A Letter to Coach On Our 2nd Anniversary

On May 21, 2013 Coach and I celebrated our TWO year anniversary. Although this was nearly a month ago, I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to write a sweet love letter publicly on my little corner of the dot com. 

On our actual anniversary we were in Atlanta enjoying an evening in the big city and chowing down on an ahhhhmazing dinner feast at Fogo de Chao. 

We were also spending some much needed time with friends and family. I’ll have to post more about that… for now, here is a mushy letter to my one and only…

Dear Coach,

Can you believe we have been married for TWO years?! I mean, it seems like a few months ago we were sharing cheese dip at La Hacienda. Now look, that restaurant has already been four different establishments and we consider cheese dip a HUGE cheat meal! On the day we said our vows I was 100% positive that I would follow you anywhere your little football loving heart sent you. I love that we live in the perfect little small town, coach five sports between the both of us, and love every single minute of it! 

You are still the funniest man I know, you can make me laugh when I feel like I can’t make it another minute. When I am struggling with worrying, you know exactly what to say to make the worries seem insignificant. You are still the best person to go see any movie with, even the super girly vampire loving ones. Even two years later you still seem to be the absolute worst shopping partner around if it is in a store that doesn’t sell golf shirts or tennis shoes. I’m ok with knowing this now. It may or may not have taken me two years to learn to say, “Hey, you go to Hibbit’s and meet me back here when you are finished!” This seems to work best for us. It also took you two years, and a bigger DVR memory to understand the fact that I will constantly have 10 or more episodes of Y & R waiting to be watched. I’ve also learned that scheduling anything during the months of August-November (especially on a Saturday) comes with the possibility of me attending alone.  

Some things will never get old… no matter how many years we’ve been married! Your love for football and the desire to wear your ‘game day’ outfit which consists of khakis and your RED Ga shirt has become somewhat of a stability factor for me. 

It’ll never get old that you wake up every Friday with a smile and say, “It’s game day!” 

 It will also never get old hearing you talk back to umpires on the baseball field. (Always know I have your back, Coach.) Also, is it OK that I know all of your signs. I'll let you know if a kid misses one. (SFSS) I can't say enough how proud I am of you and the dreams that are coming true. Some say it is your speed and agility... I say it is just because I know you are that great of a Coach and leader. 

Hearing you pray each night for our students and players (some by name) will also never get old and also makes me fall in love with you all over again. Will the fact that you refer to me as you ‘smokin’ hot wife’ even after runs ever get old?! I hope not! Like I said, you are responsible for 90% of my smiles. (I’d like to think the other 10% comes from me just being that happy!) 

Even though I am guilty of not saying thanks enough…

Thanks for knowing I’m not a morning person. Thanks for packing the best cooler and always having this part under control. Thanks for knowing that I hate cooking on Fridays. Thanks for being at every race. Thanks for always reading my blogs and never talking about them! Thanks for loving Dub, even though you’ll never say it. Thanks for listening to all of my school stories no matter how silly they sound. Thanks for doing the dishes on the nights that I may be close to a meltdown for not having a dishwasher. Thanks for never mentioning the random and frequent charges from Barnes and Nobel. Thanks for understanding that shopping cures everything and that I can NEVER have too many clothes in my closet. Most of all, thanks for being the perfect man for me and always being the rock I seek. You da bomb, Coach! 

I pray we never lose our love for dancing to every song together. 

I pray we always remember... For Wins and for Losses!  

I love you,

Carley

A Few Meal Ideas &&& A Breakfast Muffin

*I am FAR from a professional and you should ALWAYS seek professional advice when changing your diet. This is a personal blog with my personal ideas! 

Since summer is here and it is the perfect opportunity to start buying “clean” groceries, I thought this would be the perfect time to share some of our favorite meals. Since joining the AdvoCare family, I see LOTS of folks purchasing the 24 Day Challenge and then post on social media asking for recipes. Well, these are just a FEW of some meals that we eat while on the challenge as well as every night. Summer produce is currently at the cheapest price, so take my advice, start now! You’ll fall in love with the results and see the many benefits of clean eating and realize the price is worth it! I also love visiting some local produce stands. They know me by name!  

We LOVE juicing. It is really the BEST way that we have found to get in all of our needed fruit and vegetable servings. However, we also LOVE eating. Plus, about 1.5 months ago, we made the decision to hit the gym at 5am each morning. We needed a ‘food’ to start our day! I searched on Pinterest for some clean recipes and found these little muffins. I could never get the link to work, but the recipe is in the Pinterest picture. I started using this exact recipe until I found out what I liked and didn’t like. Now I am confident enough to share the recipe that I have created with you. The secret is cinnamon!  I make a pan of 12 and eat 2 on the way to the gym each morning. I LOVE them! (I may also have one if I need a quick snack.) 

Here is what I use:

3 cups of oats (uncooked)

2 tsp. baking powder

4 egg whites

1 ¼ cup of vanilla almond milk

1-2 mashed banana

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Hand full of dark chocolate chips

1/3 cup of shredded coconut

A light coating of ground cinnamon

1/3 cup of honey

Mix all ingredients in a mixer. I found the mixer is easier to properly blend each ingredient. The mixture will look a bit soupy… no worries!

Then fill a muffin pan with batter. Bake at 350* for 15-18 minutes.

I just place all muffins in a storage container and leave them in the fridge. I heat 2 at a time in the good ole microwave. This is my pre-workout “meal.”

I drink a fresh breakfast juice after my workout. (All thanks to the best hubs in the world that gets up 30 minutes before me just to juice everything.) Or, if it was a killer... which some days are... I have a meal replacement shake. 

For a snack I will eat some of these ammmmaaaazing peanut butter energy bites. Here is the recipe from Pinterest. 

NOTE: Before you eat a ton of flax seed, you may want to check if you are allergic. I was sharing some of my “cookies” with a coworker and she had no clue she was allergic! It was not good. 

I like the small chicken tenders from the grill and like to grill about 15 on a Sunday to have as a snack. I just marinade them with lemon juice and lemon pepper. Delish. (Yeah, Coach and I are the folks eating cold chicken tenders at 10am.) 

For lunch we have a green juice or some leftovers from the night before. If I am starving… I will have some brown rice with black beans. (I LOVE black beans and sometimes eat them instead of meat for dinner.) 

Afternoon snacks are usually almonds, or some natural peanut butter, celery, or my current obsession: hummus and carrots. 

Dinner… ahhh… dinner. This is usually the meal that challengers struggle with. It is easier to stay on track with everything packed for you while you are away at work. When you get home you usually have the temptation of whatever is in your pantry. (For me right now it is chocolate ice cream that Dub must have bought the other day….) 

I could eat shrimp at every meal. Seriously. As well as mushrooms. So, you will find a pattern of meals consisting of shrimp and mushrooms. 

 This was probably the easiest meals! Baked fish, baked shrimp, and mushrooms. I placed everything on the pan and baked! I am sure I used fresh lemon juice over it all. I may have served this all over brown rice. Brown rice is a popular side as well. We usually eat every meal with a salad.

 I had some crab cakes that were delicious. I decided to bake them. We had a salad, and some quinoa.

 If I have any left over tenders, then I always have them with a salad. This is probably my favorite night for dinner. So quick, so easy, and no mess! LOVE!

 Coach was showing off with this meal! All clean, and all delicious. As you can tell, we don't like nasty food!

 This makes me want some rice! Brown rice, mushrooms, black beans, grilled lean porkchops, with a salad.

I have started marinading all meat in fruit juice that I juice myself. so far we haven't found one we don't like. I loved the chicken in pineapple juice! 

We also eat a TON of asparagus, avocados, cucumbers, and I will add a sliced tomato to any meal. During a hot summer night, you can't go wrong with fresh cool veggies! 

Let me know if any of this is helpful! I love feedback! 
Love love, 
C^2

Big News in May 2013

So much to blog about! While my pictures from our ‘vacation’ are uploading, I thought I would take a moment to make a few BIG announcements here on this little blog… 

Ahhheeemmmm.

I am teaching summer school for 6 weeks this summer at our Pre-K. We applied for a grant, got the grant, and I was selected to be one of the teachers. I’m teaching with an amazing group of ladies, and one of my sweetest friends will be working with me all summer. It’s a win win really! 

Speaking of Pre-K….

I will no longer be in Pre-K. I will be teaching first grade in the 2013-2014 school year. I am very excited about the move, but I’m sure I will miss Pre-K! In fact, I went to visit my new room today. I know I will have a very busy summer! 

Speaking of being busy…

I will be entering my second season as the Cross Country coach, and also adding some basketball this year.

Speaking of adding sports…

Coach will be the new Varsity Baseball HC. Add that to wrestling and football. Like I said… I think we will be pretty busy.

Coach and I have really prayed about all of these blessings. We are both 100% positive that this is our calling and we are just fulfilling our calling for God! Can’t change our minds on that!!! 

Coach just handed me the remote and walked out the door for baseball workouts. Dinner is in the crock pot. Dub is snoring at my feet. Absolutely nothing is on the TV so I’m browsing for my next book to read. I’d say life is pretty much amazing on this 28^th day of May!

Happy summer, y’all!

Love love,

C^2

13.1 & The Look

I am pretty sure that not a soul on the planet knows me more than my husband does. I like to tell him he doesn’t have a clue about me… but let’s face it… he is usually right on target when it comes to figuring me out. Like that time in pre-marriage counseling that I tried to fib a bit on my love language…. Yeah. It is totally “Gifts” and I tried to claim it was “words of affirmation.”  He totally knew that he doesn’t have to tell me I look great… just buy me the dress that makes me look great and I’ll buy you the matching shirt and tie. Is this bad? Probably.

Anyway… this story has a point. My husband KNOWS that I can get myself into some pretty tough situations. When he first realizes that I have made a slam dunk ehhhhh decision… he gets this look. This look is a mixture between having the words, “CARLEY! What were you thinking?!”sitting at the tip of his tongue and the cautionary glance of waiting for me to pronounce my defeat. Never. Gonna. Happen. I always cover up his look with my over the top enthusiasm. “Oh this is great!” “I’m so excited!”

Well, Saturday, May 4, 2013 Coach gave me this look. You see, since January 1^st when I made the New Year’s resolution to make every day count, and pump up the cardio I have been searching high and low for a half marathon to run. Then I spent a good solid month creating my 30 Before 30 list. I really wanted to run a half marathon this year! Well, I would search on all of my fave running sites for a race to enter. They were all either 200+ miles away, or $$$$. I did not want to have to travel for a race, and I didn’t want to pay an entry fee as big as a mortgage payment to RUN! Come on! I run every single day for FREE! Why must you charge me $200 to RUN?! (Rant over.) I recently became a member of the coolest group of runners. It is a South Georgia group called “Runners for Christ.” They host lots of races from Macon to the deep south. You earn points for each race you run. PLUS, you get to run for Christ, all while donating to local schools or churches. LOVE THIS GROUP! Well, I noticed that they were having a small local race that was going to be about an hour from my house. The race was advertised like this: Run the 8 mile race, the 4 mile race, the 1.1 (Country mile) race, or ALL 3 for a half marathon for one entry fee!!! Ummmm…. YES! No traveling, no hotels, no time off, low entry fee, AND to a perfect group that deserves my $$$. I signed up without any hesitation. I had already been training pretty hardcore for the past 5 months. Hardcore meaning daily runs with one LONG run a week. I was ready! I took it as a sign of this race just being meant to be.

Race day came and a cold front came rushing into the south without any warning. Oh, and it brought the pouring rain with it. It was 47*, and POURING! We get to the race site and it is in the country! I mean…. Far out! I remained calm. Then it was time to get my bib. I go to check in and chat up with the person in charge. He tells me (with Coach standing right next to me) that I can run all three races by stopping after each race, or just run all the way through. However, if I decide to run all three, I would most likely be the only one doing that. 250 folks and I am the only one wanting to run all 13.1 nonstop. Now, several folks were doing 13.1. Just breaking it up into 3 races. (Why? No clue.)

This very moment is when I got the look. I knew my husband really really wanted to tell me that I had officially lost my mind. I get no credit when it comes to these races. He is ALWAYS worried about me. I guess it is love. I am sure holding back was painful, but all he said was… “You sure you wanna do this?” I will admit, I am NEVER the first in a group of runners. I like to hang in the middle to be sure of the route we are taking. This meant that I was going to have to trust the tiny arrows that were placed out on the road to lead me to the 13.1. So, with the look of great doubt from Coach, I start my true Carley ways. “Oh yeah! This is going to be great! I am excited to see the roads in this area! Plus, I’ll be the winner no matter what! Hahahaha.”

Well, I layered up, (it was chilly) set my watch and hit the road. I was with a pack of runners for the first 8 miles. At the finish line when everyone else was finished and resting for the hour until the start of the next race, I was the soaking wet kid that ran right past the booth. I had another 5.1 to finish! Now that it is over, and I am sitting in my warm house with dry clothing on I can say the race was wonderful! The constant dripping of water from my hat did not even slow me down. The rain was seriously pouring down on me. When training, my longest run was last weekend and it was only 10 miles. I finished that in 1:13. I was a little worried about the extra 3.1, but I had a feeling I was going to be OK. I finished the 13.1 in 2:21:14. My legs started to feel tight at mile 11, so the last 2 were the hardest. I finished the run with a smile! I kept thinking… I get to knock something off my list already! I filled my iPod with some new NeedtoBreathe (pun slightly intended!) and had it on repeat for the last two songs. I guess the fact that “I am washed by the water” was playing is quite amusing now!

Coach’s unofficial job at races is to take pictures at the finish line. Afterwards he admitted that he only got two because he was really unsure if I was finished. It took 3+ hours for my first half, and I looked like a beat up horse when I finished that one. So friends, I only have 2 little iPhone pictures. However, it was pretty much the most amazing feeling ever… I may or may not be addicted and already searching for my next one! Well, 13.1. 

Love love,

C^2