Hey y'all,

Since it is almost the new year, I know a lot of people are setting goals and resolutions including ones about fitness. I know I am in that boat and I have a couple fitness related goals and I will share my January goals and the word of the year later this week but today I thought I would share some fitness challenges that are coming up since I think it is sometimes helpful to feel like you are part of a community and being challenged.

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Barre3 4 week challenge (January 4th-January 31). The challenge is to take four 60 minute classes, do one 10 minute online workout and try one barre3 recipe each week. Although there is a studio in Raleigh, I am challenging myself to complete the barre3 challenge online. My plan is for 60 minute classes on Saturday and Sunday and then breaking it up to 4 30 minute sessions before my work day during the week.

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TIU Challenge with Self. I love Karena and Katrina and they are hooking up with Self magazine for the Tone It Up Challenge. It will be an 8 week challenge and as usual, it's free! Each week K&K will post a workout calendar to follow along with some fun challenges and a brand new workout each Tuesday. Just follow along and have fun with the #TIUTeam

Blogilates Monthly Calendar (and Beginners Calendar). My babysister loves to workout with Cassey Ho aka Blogilates. Each month, Cassey emails out a workout calendar to follow along with her youtube videos. They are often set to fun pop music and Cassey is full of energy.

Create your own challenge. I am challenging myself to 12 5Ks next year. One a month. I am the kind of person that will only keep running if I have a race on the books so I am lacing up my sneakers and have my first 5K on January 1st!

Hey y'all,

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and celebrated with your family and friends. As we prepare for the new year, we all begin to think of goals and resolutions and how to make the next year the best one yet. I have been spending a lot of time thinking of the coming year and reflecting on this year. What worked, what didn't, what I hope for. I have started to work on my Powersheets from the Lara Casey shop and I thought I would share this video from Lara Casey's blog today.

I am going to share my word of the year and my goals on Friday but I also wanted to share this link to a webinar between Lara Casey and Emily Ley about creating a joyful year. I plan on taking my long weekend (I have Thursday and Friday off) and spending it simplifying and preparing for the new year.


p.s. The Powersheets 6-month set is back on pre-order HERE!

Hey y'all,

I'm sorry to have disappeared this month but it has been crazy busy! I went to 9 Christmas parties between December 10th and the 19th! It was a lot of fun to celebrate and see lots of friends but I am happy to get back on track with my workouts and clean eating after I get back home from the holidays. I came to my parent's house on Saturday and I have been having a lot of fun with my parents and all of my siblings are home together. This hasn't happened since May 2014! So I know this all seems random but since we only really go to church on Christmas Eve, I thought I would share some of our favorite things to do when we all get together.

movies. We always try to go to the movie theater as a family whenever we are together. Over Thanksgiving, I went to see the Hunger Games: Mockingjay Pt 2 with my parents and it was great and to celebrate my brother turning 31 on Monday, we went last night to see Star Wars: Episode 7 The Force Awakens. It was so good! That's all I am going to say about that. We also love going to see Disney movies together whenever they come out.

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movie night at home. We are big on holiday movies especially the classics. While I love my Hallmark Channel Original movies (my favorite is A Boyfriend for Christmas) we always have to watch The Santa Clause, Muppet Christmas Carol, White Christmas, The Year Without a Santa Clause, The Town Santa Forgot, and The 12 Days of Christmas. There are others like Miracle on 34th Street and Yes, Virginia There is a Santa Clause that we will watch if they are on TV but aren't on the required viewing list.

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game night. Board games are some of the best memories I have with my family. If you need some ideas on what to play together our favorites are: Phase 10, Mexican Train, Disney Scene It, Apples to Apples, Scrabble or Bananagrams, and Catch Phrase. Last night we played Citadels and I am hoping that tonight we play Heads Up. We also like to set up a card table and place a puzzle on it and everyone works on it little by little.

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other activities. We love decorating the tree together (you traditionally put up your ornaments on the tree but our parents began to give us ours when we moved out of the house). We also used to make over 10 different kinds of cookies and give them to neighbors and friends but since our family all agrees that cookies are too much temptation that has gone by the wayside. Other things we love to do as a family: take a walk around the neighborhood, cook, go out for ice cream, drive through neighborhoods to look at Christmas lights, make cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning,

Hey y'all,

I have had a pretty busy week and the next few days seem just as packed. With over 7 holiday parties between Thursday and Monday I know that I need to take the time to breath and find myself in the Word. This verse has been especially helpful to me. Sometimes in this world we only seek instant gratification and even though it is tough patience is a virtue. The Lord came down to Earth to give us the ultimate gift and I have to remember that like a Father, God only wants the best for us even if that means we have to wait until his plan is revealed.

You can order this print here.