No one "has it all" when you look close.

Lately I have been worried about our house that we still have not been able to sell or rent.. I pray about it (almost) daily, and some days more often than others.

If Steve and I were smart, we would fast about this. (It is really hard for me to not go off on a tangent about the church today and lack of teaching about fasting!)
However, it also reminds me how blessed we are and how thankful I should be about all that we have. We have food. More than enough food :). Every day. We don't wonder when our next meal will be - no, we wonder WHAT we will eat out of all our choices! We have a bed, a roof over our head. And not just a roof, but one that doesn't leak. We have AC when it is hot outside and we have a heater to warm it up when it is cold. We have more clothes than we have room for. Dressers stuffed full, boxes, and closets full of clothes. And they are CLEAN. We have a washer and dryer and soap to clean them. Every day.
We are rich. God has always taken care of us, through thick and thin.

Something that has been on my heart a little bit has also been that I have been a very poor steward of money in the past. It is tempting to think - "Oh, when we finally get rid of that house we can take an exotic vacation!" Or, "We can really start investing" (Okay, that last one wasn't so bad) the point is - my thoughts are immediately selfish! What can WE do for OURSELVES with that money. BAD KAREN. And I can't help but let my thoughts wonder to - Is this a lesson? And we won't get the house sold/rented until I learn this so I can be a better steward of what God has given me??

There are really SO many things I need to work on - and I know that God is working on me. Little by little every day! ;) Focus today: BE THANKFUL AND THANK GOD! THINK OF WAYS TO BETTER SERVE & RESPECT/LOVE MY HUSBAND. KEEP THOUGHTS PURE AND FOCUS ON GOD RATHER THAN FITNESS/HEALTH AND NOT COMPARE MYSELF WITH ANYONE ELSE.

Matthew 6:25-34 (NIV)

Do Not Worry

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[a]?

²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Hebrews 13:5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

New Workout & New Recipe!

Alright. I am going to try to make this quick - I need to start working on dinner for Steve soon. :)

Yesterday I did a TABATA workout at home (in the back yard while tanning :D!) and today I am SO sore!! It is a workout by Amanda Russell found HERE. Can I be honest? Of course I can, it's my blog! She kind of annoys me. This workout really pushed me, though! TABATA always kicks my butt. It's amazing. Haha! Tonight I am going to try a new class at the gym - either piloxing or power cycling. I haven't picked yet! I know I would love power cycling, but piloxing just has me so curious about it..

I finally made these protein cookies!! Not sure where the recipe is from - pinterest? Some blog? I took a picture of it on my phone so I have no clue. I read soo many different blogs for recipes/work out ideas. Anyway, here it is!

I, of course used natural peanut butter WITHOUT SUGAR (WATCH LABELS!! JUST BECAUSE IT SAYS "NATURAL" DOES NOT MEAN THERE IS NO ADDED SUGAR!) and I somehow forgot to put in salt. This was so easy to make, I don't know how I missed it, but I did, and Steve and I think they didn't even need it! However, they were a tiny bit more dry than I like my cookies to be so Steve recommended next time I double the greek yogurt. I will definitely make these again!

On another note: Steve and I have exciting news!! We picked our first tomato!!!!

We are looking forward to many more this season! Our tomato plants are HUGE and there are many green ones already growing! :)
 TTFN

PICTURES!!

 I will only post a few ~ I don't know which one we will put up in our living room yet!

House Wifey

I am incredibly blessed in that I do not need to work/my husband wants me to be a home-keeper. Today was especially exciting -- the lawn needed to be mowed. It is absolutely my FAVORITE chore. I LOVE moving & being outside! It has been SO nice this week, too! Steve has been getting faster at work and because they haven't increased his patients yet, he has been getting done at work a little earlier and also getting a longer lunch. It's been pretty nice. Twice this week we got to have a little picnic outside during his lunch break. So fun!

Today was extremely windy so I decided to do my run with HIIT inside at the gym. Lately my cardio indoors has been less than I would like. (I usually don't like treadmills or elipticals - like I said before, I like to GO places OUTDOORS). So I spent a couple minutes before leaving the house thinking about that and realized that I need to have more of a plan than just "doing cardio at the gym". I decided what would be a good workout before hand and then stuck to it. I have to say, it is fun seeing how many calories you scorch doing HIIT! I subsribe to many fitness blogs and pin many on pinterest so I have an abundance on ideas, but this week I wasn't really committing to any certain one before hand. (Unless it was outdoors. I don't have a problem with running intervals or long distance outside.)
 So today I did one mile warm up, stretch, two minutes at 80% and two minutes easy jog TEN TIMES, one mile cool down. (All at incline 1)
It was great!! I was drenched with sweat and torched 900 calories. After mowing, before I washed up, I did a short workout from Tone It Up. Good day :)

I am the kind of person that sees babies or baby clothes and wants one. Lately, though, I have really enjoyed all the time I get to spend alone with Steve. I keep thinking, "We couldn't do this if we had a baby!" It helps me hold out longer. Haha. I know it's the smart thing to do to wait a couple years and I really do want to. I am so excited for when we do decide to grow our little family! :)

Lend Me Your Hand, and We Will Conquer Them All

Checking in!
I fit into my wedding dress for some more pictures with a photographer I've known for years. I haven't seen them yet - I will be sure to post, though! :)
Today: ran six miles in a little over an hour. I'm just glad I got it in! I am having a hard time lately getting in longer runs. I have time, and no legitimate excuses - just a mind game, really.
I have cut my carbs, increased protien, and got back into lifting. I already notice a huge difference. Steve weighed me out of curiousity the other day and said that I've lost weight. I have no clue, still, what I weigh. I didn't know what I weighed before. And I like not knowing. I really have a tendency to obsess about what I think the "perfect" number is, blah blah blah.
I haven't thought - until just now - to measure myself. I don't really care much, though. For once in my life! I am more toned, and will continue to get more toned (consistency is key!) so I'm not worried about it. What a relief!
I am doing a show in July, so I would like to get my hip measurement to 35-36. That isn't much, and once again, what I am doing will get me there. :)

I had a little pride-ful moment (Lord forgive me) last week at body pump. I just LOVE being STRONG and getting STRONGER! It feels so good. No, this picture is not me! Haha. I would love to get this tank, though!!

I realized something this week. I really really hate feeling awkward. And that is a hinderance to me as I try to make new friends here. Steve is so good at it! He is just so friendly & outgoing like most people here. I could learn from him. :) I am so thankful that churches here are full of welcoming & loving people! I keep praying for a group of Christ following friends. I need to be praying more for confidence & the guts to be more outgoing!

Race Recap/Venting

Wow! I am so disapointed with how I did! I couldn't figure it out. I was more than prepared - why did I get so sick? Not pregnant, didn't try anything new on race day (like gels)... Then Steve asked what I had to eat the night before. Some whole wheat pasta & 3 bean salad. ..."The three bean salad you made last week?? Chickpeas go bad within a few days!"
Bingo.
Horrible timing!
But, I still finished. And considering how sick I was all afternoon, I would say 2:27 isn't too bad! Pretty frustrating, but I'm glad I did it and now it is OVER.
Which means - I can go back to body pump classes & lifting lower body!!!! :D I went to body pump Tuesday this week. OH it HURT SO GOOD. I was very surprised how strong my lower body has gotten from only running! For the Squats & Lunge tracks I did more weight than I think I have ever done! I wasn't expecting that at all. I still want to keep milage up, but I am cutting my carbs the next two weeks so I probably won't be at the same amount I was while in training.


Today I did five sets of the following:

I was drenched in sweat at the end. What a workout! I'm also going to go to the gym in a bit and do some cardio!

-1 mile warm up

-2 minutes hard / 1 minute easy x8

-1 mile cool down

I will be bikini ready in no time! ;)

Speaking of bikini season - I miss the lake! I miss going to the lake for a week in the summers I was in California. Oh, I miss it so much! I'm not sure what this summer in Woodward will entail, but I sure hope it's fun. I still haven't made many friends here so it's not looking good - LOL. I didn't miss Tulsa before for many many reasons - but I am beginning to miss the few friends I have there and tanning with them last summer! :(

I keep praying that God send me a good friend ~ it's hard not to get lonely here sometimes.