Back to school

Tomorrow my life is about to get even more crazy. 18 hrs of classes on top of all the other craziness I have going on. Of course I had to create a cute little binder cover for each subject. So I decided I would share it with you all. Find me on Instagram @itsmypurelife and share pictures of your binder. I hope you all have a great fall semester!

I used Archistico  font from dafont.com. You can find all kinds of cool free font on this site so go check it out. Click on the images and save, open up in word and type in your subject!

xoxo,

Faux Cucumber Sushi

What fake sushi.... YEP! I really am not a fan of sushi at all, really the only time I eat it is when I visit one of my best friends in Arkansas. So this recipe was a throw together because I had cucumber that I really needed to use so this is what I came up with. Very yummy, light, and full of flavor. I will give your directions on how to make each separately. LETS DO THIS. 

What you will need: 

- 1 cup quinoa 

- 1 cucumber (try to get one the same size all the way though)

- 1 avocado 

- 1 can of tuna 

- red pepper flakes 

- chili powered 

- salt and pepper

Make the quinoa as directed on the box. While that is cooling place avocado in a med bow and smash, after it is fully smashed add the can of tuna,  dash of red pepper flakes, and chili power (set aside). Cut your cucumber in half use the largest side and start to scoop out the middle where the seeds are. I just used a butter knife and scrapped them out. With the other half start to peel on one side till you have enough at least 5 strips, cut in half.  

(you can use a mandolin or a hand peeler which is what I used) 

Small Roll) Once the quinoa is finished and cooled spread think layer on cookie sheet or cutting board. Roll avocado and tuna mixture into little balls and roll continuous on one side, you want to try and leave the two ends free of quinoa. Place roll in cucumber slices, this part is kind of tricky you have to be gentle but still get the cucumber wrapped tight. Continue till you have no mixture left. 

Large Roll) Once the quinoa is finished and cooled mix about half a cup into the avocado tuna mixture.  Then start stuffing the hallowed out cucumber. You will want to make sure it is packed in there pretty tight. Then slice and enjoy. 

ENJOY

xoxo,

Sweet potato nachos

I saw a pictures that someone had posted to Instagram, whoever you are I am sorry I tried to find the image again to give you credit and could not find it. Since I couldn't find the images with the recipe I just dove right in and tried to create something similar.

This is probably one of my favorite meals to date, it is so yummy and full of flavor. By the time you get done reading this post your mouth will be watering I am telling you :)

What you need:

- 1 med sweet potato

- Olive oil 

- salt/pepper

- half an onion chopped

- 1 tbs minced garlic

- 1 whole jalapeno minced

- 1 bell pepper chopped

- 1 can of black beans (half the juice drained)

- 1 package of ground turkey 

- 1 package taco seasoning 

- Lawry's seasoning salt

- Garlic salt

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Cut sweet potato into half inch slices, toss in olive oil, salt, and pepper till they are well coated. Place on lined cookie sheet or stone and place in the over. Watch carefully and tune as needed till they are brown and crispy. 

In a skillet combined garlic, onion, and jalapeno let sweat down till they become translucent. Then add the can of black beans place on low heat and let simmer for about 5 min, set aside. 

Cook ground turkey in a skillet and add half a package of taco seasoning, Lawry's seasoning salt, and garlic salt before the meat is fully cooked.

Top ground turkey with bean mixture and surround with sweet potatoes. Top with Greek yogurt and salsa. ENJOY

xoxo,

Strawberry shortcake protein shake

If you guys spend as much time in the fruit and vegetable section as I do you will notice they have a lovely display of EVERYTHING you would possible need to make strawberry shortcake.  In my urger to resist purchasing the pure sugar filled cakes I decided to make a protein shake vision.

This recipe is super duper easy all you need is:

-1 scoop vinilla whey
- 8 oz almond milk
- 6 large strawberries
- 1 tsp sugar free/fat free vanilla pudding

Place it all in the blender and boom you have a yummy healthy alternatives to strawberry shortcake.

xoxo,

I'm human, believe it or not.

When I started out on this fitness journey 2.5 months ago I never realized the impact it would have on me as a person and my view of others.  Starting this blog a month or so before my journey began my intention was to use it to keep me motivated and accountable throughout. In doing so I found that posting to social media in general had kept me motivated and staving to reach my goal with an even bigger passion than I intended. Thus leading me to the point of this blog post, I am human I make mistakes, I fall, I post like a mad women to facebook, and I love taking pictures of myself. SO WHAT!

My Facebook and Instagram post are annoying, pointless, and conceded.

I have started on this journey for myself no one else. Like I said before though this journey I have realized how my point of view of others has changed. We all know that we care what we look like but I didn't realize just how much others care what you look like. I feel like as teenagers we grow up with this judgmental point of view, from what brand of cloths peoples are wearing to how much they weigh. NEWS FLASH it doesn't go away when you "grow up" everyday you are judging someone weather it be intentional or not. My post are a simple motivation to keep myself on track and document my progress, if I can motivate myself and maybe motivate just one other person it is worth it.  So please do what you need to do to motivate yourself, those who don't like it will ignore it and those who care will help to empower you along the way. I j challenge you that next time you look at someone or their social media post and think the slightest though it in your head about them remember you don't know their story. Life is full of insecurities don't feed them. 

I act like I am perfect. 

Woah, this makes me laugh. If you know me at all you know I am so far from perfect it is unreal! I feel that some people think that with my post I am trying to make people thing I am this crazy healthy nut who eats only healthy things and wants to be super skinny. WRONG for starters just in the last 24 hrs I have eaten Reese's peanut butter cups and a grande Carmel macchiato. If you want to take the time to look up the amount of sugar and calories in two things you will find that I am not perfect. I have cheat days (usually Sunday) and some days when I just totally abandon what I am working toward. Sure some days I am like "damn I really should of eaten that" and others I think "I am working my ass off I can have a candy bar if I want it". We all have these little things that we fight with any journey SUGAR happens to be mine. So if you see me in the store stocking up on fruit this is my way of trying to defuse my crazy chocolate or sugar carvings. I do not want to be perceived as perfect, I want people to know that being healthy is a journey a lot of people start down and ultimately fail. If we open up and accept each other we can all be imperfect and reach our goals together. 

BOOM the proof and I enjoyed every last bit and drink too!

(Comment below tell me what your favorite cheat snack or meal is)

To those of you working toward a goal.

No matter what the goal is don't let others judgments or self thoughts set you back. I saw a quote the other day that was so perfect. "Your setback is a platform for your comeback" so if you have a small or big setback in your goal just keep going. Unless you give up there isn't any goal that is out of reach. 

I may not get to my fitness or even my business goal in the time frame I wanted who knows I may never get there (yeah I said it), but I can tell you one thing it is that I am going to continue to do it for me and kicked ass the whole way. 

xoxo,

ENERGYbites

As you might know the last 4 months I have been on a journey to get fit and healthy. In doing so doing it all naturally is very important to me. If you know me you know I am NOT a runner, quite frankly I would rather stand naked near a beehive than run. To motivate myself I signed up for a Tough Mudder on September 15, so I am being forced to train and run. This is where the little green pill packing a big punch came in.

an "Yesterday I was functioning on 3 hours of sleep so I took 3 times my regular amount of ENERGYbits®. They gave me so much energy that I then went and worked out for an hour at the gym. Your BITS are unbelievable! Thank you!!!"

-Small Business Owner, Ke MA
After entering a giveaway I won a sample of these powerful little pills. So for the first time this last weekend I ran over 2 miles, ALL AT ONCE. This is huge people, like I said I do not run. Not only did I run the 4 miles I had my best mile time with 7.39 mile. WHEW All I did was take the 30 pills 15-20 min before the workout and I could feel the benefit after mile two when I normally want to stop.

30 PILLS WHAT? Exactly what I though but after reading about the product and given the fact that it 100% all natural I jumped on board. (keep reading more info below)

What are ENERGRYbites?

These bites are 100% spirulina algea. This to me is huge, so not only is it 100% natural no questions asked. This mean that it is food not a supplement, awesome right? On top of that because algea is over 60% protein, the highest concentration of protein IN THE WORLD with 40 other nutritional goodies.

What are ENERGRYbites good for?

• Increasing Endurance
• Increasing Energy
• Eliminating Brain Fog
• Eliminating Fatigue
• Eliminating Hunger
• Balancing Blood Sugar and Mood
• Lowering Blood Pressure

How do I get my hands on some ENERGYbites?

Well you are in luck my friend, I am giving away a sample of these power packed 100% natural pills or visit their website Here.

All you have to do to win is:

-Follow ENERGYbites on Facebook LIKE HERE

-Follow @itsmypurelife on Instagram

-Comment below telling me why you want to win

(winner will be announced on Friday)

Good Luck

xoxo,

Peanut butter dark chocolate chip almond flour cookie

First try with cooking with almond flour and it was a success. I wanted to make a healthy and delicious cookies but try to stay away from as much sugar as possible, these cookies have more carbs from the nut component.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup almond flour 

4 stevia packets

3 tbs brown sugar (if you want them a little sweeter add an extra tbs or two)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 egg

1/3 cup peanut butter 

1 tsp vanilla extract 

1 handfull of dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix eggs and peanut butter together, in a separate bowl mix all dry ingredients. Gradually add dry ingredients to the wet and mix till well incorporated. It will look a little gooey, use a cookie scoop or roll into balls. Use a fork and gently press them down, making the cross pattern. Since I added the chocolate chips the whole cross pattern didn't really work but still helped them to bake more evenly. Bake for 11-15 min till you see a little golden brown on top. 

Serves: 8 cookies 

xoxo, 

New office

It has been 6 months in the making and now my home office is complete. I am so so please with how it turned out, I personally can not work in a space that I am not comfortable in. Since I spend hours at a time editing and blogging it was important and worth the work to create a space that I absolutely loved. One of my main obstacles was finding the RIGHT desk. I looked and looked some more and never found one that was "the look" I was going for. I found a desk on Pinterest that I loved and with some help from a talented and amazing couple the built me my dream desk. I have become a huge fan of "rustic" things or as my husband calls it old so this is the direction I wanted to go with for my decor. The desk along with some mix-matched patterns and personal touched brought my vision to life.

Desk: Custom Made (you can find plans for desk very similar on online)

 Red night stand: Marshall's

Lamp: Marshalls

Dresser: Mine from when I was young 

Throw pillows: Etsy 

Wire basket: Hobby Lobby

xoxo,

Bucket list

I was sitting on the couch the other night and my husband and I were talking about all of the things that we would like to do someday. As I was telling him some things that I have always wanted to do, I realized I have accomplished some and some are no longer accomplishable. Being the visual person I am I ran and got my notepad and starting writing down; now I want to share with all of you. I personally feel that anything is possible and even though some of my goals are might be a tad extreme working hard to get something and then finally getting it is sometimes more rewarding then the goal itself. 

Bucket List

See a whale in the wild

Meet Ellen DeGeneres

Travel to Australia 

Go skydiving 

See Michael Jackson in person :(

Own my own business

Own a motorcycle and be able to drive it 

Be on the Price is Right

Complete the Tough Mudder 

Help a stranger in a big way

Go visit the place in DC my Grandpa loved to go

Live to see a cure for MS

Be a mom 

Walk on Rodeo Dr

Go see ground zero

Release a Chinese Lantern 

Have a full six pack 

See Usher in concert

Take a cooking class

Eat italian in Italy

Go to a red carpet event 

Release a letter in a bottle 

Own a farm

Watch the Cardinals in a world series game

Go to a Victorias Secrets Fashion show 

Ride horses on a beach 

Learn to surf 

Stay in an over water bungalow 

Take a hiphop class 

xoxo,

Chocolate Banana Pancakes

I am finding that there is a healthy alternative to pretty much all the junk I used to eat, which is AMAZING. I recently started following @tastyhealth on Instagram and found that I was stalking her each day to see what yummy recipes she was posting. This morning I tried her Chocolate Banana Protein Pancakes but with no protein powder just because I don't have any.

You are going to LOVE them, they are so yummy. I seriously would rather eat these over regular pancakes, weird? I think not. 

Ingredients: 

- 1/2 cup oats

- 1/2 tsp coco

- 1 tsp baking powder

- 1 tsp honey 

- 2 egg whites 

-2/3 medium banana 

- 2 tsp unsweetened almond milk ( I didn't have any so I used my GoYin in its place)

- Mix all the ingredients together with hand blender. Fry in pan with some coconut oil for 30-45 sec each side.

Frosting:

- 1/3 cup cottage cheese

- 1/3 nonfat greek yogart

- 2-3 tbs honey (you can use sugar free syrup or agave if you want) 

- add some water for desired consistency ( I didn't add any water) 

xoxo,

FOCUS BRENDA FOCUS

I have a TERRIBLE time staying on track. I can be editing or working on something and BAM I think about where I put a pair of shoes or what everyone is doing on Facebook. In attempts to help myself stay on track I have created this little daily organizer, I don't know about you but I am visual if I can write something down and cross it off I am way more apt to getting it done. With one little check mark or cross off I feel like I am getting things accomplished and poof there comes the motivation.

I wanted to share them with you all so below are the images to save all you have to do is click the picture, save and print.  One of them I have left the "dailies" open for you to customize yourself. Hope you all enjoy and lets starting getting some stuff done :)

xoxo, 

Dark chocolate, banana, and oat muffins.

NO SUGER NO FLOUR people.... amazing right! Not only are they healthy they are so yummy. I found this recipe here but I tweaked it just a little.


If you follow the link I did pretty much everything she did but added a little but more banana, added cinnamon, and did half a cup of dark chocolate chips in all of the batter! You are going to be hooked once you try these, I don't have any kids but my husband liked them there for I can label them kid friendly  :)

xoxo,

Grilled dill pickle chicken with a summer salsa

Its finally summer here in Mid Mo, so I wanted to try a little something fresh and fun. My mom made this dill pickle chicken for me once when I was home and I loved it! Since my husband is a pickle addict I had lots of extra jars of juice I had been collecting till I had enough to marinate the chicken in. So here goes....


Take your chicken breast and place them in a baggie or bow and pour all of your pickle juice in with the chicken so they are all fully covered in juice. Place the chicken in the fridge for at least 2 hour, I did mine all day. I LOVE PICKLES :) After you have marinated simply grill or bake.

I am gradually getting better at cooking healthy for myself so, I went to my cabinet and threw this little summer salsa together.

- 1 can black beans (rinsed)
- 1 can corn
- 1 cup chopped broccolie
- half a cup chopped onion
- half a medium sized cucumber chopped
- half of a green pepper chopped
- 2 tbs any low fat vinaigrette you have laying around ( you can substitute 1 tbs balsamic vinegar and olive oil if you don't have any)
- red pepper flakes to taste ( I like my food SPICY so I added a lot)
- salt and pepper to taste

You can really play around with this any way you want add or substitute any of the veggies, everything I used is just what I happened to have already. Nate came home and decided he wanted to make a wrap out of it, so with a little hot sauce he devoured them. Have fun with it and make your own concoction. Comment below and tell me how you made yours or changed it up.


xoxo,

Healthy Chocolate Snack?

I have a serious sweet tooth and if I am around anything sweet I have NO CONTROL at all. So I can't even keep anything like this in the house or there is no doubt I will eat it. So while my nightly Pinterest extravaganza I came across Frozen Banana and Peanut Putter covered in chocolate. What? Apparently people freeze bananas all the time but I had never though of this so right away I went to the store to get everything I needed to make them. My ideas was that these would be a healthy alternative for my chocolate cravings. Let me tell you these things are DELICIOUS!

What you need:
Medium to ripe Bananas
Peanut Butter
Dark or regular Chocolate ( I used dark)

All you have to do is cut the bananas into bite size slices and put the peanut butter in between two half's. I will tell you this was a little tricky the bananas were sliding all over the place so I used a spoon just put a little on one half, laid it on the cookie sheet (with parchment paper) and placed the other half on top. You might have to push down just a little. Place you bananas with peanut butter in the freezer for about an hour. Melt your chocolate and dip away placing them back on the cookie sheet then back in the freezer for another hour. You will want to move quickly dipping so they don't thaw and get all mushy.

Then ENJOY! If they are a little hard when you take them out just let them sit a minuet or so and they will be perfect.

The serving size is approx. 151 calories for 2!

 

*WARNING THESE THINGS ARE ADDICTING IT IS VERY HARD TO JUST EAT 2*

 

 

Love,

 

 

Workout Wednesday People

Week three is half way through and I am not seeing a whole lot of results as far as my body but boy do I feel better! This last week thanks to my E2 I have bumped my cardio up to 30 min. I have been doing 20 min on the elliptical and oh boy I am going to be in a Beyonce video in no time. 3 weeks and counting with doing the elliptical every day and I keep poking at my butt bc I am not used to it being back there! "WHY HELLO THERE!"  I follow up the elliptical with a10 min run.This has been working out for me really well and gets me nice and warmed up for a lift.

This week I also added the Human Trainer into my routine. If you don't know what the Human Trainer is it is an updated and more user friendly vision of the TRX. (here is a video if you want to see what it looks like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsOxoXirztw) This workout triggers every single muscle in your body. Let me tell you I rolled out of bed and did the dreaded toilet hover for 2 days after my first workout. My hope is that with the Human Trainer that I am able to trigger more of my core though out my whole workout.

I love love following other bloggers and they definitely keep me motivated as I need it almost everyday. One blog that I would recommend you checking out is One Haol Girl Blog. I met Tarol though a mutual friend a couple of years ago and the transformation she has made is amazing to me and has made me want to do more. Head over and checkout her blog and story you will love her! http://www.onehaolegirl.com/

<===== This pictures is from this morning! Still a work in progress. Remember keep working hard for yourself and WE will get there :)

 

Love,

 

Giveaway Winners

Thank you to all of you who entered the blog launch giveaway! Choosing the winners was completely random via random.org. Without further ado the winners are:

Kim Mallickrodt: NU2U Bracelet
Janna Osterhout: Pink Pueblo
Don Graham: Beaded Butterfly
Angel Winner: Summerana Photography and Designs\
Megan Liani: Precise Elegance
Jennifer Allen: Happy Organized Life
Misty Agree: Best case

All links accessible thought the giveaway blog post. Please contact the vendor directly to claim your prize. The vendors will be notified of the names of each winner!

CONGRATULATION!!

love,

Week 2 has begun!

 

Happy April Fools Day and the end of my week 1! Wooohooo I made it a whole week eating healthy and working out 6 of the 7 days. I took yesterday off to spend some much needed time with my husband. As for my results for the first week, I lost 4 lbs and kicking the elliptical butt. This knowing I am going to have to post a picture the next week is really keeping me on track! BRING ON WEEK 2!

 

 

On another note I was on fb Saturday just creeping around of course and one of the amazing photographers I follow Benfeild Photography posted on their blog an interview with the owner of G-Fit. She gave some awesome fitness tips for brides or anyone just trying to loose weight. One part that happened to partain to me is those 100 calorie packs. UGH I love them bc it is my little piece of heaven when I know I should eat them anyway but I alway think "oh its just a 100 colories" NOT GOOD. Just like she says in the artical all it does is make me crave sweets more. Here is a link to the block post as well as the G-Fit facebook page.

 

http://benfieldphotography.blogspot.com/2013/03/g-fit-founder-gabby-mooney-shares.html

https://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/GFit30

 

 

Love, 

 

Summer... what?

Regardless of the ridiculous amount of snow still on the ground here in Fayette it is inevitable, summer is just around the corner. So, time to kick it into gear and put away the oreos! If you were able to read my last post you know that getting back into shape was one of my main goals. Lets face it if you look in the mirror and don't like what you see, it just doesn't make you feel good. Which leads me to this point where I get really embarrassed but I think this will help me keep my goal and work harder to get to where I want to be...... the dreaded before pictures. I took these pictures on Monday and I am just now working up the courage to put them up. So here they are, lets face it as much as I don't want to put these on here it will be a lot harder to have to answer to all of my readers and fb friends if I get off track. :)




















Since I started on this little get healthy journey I have had a couple of people ask me what I am doing as far as workouts. This week I have been focusing on 30 min of cardio (treadmill or elliptical), lifting rotating day (legs and arms/back), and at least 10 min of abs.

If I do not have time to make it to the gym I LOVE LOVE LOVE the blogilates website. Cassey is amazing and she will kick your butt in her workouts and she has lots of videos to choose from for the areas you are trying to target. Go check her out http://www.blogilates.com/

To me its not what about what everyone else thinks, if you are happy and comfortable with you ROCK IT! If you are not MAKE A CHANGE, I am finding out it is much easier to make a change than to sit and feel sorry for your self.

Thank you so much for reading and I will be post new pictures updates on Monday of next week.
                             
           




                                   

*I am not certified in any type of personal training, these are just my personal experiences.*