Life Update

I haven't written a blog post in such a long time and life has just flown by since I did. Last post was my engagement pictures and now there are 99 days until Zach and I say "I do". How crazy is that? We are very excited and cannot wait for the day to come. Part of me though doesn't want it to because once it's over, its over. (insert crying emoji here) But I know it will be the best day of my life :)

Over the past year or so there have been many changes when it comes to priorities in my life, fitness, motivation etc. First one I will touch on is CrossFit. Now it's not that I do not go to CrossFit or workout anymore but rather I am not concerned with making it there every day and working out for hours and hours. I made the choice about a year ago due to injuries and just my body and how it felt overall after 8 years of competing .... and I will be honest - It was and still semi is falling apart. When I competed I did everything I could do to stay healthy. I ate properly, consumed more than enough water, got massages (when I could afford them), went to PT for many things, cortisone shots, and so on. But I am still struggling with many little and some bigger injuries. It has come to the point in my life where competing in this sport and working out every single day for 2-4 hours a day is just not a priority to me anymore. My body can't keep up and I can't keep up mentally and physically. I am not using this as any type of excuse or anything like that. It just came to the point where I knew if I didn't want surgeries and want to be able to function down the road, it was probably time to slow down a bit. Therefore I do CrossFit still about 4-5 times a week to stay in shape, have fun with it, and surround myself with amazing people. I also go to Bellator Fitness which is where I do machines, running, stair master, etc. which I tend to enjoy a real lot. It's just different and switches up the whole CrossFit routine. So in all, my priorities and goals have changed from competing to working out once a day, trying to get there 6 times a week, take a rest day, lose weight, stay in shape and just be overall very healthy.

When it comes to nutrition this tends to always be something I struggle with. I am good with staying on track when I am all in but when I am not then I tend to just cheat and grab things as the day goes on or just barely eat anything at all. I was doing realllllly well at the beginning of the summer and then I went on vacation where I just kind of ate whatever I wanted. Without having to work, stress about food intake, and just being able to focus on running and the beach, I ended up losing weight while doing that. SO therefore once I got home from vacation I just never got back on track. Many things were happening, a lot of changes, and I was not focusing on my diet per say. I haven't gained much weight or anything like that but I just haven't been 100% on. I then went through the holidays watching my intake but just eating whatever I wanted here and there. I can go hours without eating so it was more so not eating all day and then just eating at night. When I am busy during the day and have a lot going on I do not think about food and I could care less if I eat which I know isn't great but that was what I was doing. Work also got super busy from August-November and that was my main focus. Once the holidays were over I got back on track and was eating 100% for about two weeks until I got the flu. I was stuck in bed and did not eat for three weeks. Then I ended up getting pneumonia which just prolonged the process and made me feel even worse. So a month after I am finally feeling better! I am working with Hilary Mason at Ritacco's Rebel's and she is great! If you need any information about this, just let me know, and I will be sure to fill you in and give you Hilary's contact info! She is helping me stay on track before the wedding comes so I can fit perfectly into my wedding dress and look great come summer :)

As far as just life in general - the company I work for got bought out and now has new owners. I know a lot of the changes that have been implemented made some people very unhappy but for me these changes were awesome. I have never been so happy working for this company than I have been in the past year. The changes definitely only helped me and have given me so much more experience when it comes to Marketing.

Then when it comes to Zach and I - back in July we bought a house and we love it! Throughout the summer and even through till now, my mom and I painted and redid all of the rooms, decorated, and put the modern country-ish look I have always wanted to have in a home. I love our house and love how it all came out! Obviously because there is so much of my mother in me I am constantly working on something and wanting to update/change things but with the wedding and everything ... we are currently on hold! lol But this was a huge change for us both but we love where we are located and I am 5 minutes from my parents house so it is PERFECT!

When it comes to the family - my brother and sister graduate from college this year. All I can say is WOW. Time really does sure fly. I cannot believe they are 21 years old and graduating. I am very proud of them and I only wish them success once they are out in the real world! I continuously tell them not to rush it though because once you're out, all you want to do is go back. Otherwise my other sister is well and so are my mom and dad. My family really does mean the whole world to me. I am with them all the time especially my mom and sister and I truly don't think I could ever go on without them all. They are my best friends and I love them so much. Moving out away from them just also put life into perspective and how much my dad did for us as well as my mom. Not quite sure how they did it all and afforded 4 kids but they put us before them their whole life and I hope at some point I can help them in ways they helped me. When I am not in the gym or working I spend my time with my family and at Home Goods, Home Sense, Tj Maxx, Marshalls, Christmas Tree Shop, etc. with my mom and sister (sometimes Jackie) and this is what makes me happy. It's like therapy for me haha I could go into TJ Maxx and just walk around and not buy a thing but feel less stressed and ten times better haha its an addiction though and it's probably a problem but our house looks great so at least that's a plus! :)

So all in all priorities have changed and my main focuses at the moment are the wedding, eating healthy, and just trying to workout at least once a day for 6 days of the week. No more competing, trying to heal my body completely and just excited to start my life with Zach as his wife in a few months :) Bridal shower is so soon and then my bachelorette weekend with some of my favorite people so a lot of fun things coming up this spring!

Here's a bunch of pictures of things that have happened since the last time I wrote: