March Goals and a 30 Before 30 Update

Needless to say I jumped off the blogging train for awhile!  Instead of boring y'all with tales of the frozen tundra known as Michigan, we'll just jump right in with something new.  Shay is one of my favorite bloggers.  She's funny, creative, and not to mention gorgeous!  One of my favorite posts that she writes is her Monthly Goals.  She writes goals about her home, photography business, fitness, marriage, etc.  Since moving up north I have found myself to be a little unfocused on my goals so I have decided to jump on Shay's bandwagon and start setting monthly goals for myself.  And since I seem to struggle with regular posts on this here blog, why not share them with you?

March Goals

Work out 5X a week

Re-focus my budget using the cash envelop system

Write at least 5 blog posts

Contact someone about a blog design

Keep the house clean by cleaning a little each day

Plan 2 romantic dates with Michigan

I like this goal setting plan so much that I even talked Casey into setting some with me that pertain to our relationship.  We have a date tonight to get these started.

Since my 30 birthday is creeping around the corner, I thought I'd let you guys know where I stand with my 30 Before 30 list.

30 Before 30

1.     Run a 5K (Running the Color Run on April 12)

2.     Take a class at a paint/wine place (need to do this)

3.     Take a cooking class (need to do this)

4.     Gain at least 30 blog readers/followers (I'm at 5 so if you're reading this just click the follow button to your right, thanks!)

5.     Pay off my credit card debt (Almost done)

6.     Do a 3-5 day juice cleanse (you can read about my 3 day cleanse here)

7.     Take a spin class (done and now I'm addicted!  I go twice a week)

8.     Volunteer for a program that works with special needs children (need to do this)

9.     Go to a college football game (Done; Actually my sweet friend Sheana reminded me that the 2 of us had gone to a USC game when I lived in L.A! My memory is shot)

10. Visit a vineyard and drink wine (you can read about my trip here)

11. Write a blog entry about Katie and her legacy (still need to do this)

12. Buy both parents something nice that they’d never buy for themselves (I think I did this at Christmas)

13.  Find a job that I enjoy and gives me fulfillment (found a great job)

14. Be content with my body in a bikini (ugh, STILL working on this)

15. Send out 1 handwritten card once a week for a month (need to do this)

16. Take Michigan to a big country concert (need to do this; gotta find the time to do this)

17. Learn how to make good ol Southern Fried Chicken (need to do this)

18. Make a double car payment (need to do this)

19. Finish reading The Secret (starting again tonight)

20. Learn how to make the perfect Bloody Mary (done, if I do say so myself)

21. Learn how to budget my income (working on this)

22. Visit a brewery (done)

23. Go to a pumpkin patch and carve punkins for our house (done but without the carving)

24. Cook 1 new recipe a week for 1 month (need to do this)

25. Not spend any money for 5 days (who let me write this one???)

26. Go to at least 3 good, big name concerts (not as easy to do this as it was in Dallas…..seeing Bruno Mars in June)

27. Read the Great Gatsby (need to do this)

28. Eat a raw diet for 3 days  (done; I want to do it again with different recipes)

29. Send out Christmas cards (done; They were so cute)

30. ?????? (this one is a secret but I will for sure let yall know if when it happens)

What's My Excuse

I'm sure by now you've all read about Maria Kang and her smoking hot body.  If you haven't, allow me to get you up to speed.

Maria posted the picture below on her Facebook (over a YEAR ago) and it has recently gone viral.  She posted it to promote her fitness expertise and has received some horrible backlash.

Photo from NY Daily News

People have commented on it accusing her of bullying, fat shaming, bragging, and everything else under the sun.  Maria didn't respond to the backlash until she received 1 particular email that accused her of being a shame to women. 

WHAT THE??????  A SHAME to women?!?!  I would like to tell the writer of that post that they are a SHAME to humanity!  How dare you take this woman's accomplishments and shame her for them?  Bless your little heart that you have to put down a complete stranger.

Here are my thoughts on the picture:

1. BRA-freaking-VO Maria Kang!  You go Glen Coco!

You popped out 3 kids and you have a slammin body.  You obviously worked hard for that body being that it's muscular and toned and not "skinny fat". Sure, there are absolutely tons of moms out there that may not have the gym as an option, and guess what?  There are tons of fitness sites, Youtube videos, and workout videos that you can do from the comfort of your own home.  I'm sure having kids that small underfoot all day long makes everything that much harder but several of my mommy friends find ways to get at least 20 mintues of a workout in.  I quote one of my favorite mom/entrepenuar/fitness/nutrition expert/all around great gal Bethenny Frankel "DO WHAT YOU CAN WHEN YOU CAN".  

2. What's with the haters? Seriously people, I'll never understand why you follow people on social media if you don't agree with or even like them.  There's a fabulous feature on Insta, Twitter, Facebook, Bloglovin and any other form of social media where you follow people that's called UNFOLLOW!  Just push that button, check that box, click the red box or whatever you have to do and then you won't see the posts that make you angry enough to write hurtful and just plain mean things on complete strangers' posts.

3. Not everyone can look like that.  Now, I do understand that there are some people in this world that will never look like that.  There are people in this world with medical issues and medical needs that simply cannot do the things needed to achieve that physique.  Guess what?  She's wasn't talking to those people.  She was talking to the people like me who don't have kids or any other reason to not hit the gym and to eat healthier.  She was talking to people like me who make excuse after excuse to "workout tomorrow", "eat healthier tomorrow", "drink more water tomorrow".  She was talking to the people that don't make any effort to look-but more importantly FEEL better every single day.  

Why do we all make so many excuses to not workout?  Sure there's work, kids, social commitments and everything else that get in the way but why is a workout not a regularly scheduled part of our day? We make a tv show scheduled, a meeting scheduled, a Dr's appointment scheduled but why not a workout.  A workout that is going to put us one step closer to health every time we do it.

This is not a dress rehearsal people.  This is real life.  The bodies we are in now are the only ones we get so why not make them the best they can be.

Maria did post what she called her First and Final Apology on her Facebook and I thought a few things she said were dead on:

What you interpret is not MY fault. It's Yours. The first step in owning your life, your body and your destiny is to OWN the thoughts that come out of your own head. I didn't create them. You created them. So if you want to continue 'hating' this image, get used to hating many other things for the rest of your life. You can either blame, complain or obtain a new level of thought by challenging the negative words that come out of your own brain. (posted on her Facebook).

I fully believe in every bit of this.  If you don't like something in your life, change it.  I know firsthand it's not easy to change things but I believe if you want something bad enough (like a new body, a nice car, pair of shoes, a job) you'll find a way to get it.

Traverse City Wine Tour

Happy Monday loves!  I sure do feel like the weekends get shorter and shorter these days.  I don't know about yall but I live for the weekends!

One of my favorite parts about living in Michigan (so far) is the amount of things there are to do here.  Whether it's tailgates, the lake, festivals, I feel like there is ALWAYS something fun going on.  This weekend was no different as a few of us packed our bags and headed north to Traverse City for a little wine tour. A weekend of good friends, good wine, and beautiful scenery?  A girl can't ask for much more I tell ya!

Friday after work Michigan and I packed up the car, picked up this beautiful couple, and headed out to meet up with the group.  A good friend of ours has a cabin 3 hours north of Kalamazoo so a few of us stayed there to cut the drive a little shorter.  Saturday after we checked into our condos, we piled in our 12 passenger conversion van and headed towards the wine!  Instead of going through a company and paying for an actual tour, we decided it'd be more fun if we went at our own pace.  That way we could stay at each place as long as we wanted and didn't have to work with anyone's schedule but ours.

Our first stop was probably my favorite winery of the 3 we made it to.  2 Lads is a smaller winery but with a more modern feel.  The view from the wine bar was breathtaking (unfortunately I couldn't get my camera to work yet).

The next stop had one of the most beautiful views I have ever seen!  Chateau Chantal is located on the gorgeous Old Mission Peninsula and the view of the lake and the vineyard seriously took my breath away!  Plus they had a REALLY good bottle of champs called Celebrate, cute huh!

This picture doesn't even do it justice!

Michigan loves his reds and I LOVED my pink champs!

The whole crew!  Sorry my eyes are closed-I was obviously loving the wine!

Our las stop on the tour was a place called Bowers Harbor Vineyard.  Again they had a stunning view, great wine, and a friendly staff!  They also had 3 different kinds of cider that I wanted bottle up and take home but I somehow kept my wallet in my purse.

It was definitely a very long but very fun day!  The drive home Sunday was one of the most gorgeous drives I've ever been on, despite it raining the majority of the time.  The scenery at this time of the year in Michigan can't be beat!  The leaves are all starting to turn these bright colors of red and orange-seriously, you don't see this in Texas!  According to Michigan, since we are so far south, it'll be a few more weeks until the leaves in Kalamazoo change.  I promise when that happens, I'll get lots of pics!

I hope all of your weekends were fabulous!

The One Where I Moved to Michigan

Not much has happened in the last 2 months.  Ya know, the usual pack up everything I own, have 2 fabulous going away get togethers, nap in the uhaul while Michigan drives drive the uhaul for 2 days straight, unpack, start a new job, re-decorate a house and hang out with friends.  What?  You don't do that on a regular basis?

A huge thank you to everyone that helped me say goodbye to Texas!  My wonderful friends came out for a night out in Uptown followed by a brunch and Sunday Funday-my absolute favorite part of living in Dallas!

They sent me off in style!

The roomie: always down to Sunday Funday.  Pickle shots anyone?

My amazing bosses (who I am so thankful to call friends) threw me a huge going away party at one of my favorite bars in Dallas.  I haven't laughed that hard or cried that much in forever.  These guys are truly family to me and I am so thankful to have all 4 of them in my life.

My bosses are way cooler than yours!

Toto I don't think we're in Texas anymore

I've been in Michigan a little over a month now and it's been an amazing experience.  It's beautiful up here and they actually have this one thing that I've never really had in Texas....FALL!  That's right y'all, I get to wear my boots for more than just 3 months out of the year and I get to see the leaves actually change colors before they fall off of the trees.  I'm sure I'll be singing a different tune when I'm surrounded by snow in March but for now, I'm enjoying the change.

Needless to say life's been a whirlwind and it's apparently not slowing down anytime soon.  So far we've checked out a new brewery that I love, tailgated (and got rained out) for Michigan State, danced at Frontier Days, had great nights out with friends and more!

This weekend we are heading up to Traverse City for a wine tour.  Not gonna lie, I'm hoping to casually run into this fashionista.  Maybe I should head to Target? I hear she likes that place :)

Hope you are all having a wonderful week.  I swear I'll get back into the groove of this soon!