Years ago, my fitness inspiration, Janet, challenged many of her gym-goers to eat completely clean for the month of November (with, the exception, of course, of that gluttonous day we like to call Thanksgiving). Although it was definitely a challenge for me, I LOVED the changes that were made to my body, and loved the way I felt. But, eating clean became more difficult, and slowly many of those processed foods made their way back into my life (Diet Coke, I'm looking at you). I still try to eat well, but there are times where I completely and utterly fail. 

This November, Janet has a new challenge for us. It focuses on doing a TON of planks throughout the month, and she's also posting daily tips on her Facebook page. If you want to partake too, use the calendar below, OR, follow Janet on Facebook (Janet Nevills). Today's challenge was to hold a plank for as long as we could. I made it about a minute and a half with solid form, but I know it will improve over the next few weeks! (I'm also thinking it would have been better to do the plank BEFORE my morning run. Lesson learned!)

Today I am grateful for: 
1. Coffee and conversation with my dad this morning. We don't get to do that much, and I SO enjoyed it. 
2. Freshly laundered sheets (is there anything better?!)
3. A meal with our good friends Samantha and Rob tonight
4. Runners, especially our LPHS students who placed SO WELL at state today
5. The power of prayer

A month of gratitude

November is easily my favorite month of the year. The leaves are still changing. The weather is still decent. The best holiday ever falls in this month (Thanksgiving, how I love thee). And the whole month is about gratitude. 

So many times in life, we get so caught up in what's going wrong. We think about the problems at work, at home, with our friends, with our family. Sometimes, it's so easy to focus on what's going wrong instead of what's going right. 

But what if we stop for a second and think about everything that's good in life? What if we start making a list of all the awesome things we have to be grateful for instead? Even if it's only a few things every day, I think your list would be incredibly long by the end of the month. 

My goal is to add a few things to my list every day this month. Today I am thankful for:

1. My loving fiance, who has been so helpful and supportive of me
2. Students who are motivated and dedicated to their school work
3. Netflix. I adore it. 
4. Sweet potato chips. Delish. 
5. People who smile at others. 

A recapitulation of the past few weeks

Oh bother. Where have I been? Well, I have no good excuse... except that it's been busy! We had company in town last weekend, and we were off to Philadelphia this weekend, so it's been a busy few weeks of loved ones and traveling. 

Last weekend was our annual Saint Mary's tailgate reunion. SUCH a fun time being with my college friends, enjoying some football, and relaxing in sweats while we watched the ND game at home. On Sunday, the ladies left, and my mom and I headed to the Century Bride Expo at Century Center. This was my first bridal expo as an actual bride. I've been at them plenty of times with friends or for Jazzercise demos, so it was fun to actually be there to see if there were any services we still needed. My favorite part, though, was that RANDY FENOLI from Say Yes to the Dress and Randy to the Rescue was there and gave a presentation! Seriously, he's the best! You can tell what you see on TV is the real Randy, and he truly just wants all brides to see their beauty. I tweeted at him before his presentation, and during it, he mentioned me, and called me his BFF! Love him! 

Randy Fenoli, my new BFF

This past week was a lot of prepping to get ready for our trip to Reading and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I still hadn't met Dan's grammy, and we wanted to make sure I did so before the wedding. We left on Wednesday after school, and stopped overnight in Ohio before making the rest of the journey. I hadn't been to Pennsylvania in years, and as soon as we got there, my ears started popping, and my Pennsylvania question accent came back. It's a Pennsylvania thing! 

While we were there, I got to meet grammy and Dan's cousin Vanessa, her husband, Dan, and their baby, Aurora. We also got to visit with Dan's family who had been out here in August, which was so nice! The Putts are a great group of people. Lots of laughter, lots of love, and lots of delicious food. We pretty much ate our faces off. Fabulous. 

Dan and me at the Yuengling Brewery

On Saturday, Dan and I took a side trip to Philadelphia. I had never been before, and there's so much awesome history there, I couldn't resist being that close. We just finished studying Deism in my Junior Honors English class, so walking in the same places as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry was pretty amazing. We got to see the Liberty Bell, The U.S. Mint, Benjamin Franklin's grave, Independence Hall, the site of the original presidents' house (underground, and recently discovered), and the home of Betsy Ross. On our way out of town, there was one more place I wanted to stop and it turned out to be SO INCREDIBLY COOL! We went to Edgar Allan Poe's home (he lived there when he wrote The Raven and The Black Cat) and got to see all the rooms. AMAZING! 

The Liberty Bell

I am a literary geek and I don't care. I freakin' loved this place. 

Two champs!

Seriously wonderful trip. Now we're gearing up for a very busy week. Between work, meetings, Jazzercise, Halloween, and errands, there will be a lot happening. Bring it on! 

Stress and tranquility

The past two weeks have been a complete whirlwind. Between school, an ENDLESS amount of grading (because, I am a genius teacher who assigned three writing assignments all around the same time), parent/teacher conferences, homecoming, Jazzercise, various meetings, shopping for bridesmaids dresses, and spending time with loved ones, I don't even know which end is up anymore. But, it's Sunday evening, I'm COMPLETELY caught up on grading, and I have the house to myself while Dan is in Tennessee (bring on the chick shows (and, consequently, crappy snacking since no one is here to watch me)). So, there's that. 

The past weeks have been so tough. Our loss at school is still devastating, but our kids are determined to honor Jake's memory and continue supporting one another. Additionally, I was pushing myself way too hard with way too many Jazzercise classes, and I feel like I'm just now starting to regain some energy (not to mention, my poor voice, which seems to leave me every other week or so lately). I haven't been sleeping as well as I normally do, and that has certainly taken its toll. I am hoping very much that we are on the upswing, as I could use a little break! 

My stress the past few weeks has translated into an unhealthy amount of stress eating. It starts innocently enough... I just want something sweet in the evenings. But, then one thing turns into twelve things, and I go to bed feeling bloated and sweeted-out. I'm working on it... but, those candy corn M&M's and other seasonal treats just keep talking to me!

At school, my students are working on their Benjamin Franklin Planner projects. They had to pick one of Franklin's twelve virtues (well, he had thirteen, but one is chastity, so that one's not an option for their school project), and I decided to do it with them. I'm on the quest to tranquility... balancing life, relaxation, and stress. It's working-ish. I do find myself feeling less stressed and making more time to relax, but I'm still having trouble with sleep and snacks. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. 

So, this week, I'm making a really solid attempt to eat clean. I have a wedding dress to wear in seven months (SEVEN MONTHS!!!), and want to feel my best in the mean time. Hoping the tranquility will be something that starts coming easier to me. I envy those who can feel calm and at peace most of the time!  

Remembering Jake

When people ask me what I do, and I tell them I am a high school English teacher, they often tell me that they could never do it... the working with teenagers part. Teenagers, as a whole, get such a bad reputation. And after a week like this one, I just know that the perception of teenagers is completely wrong. 

On Wednesday night, I received a phone call from my coworker. She could barely speak, and finally uttered that one of our students had died. To say I was stunned is an understatement. I went into complete shock. And, while I trust her with my life, I truly didn't believe it until a few hours later when a phone message came from our principal telling us that, in fact, Jake had passed. 

I knew Thursday was going to be a terrible day at school. Unfortunately, Jake is not the first student we've lost during the school year, so I braced myself for the reaction. Nothing can prepare you for walking in the day after a student death. The hallways are silent. The kids walk together, but no one speaks. They stare straight ahead, and they cry, and they hold hands, and they hug one another. And although this is not the first time our school has faced tragedy, going through it once or twice or ten times doesn't make it any easier. The loss of a young life is always tragic, but when the student dies during a school activity, it somehow pulls a little differently at your heart strings. 

Jake was a junior at our school, and I teach predominantly junior classes. Even if I didn't teach juniors, I don't think it would have mattered. Jake is one of those kids who knew everybody. And, if you've caught any of the news articles or reports about him, it's true -- he was truly the nicest, most wonderful kid everyone says he was. 

Thursday and Friday were tough, to say the least. Those who knew him are in different states of grieving. Those who didn't know him hurt for different reasons... because they see their friends hurting, or, maybe because this was a realization that life is fragile, and death can impact anyone. 

Over the past few days, I've had a lot of different opportunities to see our students in a new light. I've watched them help each other down the hallway. I've seen a pat on the back turn into an all our bear hug. I've seen tissues passed. I've heard some of the most eloquent, encouraging words I've ever heard before. And this all reminds me that teenagers are AWESOME. 

It's not even just our kids. The neighboring high school, often one of our biggest rivals, made a huge banner, signed it, and brought it to our school. Then, last night, they each wore an orange sock at their homecoming game. Other schools have had moments of silence or put Jake's football number on their helmets at their own games. They're all with us. They're all Slicers right now. They all feel this loss. 

More than that, I've seen so much love going toward Jake's family. The kids are clamoring to help. The community that has gathered to support them is unreal. I pray it's offering them some comfort through this terribly tragic time. 

My favorite thing that has come out of the teenagers are their observations. One of them told me, "You know what's kind of cool? Jake died of an enlarged heart. If he had to die, doesn't that seem fitting? That his heart was too big?" 

And people say teenagers aren't perceptive. I am honored to know these kids. 

Rest in peace, dear Jake. You will live in our hearts forever. 

The weekend I ate everything

What a perfect Saturday. Currently, Dan and I are watching Bob the Builder with Dan's nephew, Cole. He's been entertaining us for hours now. We went for a walk, ate pizza, had a dance party, and watched a lot of children's programming on Netflix. Thank God for Netflix. Dan and Cole are crawling in a box together and calling it a tree house. Love.

Swoon.

I'm casually dubbing this weekend, the weekend I ate everything. Here's why. 

Last night after work, we met up with four other couples for dinner. It's completely rare that the ten of us ever have free time all at the same time, but we were able to make it work. We ended up eating at Soho, a Japanese Bistro in town. It was our first time there, and we loved the atmosphere and the food. So, after we ordered some sushi, we also got soup, salad, fried rice, vegetables, and chicken. A LOT of it. And, when we were done, we didn't want to separate yet, so we went to Coldstone for dessert (naturally, I went for Oreo creme with cookie dough mixed in... a cool 620 calories!). It was so great to visit with everyone, and the food was delicious. 

This morning, Andrea, my coworker Tom, and I took on the challenge of the Gameday Chase 10K. I felt great after my run last weekend, but I didn't sleep well last night and woke up feeling sore, so I wasn't sure how today would go. Thankfully, running with my friends made all the difference, and we were able to support each other to the finish line. Final time? ONE WHOLE second faster than last week. I am nothing if not consistent. 

Tom, Andrea, and I finishing the race strong!

After I'd cleaned up, we met up with my parents and Godson Jacob to go to Middlebury. Why, you ask? Because we wanted to do something different and eat delicious food. Naturally, we ended up at two places: Das Essenhaus and Rise and Roll Donuts. If you've never been to one or both of these places, I can safely say you're missing out. There's nothing better than Amish noodles, mashed potatoes, chicken, CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CREAM PIE, and, of course, following all of this up with Cinnamon Caramel donuts. Think I'm overstating the awesomeness of these two establishments? I am not. So, after eating our way through Amish country...

...we ordered pizza tonight for dinner. Because we didn't have anything to make? No. Because we didn't have any leftovers? No. Because we were super hungry? Heck no. We ordered pizza because we had Cole over and it was an excuse. UGH. 

Oh, and then, we had some Rise and Roll donuts. Double ugh. 

Thankfully, we don't eat like this every weekend, and there was a 10K involved today, but tomorrow is definitely time to get back on track. Lots of fruit and veggies and healthy autumn awesomeness coming our way! 

I'm looking forward to not setting an alarm tomorrow, to enjoying a quiet day, to doing some grading, and to relaxing while we watch the second to last episode of Breaking Bad! Excited! 

Kilometers for Cam

Today was the sixth annual Kilometers for Cam race in St. Joe, Michigan. Dan and I first heard about this race last year from my running friend, Sherry, and really loved our experience last September when we ran the 5K. So, this year, we decided to push ourselves a bit and go for the 10K. But first, a little background. 

Cam lives in southwest Michigan with his family. Cam is one of the few children in the world who has Progeria -- a disease that causes his body to age faster than it should. Cam has been at the race both years, and is such a cute kiddo -- he's often playing around with other kiddos, and he always sends us off at the beginning of the race. You can learn more about Cam here.

So, we arrived just as people were lining up to begin the race. Dan and I had talked about aiming for a time of under an hour. We were able to run last weekend at a nice ten-minute pace, and thought that would be a good goal for our first ever 10K. We also decided to run this race together. Dan tends to be faster (read: A LOT faster than me), but I tend to be able to go farther, so we figured we could combine our strengths. 

The weather was absolutely perfect -- in the 40s when we started -- my favorite running weather. In the first mile, there is a HUGE hill to climb, but we made it up with ease, and by the time we checked in with each other, we were already at the water station at mile 2. When one of us started to feel achy, we slowed down a bit, but we were always able to pick right back up. And I don't know if it was the change of scenery, or the fact that we were running for a great cause, or what, but the miles really did fly by. We even ran our fastest mile in the last mile, which was an awesome feat for us. Dan and I ended up crossing the finish line, together, at 54:32, meaning we ran at an 8:47 pace! Super proud of our fast time, but more proud that we did it together. It was the perfect way to kick off a Saturday morning! 

After the race, we met up with our friends and Dan's family who had all done the 5K. So nice to visit on a sunny morning! 

Friends, post run and refuel!

Dan's sister, Roni, and nephew, Cole, taking a ride on the carousel! 

I thought a lot about the reasons I run today. And one of the biggest reasons is because I CAN. And this thought reminded me of a fantastic video I saw at the ASNE Reynolds Journalism Institute this summer. If you haven't seen this, I highly recommend it. There is still so much good in this world.