Let's Chat!

It has been quite a while since I have done one of my "Let's Chat" posts; which are my random thoughts and shares about all things related to life lately. Since I like to keep things light and easy on a Friday, pour cocktail of your choice, and let's talk...

Most of you are probably aware that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. I have teamed up with Sketchers and they have sent me a pair of their durable performance but absolutely stylish special edition shoes. 

Sketchers wants our help in the fight against breast cancer. More so, they want to know who or what you fight for. Why do you run? Why do you exercise? What is your purpose? 

I run, I exercise, and I try to improve myself every single day. I just want to be better today than I was yesterday. To me exercise is not just about my body. It is about healing my soul, pushing my limits, and becoming mentally stronger. I fight and I try everyday for my father who has terminal cancer, for my mother who battles Multiple Sclerosis, and for me. I have had the hardest year of my life and overcoming heartache of this caliper has been debilitating more days than I care to admit. However everyday I try. Everyday I fight.

Tell us: what do you fight for?

More information about my absolutely fabulous special edition kicks:

My style is called the Skechers GOrun 3. Awareness is designed for speed with innovative performance technologies to foster a barefoot running experience while offering impact protection. Breast Cancer Awareness edition. Skechers Performance proudly supports the American Cancer Society in the fight against breast cancer

• Breast Cancer Awareness special limited edition
• Improved breathability and flexibility
• Roomy forefoot. 3 layer Power-prene mesh on front panel allows for support while offering ample room for toe splay
• GOimpulse sensors offer flexibility and feedback for a responsive running experience
• M-Strike Technology™ promotes a midfoot strike
• Custom Fit insole is removable for an even more minimal feel
• 4mm Heel Drop to bring you closer to a natural barefoot experience
• Resalyte™ Midsole - Proprietary lightweight injection-molded compound with memory retention helps absorb impact
• Nearly seamless flexible mesh upper with lace up front
• Skechers Performance proudly supports the American Cancer Society in the fight against breast cancer
• This special collection celebrates those who use sports and fitness to lead an active, healthy lifestyle

I received so many kind messages and last week regarding my post desperate for a new beginning. I think that post was the scariest one I have written yet. I was truly at a breaking point though. Every ounce of me was begging to be heard and understood. Once I published that post, I felt like I was held responsible. Which was needed. 

Since then I have felt like a weight was lifted off of my chest and I have been a lot happier. I have felt "OK" lately, which is really, really nice. I am taking it day by day, and I have made necessary changes, so now, I am ready to close the chapter on writing about that pain. I have written about it a few times, I accept it, and I understand, so now it is time to move on. Does that make any sense?

To help with my situation, last week I purchased 5-HTP and Sam-e. Both of which are natural supplements that with help stress, mood, depression, and anxiety. Plus Sam-e has helped with my RLS! I have absolutely felt a difference, which has been fantastic. 

I am steadily dream chasin' all day everyday. Thus I ordered my first round of business cards! I designed them myself and I love the "glossy" finish. I was pretty proud for my first time. I truly love writing, blogging, and all things social media promotions, and marketing, so I hope to keep growing; so far, so good. The hustle must continue though!

Speaking of blogging and growing, my friend Jasmine has the same state of mind. She is the proud owner of Fleurty Bands, which are super cute affordable, and stylish headbands. Headbands have been go-to lately because all I do is throw one of those bad boys on (it must match with my outfit, of course), then go on about my day.  I love seeing women chase their dreams and go for what they want in life, so help me support small and wonderful business. 

Jasmine has generous enough to offer to a coupon code for 20% off of your order, which will be valid through November 30th, 2014! Click here to check out her collection and order your band today!

Join the fun and link up with these fabulous ladies today!

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Good Wine, Big Hair, A Budget Diva, and Cat Food...?

Happy Friday, everyone. I was originally not going to blog this morning, as this is my SEVENTH post this week, ha! However, 7 is a lucky number so I thought I would just share a few random things that happened this week and products I love. I started this morning off by picking up Crackbuck's for my boss and I. That made me come alive, thus I can write now.

Monday my best friend Kelly came over to my apartment when she got off of work. We had girl talk and a bottle of the best wine I have ever had. Sauvignon Blanc is my favorite type of wine and this bottle is the best. It is not sweet, but still has a rich fruitful flavor. Plus it's only $10 a bottle.

A few months ago when I took Marty for his annual physical and check up, the veterinarian told me he was almost a pound overweight. He is mostly hair and naturally a big cat due to being part Maine Coon, but nonetheless, he has some chub that needs to be fixed. 

It has been hard.

He is addicted to "Temptation treats" and knocks me over if I dare step in the kitchen and not offer him some. I have been transitioning him off of those treats and his regular cat food, to a natural, grain-free diet. I am sure a lot of you have seen the "Blue Buffalo" pet food commercials. I have, thus I decided to try him on it since it seems authentic and healthy. The doctor agreed. 

I have to say, I am shocked at how much Marty likes this food. He is usually "over" dry food quickly and will not eat it after a week or two, but not this brand. I have had him on this weight control kind for 2 months and he devours it like it's filet mignon. It just goes to show that quality does make all the difference, even with our pets. He gets half a cup of this in the morning, then half a can of Variety Pet's "fine dining" grain free canned cat food at night, which he also loves. I want my baby happy and health forever and ever.

Yesterday I needed to make an Ulta trip. I was out of my favorite dry shampoo and decided to try the "Powder Play" from Big Sexy Hair. I love big, voluminous hair; so if there is a product people are swearing by, I am going to try it. The verdict on this product is that it is worth every penny. Combine "Powder Play" with the dry shampoo, and my volume is out of control! Also, the dry shampoo does not make hair roots oily either. Win!

When I finished my errands and the gym last night, I had a letter in the mail from Sirius XM giving me a 3-month free trial of XM radio since I purchased my new car. I have never used XM radio so I am excited to try it out. I love talk show type things, so please leave any recommendations if you have them. My favorites are raunchy comedy, paranormal/ghost talk, motivational and inspirational messages, and celebrity gossip. 

Then I opened my email and Time Warner sent me two advanced screening tickets to see "Sin City" this upcoming Wednesday. They are also providing free concessions. That was unexpected and very welcome; especially since I die a little each month when I pay my cable bill. I can't wait to go.

Those are great additions to go with being a diva on a budget!

Lastly, I updated my about section so take a peak and let me know what you think. Now I believe I am finally out of things to write about so I'm signing off. Have a great weekend everyone. I'm linking up today; you should too! 

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Let's Chat: All About The Week + Giveaway Winners

Happy Friday. On Friday's, I like to link up with these fabulous ladies and chit-chat about the week. Friday's just feel mellow and easy like that. Coming back to work this week after 5 days off was brutal. I hate the way it is always like for me. Once I am off of my normal schedule for more than a couple of days, it's hard for me to get back on it. I have been struggling. 

At least after my first day back at work on Tuesday, I had tickets to an advanced screening of "Let's Be Cops". I loved it, too! It was hilarious and raunchy. Everyone in the theater laughed out loud the entire time. You could tell everyone was really enjoying the movie.

I love to read and wish I had time to do it more. Because I have not been sleeping well, I have been reading when I get into bed to help. Here is what has been on my Kindle lately:

The Happiness Project: I heard so many great things about this book. Unfortunately I have to disagree. The author is happy. She leads a charmed life; has a solid marriage, healthy children, owns a home in New York City, went to law school, and they have a very comfortable lifestyle. The author just wants to be happier. Her plan of improving her life was well thought and executed, but not profound or lifechanging in the least. I found it very, very hard to relate to her. I purchased this book when I was going through one of the worst times in my life, and all I kept thinking was "She doesn't know how lucky she is". I am not judging her by her outward appearance or tangible pocessions, but by how she described her life herself in the book. I commend her for her intensive study and investigations into being "happy" and enjoyed the philosophical references, but overall I could not finish. I stopped about 100 pages in.

Master of the Mountain: I love this book. It is just that simple. It's sexy, easy to read, and realistic. I enjoyed "50 Shades of Grey" like anyone else, but it was too much. It was too unreal and too much of a slap in the face to anyone who understands and practices any part of BDSM (sex is almost the least of it, truth be told). Though this book has a lot of sex scenes it, there is still a sweet story as well. I am invested in the characters and reading fast -- those are my traits showing I'm into a book.

I am excited about the feedback I received from people curious and interested in reading my book. The pressure is sure on now! I am working hard and hope to have it finished by the end of next month. I will then send to 10 people who showed interested to read and provide an honest review. I find myself doubting my ability a lot now, but I am just going to try the best I can. Since my best friend left for the beach this past Saturday, I sent a copy of it with her to read while lounging by the ocean. She sent me this picture on Monday - very cool! I hope one day to search #PrettyLies on Instragram and see millions of other people posting pictures like this, ha!

I received a fabulous shipment from the best nutrition company known to man; Quest Nutrition. Their loyalty to customer satisfaction and customer service is unsurpassed. I received my favorite Quest Bars, of course. But I also received their new protein chips. If you read My Weekly Nutrition and Training Plan, you see that I eat protein chips pretty regularly, so when Quest announced their new protein chips, I was excited. As expected, they are great. My favorite is flavor is BBQ. They have a great "crunch" to them like regular chips do, they're flavorful, and they have 21g of protein. It's a complete win. Quest also sent their "miracle noodles". You may have heard about these before. They have virtually no calories, fat, or active carbohydrates. The only downside is they have an awful "seafood" smell when you first open them. I do not eat seafood at all so this is especially discouraging when I open the package. Luckily, it goes away completely once they are rinsed. It's a wonderful substitute for pasta so I am eager to try. 

There are some special women I would like to introduce you too. I am fortunate to read the most inspiring blogs and get to know the intelligent and driven women. I feel like we can never be surrounded by that enough. Please stop over and say hello to them.

Akirah is passionate about helping other women. She left an abusive relationship after 4 years of turmoil and pain. She encourages women to be brave and know their self-worth and even offers her resources to help. She and her husband live in Pittsburgh and she works as a licensed social worker. She spends her free time writing and connecting with women in an online community called “Our Brave Hearts.” Akirah is also co-director of Pittsburgh’s chapter of Hollaback; a movement to end street harassment. 

Maegen is a dear friend and former co-worker of mine. What I love about her most is how beautiful she is inside, not just her outward appearance. She has dedicated her time and blog to tackling issues that desperately need awareness. In world where self-worth is valued by the label on your shirt, the number in your account, sex, and partying, she raises awareness on how wrong it is. She challenges women to find themselves internally and create confidence by your values, morals, education, goals, and dreams.

Ashley is a good ole' southern girl living in a small town in Texas. She graduated from the University of Arizona Little Rock in 2012 with a double major in Psychology and Criminal Justice. She is currently digging deeper into her walk with Christ and loves all things books and girly. Ashley has awesome style and fashion and I love seeing what she comes up with next. 

Last, but not least we have the giveaway winners! Thank you to everyone who entered and congratulations to those who won.

Kimberly, Meredith, and Mary, please email me your shipping addresses so your Quest Bars can be sent!

Dani, please email me the style and size of the Quest Nutrition shirt you would like!

My advertising information has recently been updated so check it out and let's do this!

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All About The Week!

In honor of my birthday on Wednesday, I am taking a 5-day weekend. I was off today and go back to work Tuesday, so my weekend is well under way. The week has been pretty fun and I had a wonderful birthday. I received a ton of messages, texts, and comments from you guys which consistently put a big smile on my face throughout the day; so much so that my cheeks were hurting, hehe.

Tuesday evening after the work and the gym, mama and I decided to go out since it was her last evening in Charlotte with me. I was spoiled after her staying 5 times. I still cry every time she leaves, too. While we were out, we grabbed an ice-cream cupcake for my birthday! They were from a local ice-cream shoppe and were delicious.

I did not take my birthday off of work since I wanted to do a long weekend. I worked as usual then hit the gym. I felt strong and pushed hard. I did 20 minutes on the StairMill, an upper body weight circuit, then ended with a mile of sprint intervals on the track. Like last week, I pushed my speed to the limit. I was dead after but it felt amazing. However, my right heel was hurting a lot. It is still hurting tonight actually. After the gym I rushed home to finish packing to go out of town. I packed all of my healthy must have snacks, made myself a power smoothie (fresh kale, spinach, flax and chia seeds, orange juice, pineapple, and mango), and then I was on my way.

I drove to Greensboro to spend a couple of days with my fabulous grandparents! When I arrived, my grandmother had a couple of birthday presents waiting for me in "my room". She bought me another bottle of the pineapple vinaigrette I made a couple of weeks ago when she and I went to an olive oil store, and an adorable manicure set. She then told me she found an old photo album when she was cleaning. We looked through a lot of my baby pictures and I loved the ones of she and I in my old Barbie car. I was obsessed with that thing!

I did not sleep well last night so I was up early this morning. I had breakfast with grandma then did some writing while starting the first season of "Breaking Bad". It was a great setup I had going on if you ask me, ha!

Later in the afternoon we ran errands then went to her best friend's hair salon so I could get my roots touched up. I can't believe how my fast my hair is growing either. I cut it at the beginning of June and it has already grown well over an inch. It's volumious too! If there is one thing I love more than big hair, it's bigger hair. I swear by Biotin.

After my hair was finished, we came back home to get ready, then she and my papa took me out for my birthday dinner. We went to one of my favorite restaurants; The Village Tavern. It was heaven in my mouth. I had a bleu cheese wedge salad (wedge salad's are so much cooler than regular salad's by the way) and a chicken dish that had these flavorful black beans.

The rest of the evening was spent talking, making plans, and enjoying time together. Spending time with my grandparents rejuvanates my soul and motivates me to keep working hard. They are my biggest supporters and make me feel like anything is possible. They were not always like that though; I had to prove myself. It's a refreshing feeling! Now I'm off to watch more "Breaking Bad" and try to get a good night of sleep.

Linking up today!

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Let's Chat: All About The Week

Happy almost Friday! I am so happy it's Thursday evening, my body is aching. This week was absolutely exhausting.  It was all about 12 and 14 hour work days: meetings upon meetings, lunches, visitors, client dinners, and assisting my President (which is part of my normal duties, it was just escalated this week). It was a ton of work because I organized the agendas, meetings, and meals, then attended it all as well. I rocked high heels all week, too! My feet are killing me. I have to say though, now that it's over, I feel accomplished and proud. I truly love our weeks that are a bit chaotic like that.

Monday morning, I went to purchase drinks and refreshments for the week. Of course with my luck, the flood gates of heaven opened, and I was out in it all day. Wednesday evening I had a strategic planning dinner meeting. I was able to pick the place. We went to a restaurant called "131 Main". I had never tried it, but really wanted too. Simply put, it was great. I am still salivating over my meal! I had a delicious pear martini and the best, juiciest, and most tender steak. The mashed baby reds were phenomenal too. If you are ever in Charlotte, you must try it.

Last week I lost 2 pounds! That brought my total to a 62 pound loss since November 25th. However, I am sure after this week, I gained the 2 pounds back, ha. I was a little off schedule with working long hours, missing the gym some, and eating off of my plan. That's life though and it will happen. I just have to be flexible, find a balance, and always get back on track -- which I do. Tuesday night was one of the evenings I did not have to go to a dinner meeting so I went to the gym per usual. For some reason, I had the BEST work out I have had in a LONG time. I did 30 minutes on the StairMill alternating between 65 SPM and 90 SPM-- I even threw in a couple of sprint intervals at 160 SPM. I did my usual upper body weight circuit, backsquats, then I did a mile and a half of sprint intervals in our indoor track. 

The sprint intervals were the icing on the cake. I ran track in high school. My short, muscular legs were of good use for speed running. I was a fast runner. I never sprint anymore though. When I was heavier, it hurt too much, so I just left it alone. I forgot how high sprinting makes me feel. I literally pushed through my sprints like I was running for my life... and it was incredible. I knew I would not be able to workout Wednesday, so I made sure I pushed myself with a vengeance. Wednesday I was sore. Today I am deathly sore! Talk about hurt so good. The craziest part is that my lower abs were the sorest of all. Running really uses your core so I was happy to be that sore. My core is weak. My legs were also screaming. I couldn't train I was so sore. Delayed onset muscle soreness was in full effect. I will absolutely be incorporating sprints in my weekly training routine now. Lesson learned!

My birthday is Wednesday! I will officially be the big 2-5, which in my opinion, is a pretty big milestone! I will be a quarter of a century old. I will not longer be in my early 20's. I will be 5 years away from 30. Holy crap, where does the time go? I swear yesterday I was boarding a plane for California for my 21st birthday. Since my birthday is Wednesday, my mom came down today and is staying until Sunday. We got the celebrations started early! We went to Kohls and I got a super cute pair outfit: a pair of faded jeans with holes and a fun black tank. After, we went to one of mama's favorite restaurants in Charlotte, "City Tavern". I sipped on a delicious Cosmo, she had her usual Sangria, and as we were leaving, my waiter gave us a piece of chocolate cake for my birthday! We were stuffed so it is in the fridge now. 

Every once in a while, I like to promote my good blog friends, sponsors, and/or anyone else that sticks out to me. I happen to have a few amazing sponsors this month who definitely deserve to be recognized. Please head over to their blog, say hello, and make a new friend. Also, on Wednesday I updated my advertising page, so if you have a blog and/or business and you would like to work together, let's talk!

Maegen. My good friend and former co-worker at Urban Active Fitness. She is a beauty queen (in my eyes and in a lot of pageants eyes as well, ha!) but she is so, so, much more than that. I was really happy a few months ago when she told me she started a blog for one of her classes. Luckily, she still writes even though the class has ended. Maegen writes about a lot of social issues that we as women have to endure in today's world. The standard definition of beauty, unrealistic expectations, and pressures of today's media. We are so much more than our outer appearance, and Maegen's mission to make sure every woman knows that. I am all about empowering women -- I am a total girl's girl, so I want to support and help her every way I can. 

Another inspiring blogger is Jessica. Her blog is named Healthy is Happy. How true is that, by the way? Healthy is happy. Healthy is beautiful. She is really fun to follow because with her, you get a little of everything. She is hardworking, dedicated, and passionate. She is also fun and easygoing. You get inspiring fitness ideas and her journey, along with glimpses into other parts of her life. Not to mention all kinds of business and blog information -- which is personally my favorite. You have to check her out; there is a TON to see and learn from her and her blog.

My girl, Trace. This girl is either going to inspire the hell out of you or make you really jealous. She is plugging away at her fitness and weight loss journey, and every time I see a new picture on Instagram or a new blog post, I am amazed. She really is giving this her all, made it a lifestyle, and has stayed immensely dedicated. Heck, I feel like I am going through her journey with her now. She has stayed that consistent and it has been awesome seeing her transform. She is a great friend of mine with positive energy that is contagious, and watching her succeed and lose weight keeps me motivated as well. She is definitely someone you want to get to know. 

Join the fun Friday linkup's here!

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