[Fitness, Health and Happiness]

Inspired by my friend, Lee who was inspired by this post at This Heavenly Life.

If I'm a good mother 
It's only because of...

Running
My husband
Coffee
Photography
Weekly menus
Books
Blog friends
Summer break
Bikes
Lists
Family vacations
My job
Early morning
Game night
Movie night
Twilight Series
Popcorn
Iced Green Tea
Music
Working out
Photo walks
Fresh fruit
Red wine
Friends
Movies
Mommy and me days

Last but certainly not least, if I'm a good mother it's only because I'm the mom of 2 amazing kids.

  
 
What about you? What would your If I'm a good mother list look like?

 

   

Loving life again...

 

 
Making t-shirts with my Twilight obsessed daughter. We also made one for her equally obsessed friend with her favorite vampire, Emmett Cullen. Alyssa's favorite "he's so cute" vampire is Jasper Hale. The quote for her shirt, "You held out your hand, and I took it without stopping to make sense of what I was doing. For the first time in almost a century, I felt hope." Eclipse

I'm forever seeking the perfect running shoe. Chad, on the other hand, has decided to run in this next to nothing basically a foot cover. This baffles my mind and I'm so curious to see how it all works out. Maybe the perfect shoe is an un-shoe? What do you think? Short lived fad or the future of running?

 

Always learning. If you ever get a chance to take one of Amanda Padgett's, of Everyday Elements, photoshop elements classes take it. The amount of information she shares blows me away. She is amazingly talented and beyond generous with her actions. For the first time I approach using actions as a way to learn photoshop elements. Each action layer gives me a peek at what PSE is capable of doing.

 

 

Inspiration and creativity. I joined hundreds of others in Creativity Bootcamp this week. My goal for this workshop is to look through the lens of my camera with a more creative eye. A little encouragement to see a little differently. More on this later with some of my daily assignments.

Last but not least, I'm in week 2 of training for Little Miami Half Marathon in August and the Akron Marathon (my first full marathon) in September. Training is going well despite the heat and humidity.

Yeah, life is good again :)

A Week in the Life In Progress...

Recycling day.

Getting dressed in the morning.
 

Receiving and sending morning texts.
 

Alec is reading the Hardy Boys series.
 

Fresh fruit for every meal.
 

Post run stretch.
 

Our Thurs. night chat when Chad and Alyssa get home from cheer. Animated. Excited.
 

Chad went shopping with me and when he saw my camera he asked with a grin, "When is this week long reflecting going to end." We have the best time together.
 

Facebook updates.
 
 
Taking Alec to school.
 

Picking Alyssa up from school.

Looking back through the week it is no wonder why this always turns out to be one of my favorite projects of the year. 
           

Project 365, A Race, Crutches and 8th Grade

Project 365 with Gratitude Week 8

 

I ran my first 2010 race...the Shamrock Shuffle 2010! Despite the cold and rain I ran a 9:30 pace and I was behind Chad only by mere seconds. I'm ready for the next race...The Mini Marathon and Heart Walk in 2 weeks!

 
 

Good news for Alyssa. She has started physical therapy and no more crutches!

 

Last week Alec met with his counselor and started scheduling classes for 8th grade. Wow...my son is going to be in the 8th grade. A son that is talking about college. A son that, "I want to keep on top of things" and has. A son that I am incredibly proud of.

 

 

 
 
 

  

Looking for New Recipes

But not just any recipe. 99% of the time I only use Weight Watcher recipes. I don't totally follow the WW diet but I love the recipes. They provide the nutritional information I need so no need to calculate, healthy, easy to prepare, use have-on-hand or easy-to-find ingredients and my family, with picky-eating children, actually like some of the recipes.

I plan most of my weekly menus with the WW cookbooks. This is the latest addition to my collection 

Annual Recipes for Success 2010

I recently came across this site that is going to end up being a frequently used resource for recipes

Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes

On the menu for this week (All images credited to Gina from skinny taste dot com):

Broccoli and Cheese Mini Egg Omelets

 

Chicken Enchiladas

 

Chicken Roja Vieja with Cilantro Lime Rice and Southwestern Black Bean Salad

 

Crockpot Chicken Chili

 

Spinach and Feta Stuffed Chicken Breasts

 

Add a side dish for each entree and the weekly menu is done. Add a few staples and family requests and the grocery shopping list is done too :)

Do you have a favorite recipe resource?

 

 
 
 

Going Paperless

My attempt to go paperless little by little wherever I can...

Evernote

 

Welcome to your notable world. Use Evernote to save your idea, things you see, and things you like. Then find them all on any computer or device you use. 

I found out about Evernote from a Yahoo group of friends. I use this for PSE tutorials, pdfs, online class notes, recipes, inspiration, references, etc. No printing and easily accessible. This is my favorite paperless tool yet!

My to-do list is kept with iCalendar and Mail

 

I'm keeping a log of miles (running) at Daily Mile.

I keep a log of books I have read and want to read at Good Reads

Favorite quotes are kept on my blog, Life...as I see it (easily accessible for sharing and online projects)

Are any parts of your life are paperless? I would love any suggestions, tips or ideas.

Life in the Conyers' home...

...or maybe the title should be life with a competitive cheerleader?

All it takes is something as simple and random as landing wrong.

 

Immediately start ice and Aleve.

 

It turns out that at some point a landing moved (is that the same thing as dislocated?) her knee cap causing the swelling and deep bruising. The doctor says she should be pain free by Sun.

Check out the latest in cheer fashion. An elegant black knee brace. At least it matches her uniform :)

 

And just because I like this picture...

 

Me? I'm running, reading, scrapbooking and taking a lot of pictures. I also started a new class, Pen Tablet for Scrapbookers at JessicaSprague dot com. I'm looking forward to my first race of 2010, spring, warm weather, blue skies, and sun. I'm done with the snow and cold!   

 

 
 
  

 

Imagine being able to look back at any day of your year and recall what you did, who you met, what you learned. Often we find it hard to remember what we did just yesterday or even last night.

The First 13 Photos of 2010 Project 365 with {Gratitude}

 1/365: Creating 

 

2/365: The best movie I've seen in a long time  

 

2/365: The grocery store and Starbucks every Sunday 

 

 4/365: I read every night before I go to sleep 

 

5/365: The first snow day of 2010 

 

6/365: Sometimes I start my day with a million and one things on my mind 

 

7/365: The peaceful solitude of early morning. Me time to start my day {Gratitude 1} 

 

8/365: A day of playing in the snow 

 

9/365: The men in my life 

 

10/365: We {HEART} computers and all things techie  

 

11/365: Everyday 

 

12/365: Loving the winter days that are above 25 degrees so I can run outside {Gratitude 2}  

 

13/365: This photo is just so Alec 

 

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13 Things I'm Finding the Time to Do

1. Photography. Whether it's for Project 365 or taking pictures just because it is something I love to do.
2. Run 4/week. Train for a half marathon, a marathon and varying distances in between.
3. Be a mom. 
4. Work full-time.
5. Cheer practice and competitions for Alyssa.
6. Cross country or track for Alec depending on the time of year.
7. School "stuff" for Alec at Jr High and Alyssa at Elementary School (volunteer, donations, etc.).
8. Be a wife.
9. Create. So many projects to choose from. Maybe a scrapbook layout or mini album, a photo collage or a canvas project.
10. Learn Photoshop Elements 8.
11. Strength train 2/week.
12. Read.
13. Social networking. 

Sometimes it feels like I accomplish nothing. Sometimes I feel like I can accomplish all of this and more. A little planning and flexibility seems to be the key.

Obviously not everything is equal priority. I won't/can't put off being a mom whereas I could skip social networking. Regardless, these are the things that are important to me. These are the things that make me who I am right now.

2010 Goals

2008

 

2009

 

Now planning for 2010...
 
My 2010 Goals

1. Complete the following projects: Yesterday and Today, Album Magic, Week in the Life (2) and 2010 December Daily
2. Run 500 miles
3. Read 75 books
4. Conquer a particular hill (running)
5. Learn PSE8
6. Year-Long Photo Project (not quite sure yet if this will be a P365 or another year of Project Gratitude)
7. Finish putting all layouts into albums (Big Picture reorganization) and label with circle tags 

This week I'll create the 2010 mini to document my intentions.

What are your goals/intentions for the new year?