Where's the Beach?

Not only do I make the metal-stamped jewelry now, I also make arm-knit scarves. Yeah, it was another one of those, "Hey, I totally can do that" moments. I have a lot of those apparently. Some I follow through with better than others. I think I get this trait from my parents. A double whammy dose of "I can do it!" So I jump in with both feet. All in man. All in. Until I burn out or get frustrated. Then I'm on to the next thing. I've done it with baking and selling dog treats to scrap booking for pleasure. I have all the craft bags, supplies and cookie cutters to prove it. Back to the scarves ... I got off track. Once I had the idea in my head that I was going to learn how to make these scarves, there was no holding me back. I rushed over to the craft store to stock up on yarn. I wanted all the colors, all the textures. I had coupons, too. So that meant I could buy even more right? Yep. After I made my first scarf, I quickly made another. Then I decided ...

I guess I can blame this little hobby on Pinterest - jewelry making. More specifically, metal-stamped jewelry. Wasting time, skimming through Pinterest or seeing people posting pics of metal-stamped bracelets or necklaces, I thought, "hey, surely I can do that." So I started pinning ideas, looking up how-to videos, ordering the tools. Boxes of tools, gadgets and goods started arriving on the daily. I know my husband was really excited. Yep, I was going to do this! I felt like the child set free in a toy store. I didn't even know where to begin exactly. But I had some ideas. Lots and lots of ideas. I'm an idea girl as you'll soon learn. I set out my tools of the trade, all neat and tidy on my kitchen table ready to begin. Luckily, my husband who sits back and watches stepped in with some ideas on ways I could practice the stamping without using the more expensive washers and bars I'd so eagerly purchased. Smart man. What I didn't take into considerati...

We'll begin with the basics. I'm Heather. I started this blog in 2009 with the intent of sharing my love of exercise and healthy eating (and a little bit of personal stuff of course). I blogged, and blogged and blogged my heart out. Every.Single.Day. I forgot how to sit down to eat without a) typing it up in the blog and b) photographing it. We didn't have hot meals for quite some time I might add. I was doing it all wrong of course. But, at the time, I loved it. I loved sharing my ideas for healthy, tasty, vegetarian foods. Blogging also gave me an outlet to share my passion for exercise - lifting weights, HIIT workouts, running, even following along to DVDs at home. It was probably one of the boosts I needed to finally pursue my quiet goal of becoming a certified personal trainer. My blogging style began to shift. My focus was shifting. My desire was shifting. The less I blogged, the more time I had. The more I felt I could breathe. I wasn't comparing my food to...

No matter how you end up signed up for a race, any race, you're going to find yourself training. You can either follow a strict plan, a loose plan, but you'll be following some sort of plan if you want to cross the line without injuries and especially if you have a goal in mind. Since I've already touched on how I ended up signed up for the Chicago Marathon and an injury, let's jump into the training. During my first marathon training, I had set up a plan for myself that allowed for 2 weeks worth of padding in case I had to cut a long run short or life in general. I did the same this round. I ended up having to use up all the padding to cover my 15 days off because of my injury. While my plan was fairly loose in terms of the miles or exact pace each and every run, I had a general idea of what I was going to do and had really banked on the extra weeks because I knew the hot weather may force me to cut a long run short. Well, for this Type-A gal, not having that pa...

I've started this post in my head a dozen times. I'm still not entirely sure where to begin. I haven't been blogging consistently. That's obvious right? That also means I've not talked a great deal about training for the Chicago Marathon, training during a Southern summer, over-coming yet another injury, and everything else that goes along with training for a race. Do I start at the beginning or do I do the race recap while it's fresh in my mind? Do I let the race settle in my head so that I can adequately attempt to talk about it? Because I'm a Type A person, I'm going to start at the beginning. The signing up for the race and the training. If you can hang with me, we'll get to race day. And I hope you will stick with me. After my first marathon in December, I ended up with a nice stress fracture. I had a slow road to recovery. An even slower road to building back up my running - both distance and pace. I ran two half marathons and a 10k, none...

Have you ever thought about using an online personal trainer? Had some doubts? Now’s your chance to try it out for FREE with no strings attached! Well, one string – space is limited! With this 2-week, no obligations, FREE trial, you have the opportunity to find out what online personal training is all about. Not only do you get the workouts, you get videos and 2 weekly email check ins for accountability. This is truly an opportunity you don’t want to pass up! So, you might be asking yourself, "Why Choose an Online Trainer?" Here's what you get when you have me as your trainer: Accountability  Motivation  Support  Affordability  Ability to work out anywhere you prefer  Ability to work out on your schedule  No more guesswork with our workouts  Is online training isn't for everyone? Honestly, no. So, how do you know if online training is for you? Online training is right for you if you are … Self-motivated  Willing to...