sat in my winter accessories drawer since Fitbloggin ’11. I tried to give it away to Kirsten but she told me I had to keep it until I finally decided to do a marathon (she was probably way more smart-assy). I balked. NO WAY! I was not interested at all in attempting a full marathon.

Kirsten, who has run marathons and is a complete badass, wouldn’t wear the 26.2 headband because it’s pink. She said I had to train now.

TWENTY SIX POINT TWO FREAKING MILES.

NO.

 

well then I was training for two half marathons….you know the rest…injury…surgery….blah blah blah

ummm….

maybe I never stopped thinking about it. As soon as I opened my drawer and saw this headband, I was instantly standing with Kirsten in Baltimore, adamant that I would never even consider a marathon. It was at this moment I realized I had been thinking about the marathon since before my injury, at least on some subconscious level.

Well here I am, Day #1 of marathon training. I am training for 52 weeks so it will be a long, slow journey but I am starting it.  I ran today. I logged 1.42 miles. I warmed up by walking for 5 minutes at a slow, get used to treadmill pace. Then I did 12 rounds of 30-second run/ 60-second walk intervals. I was taking a walking break because my arch was bugging me a bit – not pain, not hurting, just being used and I wanted to be cautions – when the treadmill popped then stopped and was way stinky. No more treadmill at school. I had been planning on using treadmill for the first few months – to ease my fear of tripping over a rock and my dislike of the old.

But it looks like I will be taking my runs outside sooner than I expected. I guess I will be wearing that headband very soon. It is getting colder every day!!

 

#taleofturtle

It’s ALL a learning process!

One Year Since, One Year ‘Til

Saturday, November 17th  marks one year since I had my knee and ankle surgery. And in this past year, I have learned so much about myself. So much more than I can put into words. In the past year have gone through more emotions than I knew possible.
Pain
Anger
Sadness
Denial
Depression
Uncertainty
Fear
Panic
False-excitement
Defeat
This list could go on and on.

The month leading up to November17th, my emotions and thoughts swirled at the damndest of times.

I have begun to work through some of these emotions. I am just now realizing how badly I have been handling, well, everything. I have not really given myself the proper time to work through and feel all the feelings. Instead, I jump from thing to thing, never finishing anything.

After a few terrible attempts at crazy diets, I am working on my eating for real. Its not just calories, but I am paying attention to those. Its not about bad foods or good foods, but good-for-me foods and bad-for-me foods. Its about good choices and consistency.
Aah consistency.
The last time I was truly consistent was when I was training for 2 half marathons. I am sure I wasn’t perfect, but I don’t remember obsessing about calories, or the scale really. I was happier with my body back then. I felt strong and in control.
Then I felt like my body betrayed me. I was out on a 10 miler when my knee popped, which after another unfurtunate accidental tripping led to knee and ankle surgery. In truth, I am just now painfully realizing, I had and have been betraying my body. I certainly have not been honoring my body. And to be fair, I may not have been honoring mybody whenI was training when I hurt myself. I was running all the time, but I was not really puttingthe same effortinto strength or cross training.
I do good with big goals. I went to college when my daughter was 2 and for the next 6 years, I worked full time and went to school full time and raised a baby. I trained for and completed a half marathon. I was training for two more.
But I did not get to start them, let alone finish.
I have been telling myself it was an injury, then surgery. But I feel like I did something wrong and my body betrayed me or was just telling me something, I don’t know. After my surgery, I kept saying I didn’t care if I ever ran again. And I thought I meant it.
I was, am, afraid of hurting myself again. Afraid of falling. Afraid of pain. Afraid of my leg. Afraid of failing.
I don’t want to be afraid.
I want to try new things.
Silly things.
Serious things.
AND I want to have fun.
And I do want to run again.

I felt strongest when I was running and training.
I am going to run again.
In fact, I am setting a fastically huge goal. The first time I wanted to get into running I set the half marathon as a goal. I was training for two halfs before injury/surgery.
I want to get back into running.
I am training for a full marathon.
In 52 weeks, two years to the day from my surgery, I will start and I will finish the 2013 Philly Marathon.

I decided this goal a few weeks ago but was very hesitant to announce. I am still afraid of my own nature of going a,l gung ho then fizzling. I am confident in my training plan and even in me, but I am cautious. If you haven’t figured out, I tend to get all jazzed and super gungho and then I fizzle. My year long journey to the marathon will be the tale of the turtle.
Baby steps lead to BIG changes. Permanent habits.

I saw this facebook status from

Prsfit NationLa

Training isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good

I look foward to the next 52 weeks, the next steps in this crazy journey.

Filed under embracing the turtle | 5 Comments

Friend Makin’ Mondays: What’s In Your Fridge?

I decided it was high time I spend some more time with my friends. I don’t seem to have the time I would like to have with my online peeps. Ever since my laptop died, I have not had the time for so much tweeting – some days I manage more – I still use me nook and the desktop but I don’t know, it seems so weird to sit at the big computer all the time. My girl, Kenlie,  came up with Friend Makin’ Mondays – random questions used to get to know your bloggity friends.

What’s in Your Fridge?

1. List a few common items that can always be found in your fridge. apples, diet pepsi, greek yogurt, leftovers, jars of pickled things (pickles, peppers, veggies, etc.)

2. What kind of milk do you drink? chocolate.

3. Do you prefer fresh or frozen vegetables?  fresh. In fact,the only vegetable in my freezer are jalepenos and cherry peppers from my garden and roasted tomatoes (tomatoes from farm stands this summeer, roasted and waiting to be made into sauce). I am very spoiled with very good access to very inexpensive produce year round (you wouldn’t believe how much produce I can ge for $30)

4. What do you currently have to drink in the fridge?  juice boxes, pitcher of iced tea, milk, half bottle of wine and a lone bottle of smirnoff ice leftover from the last poker night.

5. How often do you clean out your refrigerator?  once a month I take everything out and clean all the nooks and scrub the drawers. Every Sunday, I take inventory and toss what leftovers need tossing and wipe down everything.

6. What’s the healthiest thing in it right now?  a lot of veggies.   
7. What’s the most unhealthy thing in it right now?  mayo. Or that smirnoff ice.

8. What do you wish you had in it that you don’t have now? I am pretty well stocked but what girl would say no if there were crab legs and filet mignon on here fridge?!?!

9. How often do you shop for groceries? I shop for groceries entirely too often. Once every 4-5 weeks we go to butcher shop. At least once a week I go to the produce outlet. I go to regular grocery store every 2 weeks, give or take a few days, depending on the sales. And I go to the small neighborhood store to fill in where needed. It sounds like a lot but it works.

10. What’s the weirdest thing in your fridge right now? beside the entire shelf of pickles, peppers and other pickled veggies?!?! I think my husband has a problem!

Bonus:  If you could choose one thing to put in the fridge and make it calorie-free what would it be?  Hmmmm…..this is a hard one…..cheesecake or brownies
 

This was fun! I will have to join Kenlie more often.

Plan & Prep for Success

Success is in the preparation.
Being prepared certainly keeps my stress levels down. When I am not prepared, I spin in circles. Sometimes, literally. I circle around my house looking for my keys and cell phone and other stuff. I need to be prepared…lunch mostly packed, bags (school bag, gym bag) packed and outfit picked out the night before. I even like to know after school plans ahead of time, when possible.
When I don’t have these things figured out and prepared, I am scattered. Usually, this leads to not pleasant school mornings. But having seen just how pleaasant prpared mornings are, I really like to be prepared.
Now, I must remember this and DO it every damn day. NO EXCUSES. I like being happy and non-scatterbrained. I am realizing when I plan ahead, when I prepare for mornings, I have better, more productive, and more all-around good days. Less stress in the morning lets me take the rest of the day in stride. A proper breakfast (for me this means eating before noon as I have a habit of putting off eating then being overly hungry/sick/crabby-mean) has always been said to be the most important meal of the day; it sets the tone for the day. Having my bags packed and meals planned also starts the day off on a good note.
Plan ahead.
Prepare.

This week’s plan
Dinner menu:
Sunday: chicken cutlets topped with roasted red peppers, spinach and cheese with tomato, potato gratin
Monday: veggified korean beef
Tuesday: breakfast featuring homemade breakfast sausage
Wednesday: chicken with garlic and green beans & potatoes
Thursday: skirt steak with potato & onion tart and salad
Friday: chicen cordon bleu casserole

Lunches/breakfast (since I am eating wheat-free/paleo-ish/#lessprocessed breakfasts and lunches are almost interchangeable)
Leftovers
Big ol’ chef salad
Carrot soup
Chicken sausage, roasted sweet potatoes
eggs and pork roll

Snacks:
Grapes, apples, bananas
Roasted chick peas
Hardboiled eggs
Salami & cheese & pepper tray

Workouts:
Yoga, yoga, yoga~ since my back and my neck have been bugging me, I need yoga this week!

I have some plans and I am prepared for the first part of this week. I feel good. I feel the progress I am making.

heat, cookies, headaches, #lessprocessed

• no heat – until Super Storm Sandy blew into town, it had been warm around here. Warm enough to not need a coat and warm enough to not need heat. After Sandy, and our power came back on, we decided it was time to turn the heat on for the first time. We opened all the windows in preparation of the stink of starting a forced air, gas heater for the first time in many, many months. We turned the heater on and NOTHING happened. We tried to relight the pilot to no avail.
• We had a friend (who is more lie family) come and check it out and he thought it could just be a cheap part. They tried – NO GO. So it is not going to be a quick, easy fix. Instead we are looking at a minimum of a $400 part plus labor costs because my friend is not a heating guy and does not feel comfortable to do the bigger job.
• On the up-side, the weatherman says its going to warm up this weekend.
• On the not-up-side (well, besides broken heater), I have been keeping my eating under control this week. For the most part. I have not exercised, only stretching here and there, and normally that would push me straight to eating like crap. Not this week. This week, I made the best choices I could!
• Until the cookies came out. I am trying to eat mainly wheat-free (not eating  the big wheat stuff – pastas, breads, cookies, etc but I am not obsessing whether my soy sauce has gluten in it) and I have been doing pretty good with it. However, I am not perfect. My husband went to the store and came home with snickerdoodle cookies. I didn’t even know they were in the house. The other night, AJ microwaved the cookies and the whole house smelled wonderful. I tried to resist but I have no control.  I ate 4 cookies – ok, not the end of the world. I can move on.
• Until I woke up yesterday. The morning after the 4 cookies. I woke up with such a headache and a bellyache. And my joints were achy. OK, the achy joints may be from the lack of heat in my house or the way I slept. But, the belly and headaches that lasted ALL day…definite side effects of sugar and wheat. Nothing like clear cut, physical evidence of how my body does not like wheat or sugar or the combo
• There has been a TON of talk around the interwebz about different diets and challenges – paleo, #unprocessed, #whole30, clean eating…blah, blah, blah….and I have been struggling with this stuff. However, my good friend Roni (you know the one, that awesome chica who created Fitbloggin) has been tweeting #lessprocessed because super strict unproccessed did not completely work for her. I totally get it totally unprocessed is un-doable for me, at least for now. But for now, is the only time frame I can think about.
• I do not want to diet. I want to lose weight and be healthier, but I do not want to diet. The last time I truly dieted, I lost 60ish pounds but then went back to normal eating (plus an injury) and gained most of it back. I don’t want to do that again. I hate to sound so cliche but I really want to make permanent, lasting, lifestyle changes. I don’t want food or exercise to be the enemy or a punishment. I want to enjoy it all.
• I want to enjoy life. I already do but I want more. More joy, more fun and just more out of life.

• I have also decided for now, I want to blog more often (it’s good for my head) . I may blog in bullet points forever – it really matches my rambly brain these days!
• What do you want?!?

making plans monday

Meal Plans

Dinners:

Sunday: sweet and sour beef soup
Monday: sirloin, zucchini pancakes and cucumber & tomato salad
Tuesday: lemon and artichoke chicken*
Wednesday: beef stew/ pot pie
Thursday: chicken cacciatore
Friday:  grilled chicken topped with roastedred peppers and pepper jackcheese /sandwich/ and salad
Saturday: flank with peppers and onions*

Breakfasts/ lunches/ snacks
pork roll & eggs
swirly crustless quiche*
banana “pancakes”
Roasted chickpeas
Homemade plum applesauce
Leftover s&sbeef soup

 

*recipe from Practical Paleo

 

Workouts:
3 yoga practices
3 2-mile walks
3 girl-heroes kb workouts

 

more learning

Lately, I have been evaluating myself, paying more attention and slowing down to let in emotions and really see and feel what is going on with me. I am very much a work in progress and this feels so new to me but I have learned many things!

•  I have so much patience with just about everything and every one other than myself and my weight loss journey.  I want things to happen. NOW.
• but I am working on patience with this journey. The more I slow down, the more I am able to see and feel what I need and want.
• I am so insanely scatterbrained. I tend to start a lot of projects, challenges, bandwagon, etc. Problem is I rarely finish.
• I have to really, really focus in order to finish and work on one thing at a time. Case in point, yesterday I was cleaning and organizing my room. A very messy project because I have started many times, but gone to do something else before really finishing. Yesterday, I finished! I ONLY worked on my room. And, it looks good!
• I need to do this more often! No wonder, stuff like blogging takes forever….I get distracted and check twitter or facebook or whatever.
• I work better if I take baby steps but those steps need to lead somewhere. I am working on my eating habits, bite by bite, so that one day, I don’t have to think about making healthy choices. But the healthy choices are second natures, the automatic choices. Weightloss will come as my healthy choices become healthy habits. On the workout, physical activity, I need goals there too. A reason, that is not weight loss related but something to work towards.  I need structure, a plan, something on each calendar day.   I also need something to work towards that is a bit less rigid. And I know exactly what I want! (Vague, I know, but coming soon!)
• I have been seeing a lot of twitter noise about paleo, whole foods, #whole30, unprocessed, and I am sure there are more. I am learning a lot and I have found that I feel better when I eat mainly wheat free. But I don’t want to go wheat-free crazy – I have decided it is not important for me to go nuts about buying gluten free soy sauce and ketchup. I have also decided that occasionally I will use regular bread crumbs or flour (not almond or coconut or another super expensive alternative) and I have a few reasons for that: first there is my budget – those other flours or wheat alternatives can be quite expensive and second, I don’t want to replace wheat with alternatives, for the most part I want to eliminate wheat. Pastas, breads, cakes and brownies (and more) are huge triggers for me. I am sure whatever flour is used, I am going to eat more than I need. It is better to just not have them.
• 80/20 or #lessprocessed – a hashtag I saw tweeted by Roni – I like this one. I am not ready to go 100% paleo (what is wrong with beans or potatoes?!) or unprocessed (right now, I am not willing to give up my coffeemate) but I am baby-stepping my way to eating much cleaner. I know on those days of better food choices I sleep better and wake feeling lighter.
• I am a work in progress and I am going to enjoy the adventure of getting to know myself a little bit better.
• Weekends are very easy to “screw up” – I need to be better prepared to spend all day with the husband for football Sunday. I allow the potato chips in the house and I all myself to eat them. I have no business eating one, single potato chip!!  Wanna know why?!? Because, I have no off switch with potato chips just like I have no off switch when it comes to brownies or bread. Next weekend, I will make sweet potato chips (I am pretty sure I saw a recipe on pinterest) and I will have veggies cut up!
• I need more yoga in my life. I have only been averaging 1-2 practices a week. But each time, I finish a dvd I am amazed at how my body and my soul feel.
• I need to do my workouts at school, before I come home. And, Q is fine without me for an hour and AJ will survive too. I can still be home in plenty of time to make a fantastic dinner. And AJ and Q can help out around the house and with dinner workings a bit more – I do not have to do it all.
• A bunch of my friends have told me I have to think of my journey, and do what is best for me. My family will follow along or do their own thing but I can make it easy or hard on myself. Before, I was making it hard on myself. I was letting negativity steer me and my food choices.  I was not compromises, I was caving. Now,  I am going to work on eating what makes me happy. Everything will work itself out.

 

Always learning.

Making progress!!

 

helping hands

It is Saturday and it is cold and my room is a MESS.

I started straightening up.

Then it hit me…summer really is over and winter is quickly approaching.

I have been in complete denial.

Clothes must me switched out. There are so many clothes I don’t fit in or don’t like or don’t fit. I started to weed through the clothes and made a few piles – trash, keep, and goodwill.

Then I realized, I have shoes…mainly sneakers, I don’t/can’t wear anymore. I have more clothes than I can wear. I mean really need 64 oversized tee shirts?!?

Anyhooo….

I decided to make a pile of “stuff” to take over to the Atlantic City Rescue Mission.  The Rescue Mission helps feed, clothe and house homeless all year long. They do a really great service. With so many people still displaced from SuperStorm Sandy, they need help.

I put this up on my facebook page:

“I am in the process of cleaning out my closet and drawers, putting my summer clothes away and bringing down sweaters and other winter clothes. I am organizing AND purging out wintery things to donate to AC Rescue Mission”

And a few people commented that they have things they could send to me.

It got me thinking…

I can help!

I can ask YOU, all of my wonderful readers and friends…can you raid your closet and drawers and attics and basements and donate anything you don’t need.

• warm clothing (kids and adults)
• blankets
• towels, washclothes
• coats
• gloves, hats, socks
• shoes

I am working on the logistics of this – but if you have something you want to send me to donate to the AC Rescue Mission email me at listenlearnlovemend@gmail.com

OR

if you have the ability and want, donate monetarily directly to the Atlantic City Rescue Mission

 

THANK YOU!

SuperStorm Sandy blew into town….

Today was my first day back to school after the storm. Seriously, this was a HUGE storm but our governor was so on top of things. We were under house arrest Sunday, Monday and part of Tuesday. My neighborhood was without power for 30ish hours. SuperStorm Sandy cause a lot of damage, A LOT, only a few miles from my house over on the barrier islands.  I know we lucked out big time. That being said it was rainy, windy and cold. Two different storm systems met and combined with high tides and full moon, it was nasty.  There was a travel ban so no leaving the house until Tuesday. We had no power until Tuesday late night.

Wednesday was for recovery and return to normal and clean up from the mess. We lost a few shingles off our roof (we still have to get someone on the roof to truly assess the damage, we hope not a lot) and had some water in the basement (old house, basement gets water) and we lost power. And I have a 90-pound princess with four legs and she happens to have no problem with  the rain. Many, towels and blankets to be washed. And many mud prints and just plain dirt to be picked up, wiped up or vaccumed up. Now, I know I am a hot mess in the kitchen, but dang, I made a mess finishing my chicken dinner in the dark (that could probably be its own blog post, but you know the power went out as soon as dinner was in the oven).

I cleaned a lot in this little house of mine yesterday.

Then school today.

I am so tired.

And self-realizations

I think handling the storm and lack of power would have been easier if I was more consistent in my physical activity. Scratch that. I know it would be easier if I was already in a routine. Right now, I am sporadic at best. That changes RIGHT NOW. After I post this, I am going to do some yoga before bed!!
It also, couldn’t hurt if I was more consistent in my good eating. No wheat for me. I am convinced I feel better mentally and sort of physically lighter when I don’t eat wheat and sweets. I was starting to get a grip on this. When we lost power, I sort of lost control of my eating. Total anxiety eating, But prior to losing power I was not eating out of stuck-in-house-boredom. So the storm is over and I have no need for anxious eating. I will have an apple for dessert! I do have some yummy honey crisps!!

I realize I handle anxiety and stress so much better when I am eating better and working out regularly. I even see a connection between my scatterbrainedness and distractedness. When I eat right and work out, I tend to stay on task easier. I tend to do one thing at a time instead of starting 6 things before I finish one.

Know when I realized all this…when I finally made myself throw in a yoga dvd after a long day of cleaning.

 

AwesomER Jen Challenge!! 

So, October is over and I made GREAT strides towards my goals.

• I logged my food and activity 27 of 31 days (not bad since 2 of those days I was without power…HA).
• I moved more – not very strictly every day for 30 minutes, but I was more conscious of moving. This month, I get in even more of a swing in the physical fitness area of life…more on this in a post coming your way very soon!
• I stopped myself from thinking negative thoughts about myself. I am a work in progress and while I want to make changes, I in no way hate myself and I need to be nicer to myself. In fact, my new motto with myself is “talk to myself the way I would talk to my BFF” (except I don’t really have a BFF unless you count AJ and he is but that sounds so corny)

Guess what?!?

 

I am not done being AwesomER!

I still have work to do!

I am READY for the work!

HELL, I am looking forward to the work.

I have BIG dreams.

And AwesomER is only the beginning!!