Calling All Girls, Wanna Get Dirty??

Another 5K? Oh Yeah, Baby!

Well, when I was saying I needed to find another 5K, I wasn't really expecting something like this. How much fun would this be….gettin' dirty for a good cause?!?! What the heck, count me in!

Get Dirty and Just Keep Swimming

Join my team "Get Dirty and Just Keep Swimming" to help support breast and ovarian cancer awareness. Dirty Girl’s official charity, Bright Pink, is the only national non-profit organization focusing on the prevention and early detection of breast and ovarian cancer in young women while providing support for high-risk individuals. 

I am an 18 month survivor this June because of early detection and would love for you to join me for a day of mud, fun, sisterhood, and friendship. No athletic and/or running ability needed. And you can receive $10 off your registration by entering the promo code MUDGAL10.

 Click here to join my team!

Why not throw t-shirt designing into the mix…

Keep Calm and Just Keep Swimming Storefront

How it Began

I found this really cool place online that makes custom apparel when I was looking to design a tank top to wear for the Race for the Place. After several weeks searching high and low for online stores that A. weren’t overly expensive and B. had no minimums, I decided to go with Customized Girl, based out of Columbus, Ohio. While they were more expensive than a traditional screen printer, for the fact I could custom design a tank top for me and design something similar for anyone else on my team who wanted a shirt AND we could all get different styles and there was no minimums, I was willing to pay a little extra. I absolutely LOVED the shirts I ordered when they arrived and couldn’t wait to wear them. A repeat customer I would be! On my quest to find a tank top with another saying on it a couple of weeks ago, I really didn’t like anything that was already available on the internet so I thought, "why not design my own and go back to Customized Girl and have it made there." So that's what I did.

The story continues…

Not too long ago, a friend at work shared with me that her fiancé’s sister was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and asked me where I got my tank top from. She wanted to get something that had her soon-to-be sister-in-law’s new mantra “f#ck cancer” on it. She was just going to put the words on a shirt and I remembered seeing a shirt online somewhere that had the “u” replaced with the breast cancer ribbon so I told her I’d come up with a design and see what she thought. In the meantime, I was on the website and noticed Customized Girl offered storefronts: you design shirts and when they are purchased, you make a small commission. I thought, “why not.” And there is how my storefront “Keep Calm and Just Keep Swimming” came into being.

What’s really cool about the items on my storefront is they truly are customizable.  If you like a particular design but don’t want the shirt it’s on, or say, perhaps you want to put it on a coffee mug instead, all you have to do is simply select the design, and in the in the upper right corner and select “Customize this Design.” On that screen, you can add text, swap out the item, add something to the back, make the design larger, smaller, etc. You could even put the design on a shirt for your favorite pooch! The possibilities are endless!

I will admit, while the commission may not be all that much to where I'd be quitting my day job in the foreseeable future, I am pretty excited that I can incorporate my love of graphic design into creating “fun wear” for myself and others. All proceeds from my t-shirt sales will be donated to The Gathering Place's Annual Race for the Place 5K.

Here’s the link to my storefront:  Keep Calm and Just Keep Swimming

Check back often as I will be adding designs as the spirit moves me.

Update

Thanks to all the t-shirt sales I had over the last year, I was able to donate $73 to the Gathering Place's 2015 Race for the Place 5K.

25 Ways to Burn 100 Calories ...

Now that I have been counting calories, it’s pretty surprising to see how quickly what I eat adds up. I bought a heart rate monitor to use when I exercise to see how many calories I am actually burning. I use MyFitness Pal to track both calories going in and calories going out and at times, it’s frustrating because limiting myself to a certain number of calories in a day leaves me feeling like I’m starving by the time dinner comes around but it’s also making me more conscious about what I’m eating which, in turn, is helping me make better choices. For instance, one Double Stuffed Oreo has almost the same amount of calories as six pita crackers with a dab of cream cheese and raspberry jalapeño jelly on them. I would be lying if I said I didn’t grab an Oreo from time to time for a quick sugar fix, but having six crackers as opposed one cookie is definitely a lot more satisfying so my calorie counting ways is helping me think twice before reaching for those cookies when I want a snack.

Since burning calories is important if you are trying to lose or keep off weight, I am always looking for ways to burn a little extra. I came across the following article this morning listing 25 ways to burn 100 calories and thought it was interesting enough to share. Chewing gum, eating an apple rather than drinking apple juice, or playing pool? How great is that! I was especially pleased to learn bowling made the list because we bowl just about every Friday! And rather than sit down after it’s my turn, I usually stand “just because”. Now I know that standing is helping me burn just a few more calories!

Happy Monday and enjoy!

"25 Ways to Burn 100 Calories Just Like That" by Ava Feuer

Interesting Article on Hydration

This was a very interesting article on hydration and how men's and women's needs differ so I thought I would share.

Are the Hydration Rules Different for Women

When I was doing the fitness challenge group last month, one of the "posts of the day" was about eliminating sodium from our diets; not just eliminating chips, pretzels, and high sodium foods, but leave salt out of recipes, don't use it to enhance the flavor of your food, etc. so reading the comment about how women should consume a little bit of salt before a good workout kind of caught my eye. If what the article says is true, I just might have to get myself a bag of Ruffles to eat before my next run. That counts, right? =O)

In all seriousness, I thought it was a good article and worth sharing.

Personal Victory!

Today I signed up for the Race for the Place 5K.

The weather was nice when I got home from work so I decided to go for a run. I was feeling a little tired and a little unmotivated so I thought for sure it would be a short run. Oh, how I was wrong. I am not sure if it was runner's high that kicked in or because I was thinking of my friend, Kris, throughout my run and for some reason I was feeling inspired, but today I ended up setting a new record myself: 4.51 miles with a pace of 9:50! This may not be that big of an accomplishment to someone who is a seasoned runner but for someone like me who has only been on 10 runs in the last year, and for someone who only a few short months ago could barely get out of bed to do anything because she was in such a slump..yeah, this is huge!

Commence happy dance!

The "Race" is on...

Today, I officially signed up for my first 5K. On National Cancer Survivor's Day (the first Sunday in June), The Gathering Place holds their annual Race for the Place.

Last year, I did the 1 mile walk. This year, I am running the 5K in memory of my dear friend and sister in pink, Kris Stefanac. Click the link below to go to my personal page and read more...and feel free to either join me (they offer a 1 mile walk too) or sponsor me for this great cause.

http://shar.es/SjS5A

Keeping the Wheels on the Bus

Why is it that I do so well (for the most part) saying on track, drinking lots of water, and watching what I eat during the week but then the weekend comes and the wheels completely fall off the bus? Perhaps this weekend was just bad in general because my husband was out of town and I didn't feel like cooking? Friday nights we bowl so we did  our usual pre-bowling dinner. That was supposed to be my "cheat night." My sons were both off doing their own thing on Saturday so I met a girlfriend for dinner. They were home different times on Sunday so I had a "date" with my oldest for lunch and a "date" with my youngest for dinner. Over the course of the weekend, I ate out four times (ugh) and while I didn't completely pig out, I certainly didn't pick the least calorie options.  I think I'm just going to have to chalk this up as my "cheat weekend!"