Where Has The Time Gone?

Whelp... it's been a while again. Almost a year, actually. I've thought about blogging many times, but lets be honest - my free time has been incredibly limited, and when I did have some free time,  I was basking in it (or sleeping).

Holy cow, my first year of teaching and coaching was a blur! It absolutely flew by, probably because there was rarely a spare second. When I would describe my schedule to most people their jaw would drop, and they usually offered some sort of pity. Yes, there were many tired days, but for the first time since college, I can say that I absolutely love and enjoy my job! Now that the second year is halfway over (that's right, we are just finishing up first semester exams), I am still 100% in love with my job, and way less overwhelmed than I was last year. There are hard days. I mean c'mon...I teach 7th grade! Oh the hormones!! But, even those hard days are made good days by my colleagues, or an athlete or student "getting it," or even just their sweet smile and desire to share parts of their life with me. I finally found my dream job! I am so unbelievably happy and have found true joy in what I do!

I would love to catch you up on the past year of my life, but that would be one VERY long post. For now, I thought I would catch you up on just a couple of things going on in my life right now. One being a goal and the other a big trip! There are so many things coming up in 2014 that I am super excited about!!

#1 - Start caring less about calories and more about total nutrition. 

I started eating "healthy" around my senior year in high school. As a teenager, my intentions were definitely not about getting the right nutrition. I was more concerned about fewer calories than nutrients. Obviously, I started making healthier choices in order to cut calories, but my nutrition still lacked in many areas. Throughout college I became more aware of the right kinds of food and educated myself on the proper nutrients, but I also started running and working out a whole lot more. My body was still lacking in proper nutrition. I can say that in the past couple of years,  I have done a much better job of consuming better nutrients as a whole, while still eating pretty clean. I follow the 80/20 rule. I will never be able to give up my ice cream/frozen yogurt or my chips and salsa! I still care a lot about how many calories I am consuming in a day and how many calories I am burning in my workouts though. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, but I would like to educate myself even more on proper nutrition and fueling, eating clean and getting all of the nutrients that my body needs. Less brain space taken up by my calorie count and more taken up by what my body is lacking that day!

#2 - Europe Trip!!!!

Ben and I have always had the goal of going to Europe together, and this is the year! We will be leaving right after school ends and getting back at the beginning of July. A little over 3 weeks! OMG…I am literally counting down the days! I have officially started thinking about how to pack and what all I need to bring with me. I have never been to Europe, but Ben has. I could obviously ask him about some of the things that I need, but he is a man, and men do not think about all of the things women do. So, I need to know, what do I NEED to bring to Europe? We will be hopping from place to place a lot. What do I pack? What kind of luggage do you recommend? What do I need to purchase to make things easier over there? Any advise you have for me, I welcome it! I am so flipping excited!!