You can find inspiration at any point in your life. It could be something you read, or something someone said. For me it was over the weekend when I watched a documentary on HBO called Little Miss You Can Do It.
Abbey Curran, from a tiny town in Illinois has cerebral palsy participated and won Miss Iowa and was the first woman with disabilities to be in the Miss USA pageant. She realized that young girls with disabilities never have an opportunity to participate in such events, so she started her own.
The one girl that stuck out the most to me was a little girl named Delaney. Here she is on the left in this picture.
You know what Delaney’s biggest dream is? To walk without assistance and to some day keep up with her brothers and sisters. It got me thinking about the times when I didn’t feel like exercising, I was too tired, or just too lazy. What a gift it is to throw away health because we don’t feel like it, when there are others who only dream of doing what we consider simple – walking.
I hope you have an opportunity to watch the documentary – and hope that you find inspiration in it as well. All I know is that I dug deep last night when I was doing Insanity simply because I could! 
I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of spinach/egg beater omelets. Except this time, it was kicked up a notch with my tomatillo salsa and pickled jalapenos.
The star of the plate? Um, the pickled jalapenos. Holy smokes – you have to make these – stat! They are spicy, but flavorful spicy and who doesn’t like to start out the day spicy?! 
Well, I know one person – Tony!
I ended up swimming again at lunch. This time I was there during adult swim and for 15 minutes I was literally the only one in the pool. It felt weird because all the kids were sitting on the side of the pool, legs dangling in the water just watching me go back and forth.
I had to laugh because I was looking at the clock to see what time it was, and didn’t realize that was the picture I took – its super bright out and I didn’t see the photo until I got in the car.
Lunch was chicken and black bean tacos, with more pickled jalapenos, salsa and chips. I could eat this every day and be a happy camper.
Over the weekend when Tony and I were shopping, I asked him to pick up some beef for kebobs. He brought me already cut up beef stew meat and threw it in the basket. Before I met Tony, I never would have thought to grill beef stew meat – but you guys, its absolutely delicious. The secret is just to not overcook it – you either have to cook it on high heat and sear it or low and slow.
I marinated the beef in my best beef marinade ever all day yesterday – just threw it in a ziploc before work. I served it over 3/4 cup of basil rice and some tzatziki sauce on the side.
Lyle was at our front door again. I know he’s still looking for some of my granola, but I need to make some more – I ended up giving him some almonds and he was happy with that. I think if I gave him the chance he would walk right in the house!
After watching Ray Donovan from the DVR (really loving that show) it was time to get insane. Last night was 20 minutes of Cardio Abs and 45 minutes of Max Cardio Conditioning.
I put that picture on Instagram last night and Alex asked if that’s an improvement from when I started. I think so! Here I am in Austin with my daughter-in-law about six days before I started Insanity on June 1. And while I’ve only lost about 8.5 pounds since then, I definitely think my body is getting smaller – and stronger!
Stats for the Day:
- 1381 calories, 56 fat, 110 carbs, 17 fiber and 107 protein
- 32% of calories from carbs, 37% from fat and 31% from protein
- 30 minute lunch swim
- 20 minutes Cardio Abs
- 45 minute Max Cardio Conditioning
Tonight is a Max Cardio Recovery, meaning its mostly strength and I am usually not as sweaty of a mess, not to say that it isn’t hard though. While I love the pool, I think today I’ll run a 5k – its been a while since I’ve run. It will be interesting to see how I do!
I’ve got balls on the menu today! Thai meatballs with a spicy red pepper coconut sauce over white rice and sauteed zucchini. You’ll just have to come back tomorrow for that recipe. It’s going to be amazeballs.
Make it a great day! Question of the Day: What has inspired you lately?
There’s nothing like the relief of finding what you’re looking for.
Ok, here is the problem As shown in the eioutqan below, nitrogen oxide, NO, is common pollutant that is produced by the reaction of nitrogen and oxygen gases. Since these gases are the major components of air, nitrogen oxideresults when air is heated in furnaces, motor engine cylinders, or other high temperature combustion areas. N2 (g) + O2 (g) 2 NO (g)A. Given that the standard enthalpy of formation for NO2 (g) is 90.25 KJ/mole and using the absolute entropies listed below, calculate the free energy change for this reaction at 25 degrees celcius. Is this reaction product favores at 25 degrees celcius? Absolute entropiesN2 (g) 191.5 J/mol times K O2 (g) 205.0 J/mole times KNO (g) 210.7 J/mol times KB. If the reaction is not product-favored at 25 degrees celcius, determine under what conditions it would be product favored.Show ALL work.Thanks for any help I can get!
I will check out the documentary. My 6 year old sometimes gets whiny about having to stand too long or walk places. I won’t hear it. I try to instill in him a sense of gratitude for our good health. I remind him how blessed we are to have the ability to move so freely.
I’ll be spending the weekend at my friend’s house to lend a helping hand. She is my inspiration lately. She is 6.5 months pregnant with a one year old. The day after she discovered she was pregnant with her second she was told she had breast cancer. Since March she has undergone a lumpectomy, mastectomy and five rounds of chemo. She has lost her hair and the ability to lift her son. Yet through it all she remains positive and bright. These days whenever stress or frustration wells up inside of me I remind myself that I have nothing to complain about, take a deep breath and move on.
Oh Aimee – I am so sorry for your friend, but am glad that you’ll be able to help her this weekend. It’s got to be tough not to be able to pick up your own son! Hugs!
YOU inspire me lately. You make me feel lazy and I feel a bit ashamed reading this post after skipping my run this morning because I was too tired. We have a HBO subscription but the documentary isn’t on it (yet). I’ll keep checking and will watch once it’s on.
You said in a previous post what you should do after Insanity. I just bought Tapout XT to add to my collection. You could check that out, some reviews said it’s better than Insanity (their words not mine).
And I love Ray Donovan too. Watched it last night too. However, I tape the show when the rerun is on Monday night. I forgot our cable company had mailed that they had to make adjustments. So after 34 minutes it was over because the cable was out for a couple of hours 🙂 There’s another rerun tonight and I’m taping that to watch the last 15 minutes. It’s a great show.
Yep, we tape Ray Donovan on Monday too, just because we have too much other stuff taping on Sunday night.
I will check out that Tapout – never heard of it! And I hope when you feel a bit too tired to get out there, you’ll remember this post – Hugs Fran!
Woman, you have got me inspired! Well, that and I have my 10 year high school reunion coming up in mid september…I’m quite terrified to see all those people!
You look amazing right now Mel – you’ll rock your 10 year reunion!
Amazeballs balls! ahaha! Yeah, you look great Biz, there’s a big difference! Thanks for including pics of Lyle, he always makes me grin. Such a cutie! Little Miss You Can Do it brought tears to my eyes-love!!
You got some nice muscle definition when you flexed your bicep. 😀
Thanks M!