Beginnings

Hi there :)

So, I've had blogs before, but they were all predominantly weight loss blogs, dedicated to my journey on the way down to a healthy weight. Well, I've lost about 60 pounds and, while I'm still trying to lose more weight, other things in my life have become important. Eating healthy and working out is not just to lose weight--it's to feel good. I'll go over more of the differences as I go along, but just a disclaimer: This is NOT predominantly a weight loss blog. I will be more than happy to answer questions for those of you trying to lose and will definitely post updates when I lose a few pounds, but this blog is not about that.

So what is this blog about? I don't know yet. I know some of the things I want to do are post about clothes that I want to wear at my goal weight, my daily life, my job (for the rest of the summer at least), school, new and awesome workouts, law school applications, travels and other adventures in my life.

Today, I went to work to teach my Swimmers & Shakers class. It's only six classes, but let me tell you...it's tough! It's a "Mommy & Me" class for 12 months- 3 year-olds and their parents. Most of the kids are 12-24 months and, having never worked with that age, I'm finding it really tough. Let me preface this by saying that, at 20 years old, I have 7 years of experience with kids ages 5-13 years old. I've also worked with teens, from 14-17 yrs old, and I have a 10yr old cousin, two 7 yr old cousins, a 5 yr old cousin, and a 2 year old nephew. So, when it comes to kids, there is very little that actually intimidates me.

But these kids are really young, so in order to get them organized, I really need the help of their parents. And some of the parents are less than happy to help. Some of them have been absolutely great and a pleasure to work with. But the ones that haven't have been disrupting the class. They also have, I think, unrealistic expectations for the class. The kids, with the exception of one, don't even talk yet, much less do arts and crafts or anything of the sort. The projects that I do are to bond the parents with the kids and I don't think they want to do the work. It's hard, but I'm powering through.

Today, we made pita bunnies. Mine looked like this:

It's just a pita split into two, with cream cheese spread on both. Then I cut one of the pita halves in half (for the ears), used two semi-sweet chocolate chips for eyes, broke three pretzel sticks for the whiskers and cut off the end of a strawberry for the nose.

I think it's a cute way to get kids to eat nutritiously! You've got carbs, dairy and fruit. For an even healthier twist, you can use blueberries for the eyes and strips of pineapple or an equally lengthy fruit for the whiskers.

As a closing, here's an outfit that I'd like to imitate when I'm at my goal weight of 140 lbs.

Absolutely love this outfit and others like it! I know I don't need to lose any more weight to wear it, but I don't want it to go to waste when I lose another 20 pounds!

Happy Sunday everyone!