Life is Short Make it Count. #23

I've always loved the quote above but it really rings true after the horrible act of violence/terrorism in Las Vegas Sunday night.

• Quit saying "yes" to things you don't want to do.
• Spend time with the ones you love.
• Do what makes you happy.
• Quit obsessing over things that do not matter.
• Live your life.

Interested in donating to the Las Vegas Victims' Fund? Click here.

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Well, we are obviously back from Colorado (I'm working on finishing up the trip recap!). Getting back was an adventure itself. When we landed back in Atlanta Saturday night, we walked to the shuttle to ride to Park N Fly (where we always park!). I was looking for the ticket that shows where we parked and we realized we had someone else's bag. This bag is not black and is not your standard looking bag! Scott ran the bag all the way back up to the airport (this isn't that short of a walk). The lady must have grabbed ours but turned around and came back to the airport. After waiting for her and finally getting that sorted out we headed home. We use Waze (the GPS app) and it told us about a terrible accident on 85 that had all lanes closed. I tried to exit where it told me but ended up back on the highway (not used to the area!) in the traffic. However, we also have Peach Pass so we worked our way over to the Peach Pass lane and never even really had to slow down while the other lanes were backed up for miles. I couldn't help but think that if we had our suitcase and left on time, we could have been involved in that accident. You never know, but it could have been a blessing in disguise.

Since we've been back, besides working on the website, I'm back to coaching Playball and volunteering with Girls on the Run. A few weeks before we went out of town I started coaching for Girls on the Run. I'm loving it so far! If you have daughters, check to see if there is a chapter near you! It's an excellent girls empowerment program.

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Workouts

After getting back into the groove of being home, working, etc. we had mountain withdrawals so this past Saturday we headed up to Pisgah National Forest in Brevard, NC. We did two hikes, Art Loeb Trail and also Looking Glass Rock Trail. This wasn't our first time on either trail but both trails were considerably more crowded than we remember. Hiking is a very popular sport now it seems.

Our workout during our trip was hiking (obviously!). The Monday after we got home I started doing the She Sweats 12-Week Transformation. I AM IN LOVE AGAIN. I can't tell you how good it feels to be lifting again. I haven't truly lifted to my fullest potential in months because of stress, our move, hurting my neck, and signing up for a 6-week boot camp. Boot camp is great for some people but it definitely isn't for me. I took Sunday off after we got back and have been on track with the workout plan ever since starting last Monday. Normally when I do this workout plan I'll start on week 5 but I started from week 1 this time since I feel like I've lost so much muscle over the last year. I was so sore last week...my arms, chest, and legs!

I'm having to flip-flop some days because of hiking or other commitments that I have but I'm completing each workout as listed during the week listed!

In case you've missed it, we do have a challenge going on right now for the She Sweats 12-Week Transformation. Learn more about it here. Disclaimer: The plan is a download you receive via email, the picture below is of something that my sister had made for me (the workout plan in book form!).

Nutrition

Like I mentioned, we came back late Saturday night. We took Sunday to grocery shop and prep some food for the week ahead. We made Bison Chili and Grilled Orange Chicken. Our eating out consisted of Zoes Kitchen and Pescados Burritos (after our hikes!).

I've been meaning to share this for months now but I always forget! We always get questions about hiking nutrition. I'll do a more in-depth post on this soon but NOW Foods sent us their BCAA Big 6 to try (DISCLAIMER: We were sent the product for free. All opinions are ours.). We have tried both the grape (which smells like bubble gum!) and watermelon. They both taste excellent. BCAA Big 6 is caffeine-free and aids in recovery from intense exercise. It's perfect after our hikes. We just add water and the powder to a blender bottle and drink it up!

You can read more about and purchase NOW Foods products (including the BCAA Big 6) here on Amazon or browse NOW Foods products here. They have so many products! Things like the maple syrup, sugarless sugar, supplements, and even delicious energy/trail mixes!

Until next week, have a good one! Let us know if you ever have any questions or comments! I've loved hearing from you about the updates! Click here to read all of our updates.

Life is Short Make it Count. #22

Life has been INSANE lately. We are currently in Colorado on our hiking trip. As you probably know, we were supposed to going to Washington and Oregon. Those states are and have been devasted by wildfires and/or wildfire smoke. We made the decision to change our plans since the air quality was so bad. We changed our flights to go to New Hampshire and Maine instead. Since it was so last minute, we were having a hard time finding any affordable lodging in Maine this time of year. There were only a few options near where we wanted to hike and they were way out of our price range. So, we ended up changing our flights again to fly into Denver (really the only place out west we could find that didn't have terrible air quality). We decided we would hike near Aspen and drive up to Wyoming to hike. Now they are calling for quite a bit of snow in Wyoming so we will see if that portion of the trip actually pans out. No matter what happens we will make an adventure out of it!

While all of this was going on, Hurricane Irma was on the way. As you know, it devasted every place that it touched - Georgia included. We live in NE Georgia, about an hour outside of Atlanta. At our house we got a lot of rain and really high winds but no damage, thankfully and we also only lost power for a few hours. We actually had a few of our neighbors over to play games and we ate chili (this recipe) and cookie cake! There are still many people in North Georgia without power! While we didn't experience the devastation that many other states did, a huge tree did fall on my uncle's house. No one was injured as it hit the carport and deck area but it's still heartbreaking. This is the house that my grandparents lived in until they passed and it has been in my family forever. This weather with the wildfires, hurricanes, and flooding lately is frightening! We are so thankful to the first responders, linemen, and others who go into harms way when disasters like this occur. If you have experienced anything from these storms and need any assistance please reach out to us! We donate through charities but would love to help any of our readers who need it, if we can!

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Nutrition

We've been all over the place. Since we were planning on leaving earlier to go on our trip we didn't have any food in our house so we had to eat out more than normal. We went to a place near us called Diablos (similar to Moes and Chipotle). Since a lot of you ask what we order here, we typically order similar to what we do at Moes or Chipotle. You can read about our order here and also some tips when you do order! We also ate at Zoes Kitchen. We forgot how good it was! I was very impressed with my salad (and the salad dressing) and Scott loved his power bowl too!

Zoes Kitchen's Greek Dressing has an impressive lack of ingredients!

Workouts

Can I just say that I am SO EXCITED to start the She Sweats 12-Week Transformation when we get back home?! While it's good to change up your style of workout occasionally, I have discovered that I love (and my body respond the best to) weight lifting workouts. I plan on taking a few days off when we get home and then going into the transformation plan which will take me until the end of the year! I don't think I've ever been so excited to start a workout plan.

On Sunday (the day before the tropical storm hit us) we were going to drive up to North Carolina to hike but we got about an hour from our house and realized both of us forgot our wallets! We wouldn't have enough gas to get back without needing them so we turned around and headed to Blood Mountain, we got almost all the way there and decided we just weren't feeling it. We went home so we could finish planning our trip and decided to go back to Blood Mountain and hike that evening. I'm glad we did because it was beautiful and a great warm-up hike for our trip! Now that I look at my pictures, we've done Blood Mountain twice since I last posted. I guess it's officially our go-to hike!

Home Updates

We made some of our own artwork and one of my friends made some signs for us too! Our house is coming together and taking on a mind of its own with the travel/adventure theme! I'll do a tutorial on these DIY Canvas signs soon!

Below is a picture of all of the signs my friend, Sarah, made us. She did a fantastic job and even Rambo loves them! If you want one of these signs or want her to make a custom one, contact her. She does great work and has a great heart! :) She's on Etsy under lilrusticseastar, here is a link.

Until next week, have a good one! Let us know if you ever have any questions or comments! I've loved hearing from you about the updates! Click here to read all of our updates.

Life is Short Make it Count. #21

We're having hiking withdrawals. We haven't been hiking since August 5th when we went to the Smokies! I've been trail running with friends a few times but it's still not the same. We probably won't be able to go this upcoming weekend either because the weather looks terrible but that could always change. We do leave for our two-week hiking trip next Friday but we're still looking to squeeze in a hike or two here before we leave.

On Sunday (August 20th) we were going to travel to North Carolina to my uncle's house and I was going to stay the night to watch the eclipse but we decided to not go and deal with traffic. Neither one of us were in the mood and I'm glad we didn't go! Traffic was a nightmare in North Georgia and we had a pretty good viewpoint from where we live. Although it wasn't totality, I had fun with my neighbors and Scott was able to see it at work.

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Workouts

On August 19th I ran a 5K with some of my neighbor-friends. I didn't decide to run it until the morning of because I wasn't sure if we were going out of town or not. It was an 80s themed race. We did the best we could with our outfits with it being last minute but they were not as 80s as they could have been! I had a pony/unicorn thing on my socks with rainbow hair that tickled me when I ran. I also didn't make the best decision to wear capris in August in Georgia. Oh well. I did it and I finished first in my age group! Actually, everyone in our group placed. It was a blast! I was proud of myself and everyone else too!

Other than the race, I'm still going to boot camp and walking with my friends. Sometimes we run but we at least walk daily. I went to the gym with Scott last Saturday and really enjoyed lifting weights like I normally do. I like boot camp but I can't wait to get back in and start lifting heavy again. When we get back from our trip I'm going to start the She Sweats 12-Week Transformation which will take me basically into the new year!

Home Updates

We had our new shadow boxes/chair railing painted and had the living room painted an accent color. While the painters were here I decided to also have them paint under our island and the inside of our front door. We are in love! As you can see, our design is just kind of all over the place but we love it. The pictures from our travels are basically all over our walls and it just took on an outdoor adventure type theme. It fits us perfectly!

The inside of the front door being painted is literally my favorite thing ever. I never knew that I would love painting a door so much! You can see that Rambo and Lucky love it too!

I posted these pictures on Instagram Stories and a few people asked me about the colors. The main wall color is Agreeable Gray by Sherwin Williams and the dark gray we had painted is Gauntlet Gray also by Sherwin Williams.

This past weekend we finally make some of the art that I've been eyeing for months! The wall next to our fireplace needed something on it. We couldn't really ever agree on anything but once I saw a picture on Pinterest I knew that we had to have it! Plus, I've been wanting to paint something and do some of the artwork ourselves. It looks great with the new dark gray walls and hides the switch for the fireplace. I'll do a tutorial on it soon!

These updates are getting longer and longer because I've been slacking on sharing them! But I have one more update and it's a yummy one! Honestly, I don't follow or watch boxing, I don't like to see people get hit or hurt. However, we went over to our neighbors to watch the fight on Saturday night. A lot of the 'hood came over and we had a great time! We took over pistachios and finally made brownies with the mix that Now Foods sent over a few months ago.

Disclaimer: NOW Foods sent us the mix for free to try out!

I didn't tell anyone they were "healthy" because I wanted to see what the reaction would be. Everyone who tried one loved them! They were all gone, with many people eating multiple. I was waiting for the right time to try them because I knew if I made them for just me and Scott that we would eat them all ourselves and I definitely didn't want to do that. I'm glad they were put to good use and lots of our neighbors are now Now Foods Organic Chocolate Fudge Brownie Mix Fans! All you have to do is add an egg, hot water, and oil (we used olive oil). It contains no artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners or hydrogenated oils. It is also made without the 8 major common allergens!

You can buy the brownie mix here and try for yourself!

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Until next week, have a good one! Let us know if you ever have any questions or comments! I've loved hearing from you about the updates! Click here to read all of our updates.