Struggle #18: Going Home

She is so adorable
though, I can't help it!

So do NOT get me wrong, I absolutely love coming home and hanging out with my family and friends! It is so nice to see everyone and just relax for a little bit. I don't mind letting someone else take care of me either or just spending time with my mom. I also get to play with my dog, Holly, and she is absolutely adorable. I have already been called out for how many dog snaps I have sent... Oops. But coming home also poses its own challenges.

The first big challenge of coming home is trying to eat healthy and not get caught up in all of the distracting food that is everywhere around me. I come home and there is fresh baked banana bread just out of the oven along with brownies and a host of cookies in our junk food drawer. So tempting to just have a little bit of everything. But so far (roughly 36 hours) I have held strong. We will see how Thanksgiving goes tomorrow though... I am nervous for all of the delicious deserts my family makes. My family is known for baking so I tomorrow could be a totally different story.

I told myself that a few nibbles will be ok and for all intensive purposes it will be, but I have to hold strong to that. I cannot let myself go crazy and feast on all of the food. I have been doing so well and I need to stick to my guns. I can still enjoy thanksgiving and all of the family time, I may just not enjoy all of the food that I want to, but there are definitely worse things.

Quick side note... I made these chicken roll ups last week that were amazing. They were super simple and I had plenty of leftovers for the rest of the week which was great! It required me to smash the chicken (which ended up being a good stress reliever), spread some pesto on them, add a little prosciutto and pop them in the oven. Such an easy dish and definitely delicious.

Tomorrow I get to spend time with my grandparents from both sides and also my great aunt and uncle. They usually spend the holidays with us and that always leads to us singing The Sound of Music songs. Our favorite is "The Lonely GoatTerd" (it may be Goatherd but by family is weird...). My brother, mom, great aunt, and I always sing. Everyone acts like they hate it but they secretly love it. I always look forward to hanging out with them! You never know what the day may bring.

Another challenge of coming home is trying to find time to workout. I want to spend time with my family but I also don't want to fall off track. I feel like I am making so much progress in the gym and I don't want to go backwards. I am lucky enough to get to workout with the CrossFit North Peoria competitors today! It will be a great workout but it isn't until 10a.m. this morning and that is just in the middle of the day for me. I feel like my day doesn't start until I work out so waking up at 7 and then waiting 3 hours to workout kind of kills me haha. Hence why I thought it would be a good time to blog!

Approaching this Thanksgiving I have been thinking about what I am thankful for. This blog really helps me think things through so here is a short list of what I am thankful for. (In no particular order)

PT ladies!

1. My PT school friends. They may think I am crazy for working out all the time but they always support me and are willing to have fun with me! Last week, unfortunately, Hunter Hayes cancelled his concert we were al going to but we still made a great night out of it. We hit up our favorite Mexican place in STL, Tortillarilla, and then just hung out together!

Girls night!

2. My CrossFit St. Louis family. I was lucky enough to hang out with them last Friday night and like always it was a great night! We have some new people joining us and I am excited to get to know them better! The night started with a girls night with Jen and JoAnna. We decided to get dressed up and head to a neat little restaurant in St. Louis and then we met up with everyone else! I may have ended up dancing the night away with everyone!

3. My family. They are the best and put up with all of my weirdness too. But spending time with them is always a great time. I get to go out with my brother tonight, I am helping coach my other little brother in swimming this week (which he is getting really, really good at), I get to go shopping with my mom this week, and don't forget the constant but loving pestering from my dad. Also all the Turkey Week activities with my extended family!

That is the short list but there are many many more. Anyways, I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving weekend and gets to enjoy some delicious food! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Just and awesome picture that I love! Teamwork makes
the dream work! Love these ladies!