Life is Short Make it Count. #17

Well, these are quickly turning into monthly updates but I'm okay with that because I'm all about not stressing myself out over the small things. :)

I'll try to pick up here I left off in this one...For the July 4th holiday, we just stayed at home. We were going to go to the mountains/lake but the weather wasn't so great so we stayed put. On Saturday Scott's mom, sister, brother in law, niece, and nephew came over for a big fireworks show in our neighborhood. The rain delayed the show a little bit but we still had a great time! Some of Scott's co-workers also came over so we had a full house. Sunday through Tuesday we just got some stuff done around the house and went to the pool for a few hours. We met a lot of people on our street so I'm glad we decided to stay home.

They had food trucks for the fireworks show and we actually ended up eating twice because we were there so long and we were still hungry! I ordered the chicken fajita tacos and Scott ordered BBQ. A few hours later we split an order of BBQ nachos (not pictured but delicious!). We also tried out this canned wine we found at Trader Joes a few weeks ago and it was actaully really good!

We had friends over on Sunday and grilled out. We made the usual: lean mean cheeseburgers (with bison), zesty grilled chicken, sweet-sweet potato cubes, and brussels sprouts (recipe coming soon!).

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We have only been hiking once since our last update (on June 30). It's just toooooo hot down here now. We did Blood Mountain again. We had actually planned to go to the Smokies but we didn't wake up in time. We default to Blood Mountain because it's only an hour from our house and it's the highest peak on the Georgia section of the Appalachian Trail. Fun fact: my dad, who is in his 60s and has had triple bypass heart surgery, hiked over 1,200 miles of the Appalachian Trail!

Hiking Blood Mountain on the Appalachian Trail in Georgia

About a week ago the camera on my phone just quit working. I didn't drop it, get water in it or anything but every time I tried to take a picture it was very blurry and shaky. It worked on selfie mode but I actually hate selfies so I never use that anyway! I was finally able to get it fixed last week. I lost everything on my phone (most of the pictures I was able to save). I'm not the kind of person who freaks out about my phone so it honestly didn't bother me that much. Many of the pictures I was able to save were from our hiking trip last fall and I JUST posted the recap of the first part of our trip...I am just a little late! Here is the link to read more about our hiking adventures in Kootenay and Banff National Parks. I also messed up our He and She Eat Clean email somehow so if you've emailed us and you are waiting on a response, I'm sorry! I combined H&S email with my personal email and it's just a HUGE mess right now!

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Last weekend we were in Florida for a family reunion for Scott's family. We arrived late Thursday night because we left after Scott got off work and we were only there through Sunday. We had an awesome weekend between the resort, beach, pools, the guys playing golf, and just hanging out with family. Full disclosure that Marriott Sawgrass put Scott and me up for free. This was the same resort that we went to last year with his family.

I will do a full trip recap/review soon but below is a picture that I posted a few days ago on Instagram and Facebook, with the same caption I used.

At first I didn't want to post this but it's the only picture we took together. We just got back (at 4 am this morning to be exact) from a very short 2-day trip to the beach for a family reunion. - We didn't do any "extra" workouts just because we were going to the beach. - We didn't live in a box for 4 weeks before and only eat fish & veggies - We didn't spend every moment before going worrying about getting a "beach body"

Have we been leaner? Yes. Could we have "leaned out" for this trip if we wanted? Yes. Could we have "forgotten" our swimsuits so we could avoid the beach altogether? Yes.

But what exactly does that add to our lives? A few pics with abs popping on the beach?! It's not worth it to us. We have a healthy balance of working out & eating a healthy diet. We also skip workouts and eat pizza & ice cream occasionally.

I love the beach because there are so many different body types there. You might be self-conscious but honestly, no one is really paying attention & if they do have a problem with you, it's really a problem they have internally. Don't be the person who wears pants & long sleeves for fear of their body (I know there are some medical reasons one might have to do this). Definitely don't be the one who skips trips completely because you aren't comfortable with your body.

Your life is RIGHT NOW - not next month, year, or next "swimsuit season" when you have the "perfect body". From experience I can say that it doesn't matter how little the number is on your clothing or how small the number is on the scale, you will STILL pick yourself apart. Be free & start living today. 

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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.

Life is Short Make it Count. #16

SURPRISE! We climbed Blood Mountain again.

We had really nice weather (cooler and low humidity) this week after a very rainy week so we decided to take advantage of it and went on a hike after Scott got off work on Wednesday too. With these long days, we still have time to squeeze in shorter hikes after he gets off! We were actually going to go up to Blood Mountain again but decided to go to Tallulah Gorge instead! It's been years since we visited this state park, mainly because it is very busy on the weekends but we only saw a few other people out there the evening we went! A few years ago me, my sister, and my friend did the Tallulah Gorge floor hike which was AMAZING. It's pretty dangerous and they only allow a certain number of people on it each day (and you have to listen to a safety class first!). There's a sliding rock at the end of the trail that we had fun sliding into a large body of water - it was pretty scary too! You can ready about that hike here.

I posted the picture below on Instagram. The trail we took was 1,099 steps to get this picture! I used to not post as many hiking/adventure pictures as I do now. I'm not really sure why I didn't but I want to show you that not all exercise has to be in a gym and it doesn't even have to feel like exercise. You don't have to run yourself into the ground running multiple miles each day or doing a ton of plyometrics. Find something that you love! We will definitely be back to do the Gorge Floor trail again soon.

Besides our hikes, I took a few yoga/pilates classes and did most of the workouts from the She Sweats Extreme workout plan. I've been having neck problems. I believe they started after we went to Six Flags MONTHS ago, then we moved, and they've just been lingering. I went to the chiropractor and had a few massages, both of which helped a lot but the pain would still come and go. So last week I went and had my neck needled, it was an instant relief. The pain went away completely for a few days and has recently started coming back but from what I understand it could take awhile for it to completely go away. To make a long story short, I've been having to kind of take it easy with some of my moves in order to not strain my neck anymore.

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I TOOK A FOOD PREP PICTURE! I think it has been about six months since I remembered to snap a pic even though we've done food prep pretty much every week.

We made:

• Zesty Grilled Onion
• Lean Mean Cheeseburgers (made with bison from Costco)
• Riced Cauliflower (from Costco)
• Sweet-Sweet Potato Cubes
• Balsamic Grilled Chicken (recipe coming soon!)

And I also remembered to take a picture of our Costco purchases!

Visit this link for our shopping lists and this link for ways to save money grocery shopping.

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. #15

One of these days I'll get back to truly making these weekly updates again. ;-) For now, the above quote sounds about right. And, like I do every single month, I'm asking myself how it's already the middle/end of June...

Since our last update, we went up to my late aunt's lake house (the one that passed away the day before Thanksgiving) to celebrate my cousin Trent getting married! They had their wedding in Utah (where Kaitlyn is from) and a reception here in Georgia. I went up early to help set up, spend time with family, and spend time relaxing at the lake. Me and some of my cousins even had a game of whiffle ball Saturday night - it was so much fun and now I'm obsessed. Maybe I'll start a league in our new neighborhood. Oh, and my uncle has land in Hayesville, NC and there is currently a tiny home model home parked on it...and it's for sale...stay tuned. :) I posted pictures of it on Instagram Stories and Snapchat (hesheeatclean) but didn't save any on my phone so I don't have any to share right now but I will next time I go up!

P.S. Trent is a photographer in West Yellowstone, Montana. Yes, MONTANA...our favorite state! Check out his gorgeous shots!

I didn't take many pics but I did take a selfie with my sis!

I just LOVED this dessert table! The floral arrangement is one from their wedding ceremony in Utah and the banana pudding is adorable in those glasses.

We had a great time but it was also hard too. As many of you know, my beloved aunt was taken off life support the day before Thanksgiving last year. She was more than just an aunt to me, she lived next door to me growing up (yes, all of my family lived next to each other), and acted more like a grandmother after mine passed away. She spent a lot of her time in the mountains and this was the first time we walked into her house without her being there. It was tough and even makes me cry just typing this up right now. Below is the picture and text I shared on my personal Instagram and Facebook.

I've missed this place but now I miss the person who used to be here even more. It just isn't the same. Scott and her "arguing" over politics or the economy (really he just said stuff to get her going), the black and white movies playing in the background, looking at MORE land in the mountains to buy, her nursing some poor animal back to health, driving all of the grandkids around in the golf cart, and grilling out for anyone and everyone who came over.

The problem is you think you have time. If you only knew how much those little moments with you mattered to me. A thousand moments I took for granted because I assumed there would be a thousand more.

"Perhaps they are not stars but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones shines down to let us know they are happy."

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On the way home from the Lake Chatuge, Scott and I hiked...you guessed it...Blood Mountain! We just love the mountain, the workout, and the people we meet on it. I posted this on Instagram but I like to also share these posts here. Tip: If you want cheese dip and chips...get it but get the smallest portion. After our hikes we usually share a side (side, not cup!) of cheese dip and chips. Restaurants (like Willy's, Moes, and Chipotle) give each person way more than one serving of chips. Ask for just one serving if you are with someone else (or none) and share! It's kind of like sweets, you don't need as much as you think to satisfy a craving.

RELATED: 5 Chipotle Hacks 

Last Friday night we were actually driving up to hike Blood Mountain again but there was a storm RIGHT on the mountain. We decided that probably wasn't a good idea so we just kept driving and ended up hiking at Amicalola Falls State Park. It has been quite a few years since we visited and we had forgotten how gorgeous it was! We've had a lot of rain lately so the waterfall was HUGE. We took the trail that was 600 steps to the top of the waterfall and we took the wooded trail back to the trailhead.

In between all of the hiking, I'm still doing the She Sweats Extreme 4-Week Shred! And still loving it. P.S. I extended the entry for the challenge too - you have until Friday, June 23rd to enter! Get more details here. If you are reading this after June 23rd you can still do the workout plan (or one of our many others!).

How could I forget about the project we completed?! I absolutely love it! More pics and tutorial coming soon!

Be sure to follow us on the following social media accounts (and snapchat under hesheeatclean) and also sign up for our newsletter so you never miss anything!

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.