today i am THANKFUL

Thankful.

That is all I can say right now. 

It has just been one of those days that I literally just want to jump up and down and do my happy dance. My job has not been so great lately, but the last week has been fabulous. On top of that I get to spend the next three days with some of my co-workers that are more like family.

AND even better than all of that, I finally feel like doors are opening for certain things in my life. I have been praying and researching a couple of different things that could really change my future and today I had my first meeting that is leading me in, what I feel, is the right direction. Luckily, my mom also has great connections so that helps a lot too. :)

I know we are called to praise God even on our bad days, and I truly try my best, but days like today make it SO easy. I am so thankful and so excited to see where things go!! It is amazing where God leads you when you simply give turn things over to Him!

It's Go Time!!

So, with 205 days and 17 hours until I set sail for Mexico and my 24th Birthday, I have decided it is really time to buckle down and make this healthy living thing a bigger part of my life. I started back to the gym in early December, and I've lost a little weight, but I'll just be completely honest. I am large and in charge. A little weight is good, but I need to lose A LOT of weight. I always have been bigger and quite frankly, I'm over it.

I've got the working out down, but the whole prepping meals and eating regularly has been difficult. I'm on the road a lot for work so eating breakfast and then eating every 3ish hours has been hard. BUT tonight I FINALLY sat down and planned out my meal plan for the entire next week AND I went grocery shopping! The hard part is done!!

So, now that that is all out in the open, this will be my place to be held accountable! I can do this!!

Ya see! I bought groceries!!!

My new favorite thing! Kale chips! Yummo!

its kinda cold.

I feel like the movie Frozen threw up all over Arkansas over the last week. Thank God it has slowly...and I mean VERY slowly melted away, but for a few days it was absolutely miserable around here. I was without electricity for three days. THREE DAYS! I mean, I'm pretty good at roughing it, but three days in below freezing weather was intense. We had an abundance of ice (the pictures here are after the ice had been melting away for a few days) so leaving the house was virtually impossible. After weather reports that we could possibly get up to 10 inches of snow yesterday into this morning, we woke up with no snow but rather a beautiful glimpse at the sun. I hadn't seen it in so long I might have done a happy dance!

One very positive thing about being stuck inside (on the days that I did have electricity) is that I was able to officially plan my 24th birthday cruise! This year I will be spending my birthday in Mexico!! I absolutely cannot wait...and thoughts of the warm beach makes these horribly cold days a little more tolerable! (Let me go ahead and start the count down...206 days and 16 hours until sailing!)

I'm puppy sitting for a friend right now so my sweet Maylie had a cuddle buddy!

After we could get out and about I had to go visit my grandparents. Their home is absolutely beautiful in the snow!

BL Finale Time

Ok, I know I'm not the only one who watched Biggest Loser tonight and went from excited to sad in 0.2 seconds.

I have a always been a huge fan of the show. I loved that the contestants were learning how to be healthy first and foremost. The finale has always been my favorite because I am so absolutely encouraged by the transformations. HOWEVER, this years was a disappointment. All of the at home contestants looked fabulous. I also thought David looked great! I just don't even know what to say to describe how sad Rachel and even Bobby, to an extent, made me feel.

I have never seen a finale contestant look so absolutely unhealthy. I think the thing that bothers me most about Bobby is that he wasn't satisfied with 170 lbs. That worries me. He was a big guy! 170 lbs is awesome (and maybe even on the skinny end).

Rachel is an entirely different story. I hate to even comment on this because I know if I had been the one to lose all of that weight I would want everyone to be happy for me. And I am happy that she was able to have this experience. I am happy that she learned what it takes to get healthy. I'm sad, though, that the competition and/or money seems to have driven her to a very unhealthy weight/appearance.

She is such a beautiful girl and seemed like a truly sweet person. I pray things only look up for her and she can learn to use her new platform in a healthy way for herself and each person she encounters.