Hello everybody! I hope you all had an awesome week and an even better weekend. Since things are official now at my current job, I am so excited to share that I am starting a new job at a different hospital in two weeks! I’ll still be administering chemo, just at a different facility. I could not be more excited. I was in desperate need for a change and feel such a peace about this transition.

Monday: I had today off so we spent the day recouping from our vacation. Sometimes I feel like I need a vacay from my vacay. It was nice having a day to relax and get back into my normal schedule.Kyle and I wanted to run Monday morning so I had a bowl of Simple Nature mango granola with a cup of unsweetened almond milk.

Kyle and I then headed out for our run. We did a 5 minute warm up walk, 1/2 mile run, 1/8 mile walk, 1/2 mile run, 1/8 mile walk, 1/2 mile run, and then a 5 minute cool down walk. We usually walk a little longer at the end. The weather was beautiful, and it was nice to get out and run again after being in the car so long on Sunday.

We split a protein smoothie when we got back. It had a cup of blueberries, 1 scoop of Orgain vanilla protein powder, a spoonful of chia seeds, a tablespoon of coconut oil, 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk, and a handful of ice cubes. It definitely hit the spot and cooled us down after the 75% humidity we just ran in.

I headed out to do some grocery shopping after I cleaned up. This is what I got from Aldi. I find almost everything I need there most weeks, and it is truly so cheap. I love it! I also picked up snap peas, Kombucha, turkey breast, hummus, and cold coffee from Meijer. They also had a sale on glass food containers that I picked up to help with my meal prep.

We ended the night with take out from Chuy’s. I had two shrimp tacos and skipped the sides. It’s much cheaper, and I felt so much better afterwards since I didn’t eat the beans and rice.

Tuesday: I had my normal smoothie and headed to work.

For lunch, I had a salad with peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, and grilled chicken. I sipped on this Kombucha throughout the day and snacked on cashews, cantaloupe, and tangerines.When I came home, Kyle, Chance, and I headed out to play tennis. We took Chance’s stake and leash with us, and he had fun watching us play while he was rolling around in the grass. It was so nice out! I am not good at tennis by any means, but I am definitely getting better! It’s a lot of fun and a great workout. Kyle is pretty much good at every sport, so it’s nice having him as a coach! We have a tennis court in the park right by my apartment complex so we just take Chance and walk there. It’s perfect!

After we finished playing, we took Chance to the pond that’s right next to the tennis court so he could swim for a little bit. He loves it, and it wears him down fast. Nothing like some good action shots! haha For dinner, we picked up a pizza from Earth Fare and made green beans at home to go with it.

Wednesday: I forgot to freeze a banana before bed Tuesday night so my smoothie had blueberries and strawberries instead. It also had almond milk, ice, chia seeds, coconut oil, and protein powder. It was yummy, and a nice change of pace!

When I got home, we headed out for another run. We did a 5 minute warm up walk, 3/4 mile run, 1/4 mile walk, 3/4 mile run, and then a 5 minute cool down walk. Again, the weather was beautiful!

For dinner, we had baked salmon and green beans. I added 1 tablespoon of olive oil, garlic salt, and pepper to the salmon and baked it at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. It was delicious! (I bought that salmon at Aldi a few weeks ago and froze it until we were ready to have it)

Thursday:

I had my breakfast smoothie and then took Chance on a one mile walk. Kyle gave me his blender because mine is definitely close to the grave. It’s amazing and doesn’t overheat every 5 seconds.. oops haha

It was so pretty outside, I couldn’t take just one picture. It is truly the best start to my mornings.

For lunch, I had another salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, grilled chicken, and lemon vinaigrette dressing. Work was pretty busy, but my Kombucha kept me going all day! After work, we had a going away party for one of our medical assistants who is going back to school.

I’m going to miss her so much, but I am so excited for her to start this new adventure! I ordered grilled shrimp and rice. It came with fresh avocados and tomatoes. It was delicious! I ate about half of the rice and did not feel miserable afterwards which I usually do after eating mexican food. I am learning that I can find healthy options everywhere I go, and it is usually worth it. Don’t get me wrong, I still splurge sometimes! But I am practicing making healthy choices first. It’s made a world of difference for me.

Once I got home, Chance and I went for a walk and settled in for the night.

Friday- I had my smoothie while I worked on my devotional. I am working through the awesome content that Jordan Lee Dooley created for her SHE defined year long devotional. It is AWESOME!

Chance and I then headed out for a one mile walk.

Look at those gorgeous skies! My apartment complex does an amazing job with decorating and gardening. These flowers are located at the front of the complex, and I just love them! Apparently so does Chance. haha

After work, I headed to the salon to get my nails and toes done. Once I got there, I realized I only had my compression socks and work shoes or Kyle’s slides. I didn’t want to wear my gross work shoes in and make a scene taking off my knee high socks, so Kyle’s shoes it is!

I’m sure I looked ridiculous, but oh well! They got the job done. hahaha This is one of my favorite things to do because it’s my time to myself and one of the ways I treat myself. I don’t enjoy wearing make up or shopping very often, so this is how I pamper myself. I budget for it every month. I feel so good with a fresh manicure and pedicure. Treat yourself, ladies!

Side note, I didn’t let my nails dry long enough because I wanted to get home to let Chance out. So when I got home, he stepped right on my foot and totally messed up my toes. I turned right back around, and they fixed them for me. They’re so sweet and probably thought I was a hot mess that day! I dried them for an extra long time before I left and could then carry on our night. 😀

After work, I did the TIU arms/abs workout. It BURNED! Then headed out for a 2 mile walk with Chance.

For dinner, I had two slices of turkey breast, cucumbers and snap peas with hummus, and organic blue corn chips with chipotle and lime salsa.

Before we went to bed, the sky outside my window was amazing!

Perfect view for the end of the day. A big part of my healthy lifestyle is being outside. I’ve learned to appreciate the beautiful skies and views I get when I venture out. I don’t even have to go far, and it is so refreshing. My day is full of being inside and looking at computers and phones so it is truly so important to get outside! It makes me count my blessings and take a step back. I highly recommend it!

Saturday: Today was a MAJOR cleaning day. I randomly got the urge to clean my kitchen floors Friday night but then made myself go to bed so I could get up in the morning. When I woke up, I vacuumed my carpet, swept and mopped my floors, did laundry, rearranged my furniture and cleaned up my couch, swept the porch and put the grill away, rearranged the guest room, scrubbed the counters in the kitchen and bathrooms, cleaned the toilets, cleaned out turtle’s tank, hung up a few things and put the rest in storage, and organized the kitchen pantry and counters. I felt SO good after I was all finished. I took a break in the middle of all of this to do my TIU workout. It was a series of 7 total body circuits and a booty yoga routine.

Then Chance and I headed out for a one mile walk.

When we got back, I made my normal smoothie and went back to cleaning.

I also made myself a cup of coffee with a little bit of almond milk caramel creamer as a pick me up during my cleaning extravaganza.

Chance and I headed out for another 1.5 mile walk after I was done cleaning. When I have days off and it’s really hot outside, I try to take him on a couple of shorter walks instead of one long one. He usually does better because he gets overheated super fast. It’s also not good for his paws to be on the hot pavement for very long. It was super nice outside though, and we love our walks together!

I snacked on some snap peas and hummus before I got ready for GIRLS’ NIGHT! My friend Jaycey planned a night for us to all go over to her newly renovated house and have pizza and watch movies and have some much needed girl time.

When I got to Jaycey’s, it looked like a mall exploded in her living room. Jaycey, her mom, and her sister go through their clothes and then always let us go through them before they give them to goodwill. It’s like Christmas! Jaycey went through all of them first and made piles based on what she thought looked like stuff we’d each wear. How precious is that?!? I got a ton of flannels, running shorts, boots, and a ton of cute shirts and hoodies. I love it when they go through their closets 😀 We literally just spent hours talking and laughing, we didn’t even watch a single movie. It was exactly what we all needed.

Jaycey made me coffee in this cup because she knows me too well (she also knew I needed a pick me up because I can’t hang).

Once I got home, Chance was ready for bed so I took him out and then we settled in for the night.

Sunday: SPIN CLASS DAY! This morning, I woke up around 7 and had a rice cake with almond butter and an orange before taking Chance for a walk. Then I went to pick up Kyle who just got off work so we could go to our spin class. It is such a blast, and I always feel so good afterwards. Our instructor kicks my butt every single time!

Once we got home, I had my regular protein smoothie and finished up my paperwork for my new job. Once Kyle headed to bed, I started working on this recap post and here we are. After I finish this, I’m taking Chance on a nice walk and relaxing for the afternoon. I think I’m going to go pick up a new book, The Hate U Give, and start that. I just finished Lucky, which is a book about a college female’s violent rape and the healing process she endured after. It was SUCH a hard read but SO good and enlightening. I’ll write a review about it soon but need to process it a little more. I’m also going to work on my SHE refined content for a little while. It’s so nice outside so I’m thinking it’ll be a coffee on the porch kind of afternoon.

I hope you all have an AWESOME Sunday and do something you love! 🙂