The weather forecast is finally nice for more than a day

Seriously though. For the next week my weather forecast shows in the 50's which is some of the most exciting news I've heard in a long time. This warmer weather finally means getting back into my running.

Ever since I started running outside, I have developed a hatred for the treadmill. The treadmill is my worst enemy. It hurts my knees, my hips, and every single minute feels like 20. End rant on treadmills.

So at my school we have a beautiful running path in the area. I miss it so much. The path is the place where I can escape from all of my problems and just breathe in the fresh air. I cannot wait to get back on it, and this week is the week for it. I am going to pair it up with my Tuff Girl classes and hopefully start to see my body grow every stronger. 

With that, I hope to start sharing some of my favorite running gear, tips, motivations, etc.  So stay tuned for that.

With that here is a little motivation to end you Saturday (or start, no judgement) with....

Pinterest Find

I just feel so strongly about this because it applies so many different ways in life. I used to be afraid of getting judged at the gym, so I wouldn't do the things that I really wanted to there. I used to only let myself use the elliptical or the treadmill, because I was so afraid to go into the weights section of the gym to try and learn how to lift weights. Now that I am part of an all girl gym, it makes it easier, but I only go there once or twice a week and I still have my school gym. I am working on getting over that fear because it's just keeping me from doing what I want to, purely based on fear. This doesn't just apply to fitness though, it applied to love too. There are so many things that can go wrong when you put yourself out there and trust someone completely. It's actually quite terrifying, but if you let the fear of what could go wrong keep you from trusting someone, or from even trying to have a relationship, then you are letting the fear win. You have to consciously decide that you aren't going to listen to the little voice inside your head that tells you to be afraid.

Transformation Tuesday!

Since the beginning of this year I believe that I have transformed myself into someone better. I had one resolution, and that was to learn to love myself. Seems easy, right? No. However, I think I have gotten closer through my fitness journey.

I used to only focus on how I looked, not on how I feel. There was always something that I could pick out that I didn't like about my physical appearance. My one eye is droopier than the other, my stomach looks big in that top, my thighs get huge when I sit down, etc. Now, however, I focus more on how I feel about my body, and on all the amazing things it does for me.

If you would have asked me six months ago if I loved my body I would have told you no. If you asked me now I'd say yes. Here are just a couple reasons why... I allows me to run. My heart beats my blood though my body with every single beat. My lungs exchange carbon dioxide for oxygen. It does more in the gym than I ever though possible... There are so many other reasons too. You might be thinking that some of these things are what all bodies do. We breathe and we pump our blood. But if you really think about it, our bodies do all of this without us even consciously asking it to. The amount of work that goes into one heartbeat is astounding, and now that I understand that it allows me to appreciate my body that much more.

Not only have a found a way to better love my body, but I am finally accepting other aspects about me that I cannot change, and I'm learning to appreciate them too. I have anxiety problems. I stress a lot more than necessary. I laugh a little bit too much sometimes and cry out of nowhere other times. Instead of being self conscious or beating myself up about it, I just accept these things as me. Without all of these different aspects I would not be the person I am today, and I actually like who I am. Don't change anything about yourself, just be you.

Now I'm dragging on, but I'm just so happy with where I am at in life right now. I am so blessed to have the life I have.

Moving on, today I had my first 'official' class at Tuff Girl. It was actually my third class though, just the first one since I am officially a member. It was hard and I thought in the beginning, "I'm never going to be able to do all of that." However, I pushed that negative thought away, and by the end of the class I felt amazing because I completed everything. It made me feel so strong and so proud. Oh and of course today there were having 25 percent off their apparel so I bought a tank. Whoops.

There is the picture of my shirt (front and back) and a little motivation for today.

Have a great Tuesday lovlies! Sorry this post was so long!

Hello lovlies! Hope you are all having a great Monday!

My Monday has actually been quite successful so far!

I am a sister of Alpha Delta Pi sorority, and I am lucky enough to be my chapters T.A.K.E chair! T.A.K.E stands for The Ali Kemp Education Foundation, which helps to educate women on self defense. Each year at my school, the foundation comes and puts on a class for all women who want to attend, and teaches them simple self defense techniques in case they are ever needed. I get to plan this amazing event for next year, and I had a meeting today with last year's chair. We hammered out a lot of details, and started brainstorming for next years event. I have felt behind on this for awhile now, and now I feel like I am just where I should be with it. So I'm feeling quite accomplished right now.

Another reason that today was so successful is that I'm officially signed up at my new gym, and am ready to go to my 10 am class tomorrow! I recently tried out this gym, which is only ten minutes away from my school, and fell in love. It kicks my butt in just the right way. The gym is called Tuff Girl Fitness, and it is all women and in a class setting. After my trial classes, I felt amazing and I'm so excited to feel that way all the time now. I'll post tomorrow how my workout went!

As for today's workout, here is my plan...

However, I may tweak it and go on the elliptical instead of running, because it is quite chilly in Connecticut. As long as you are getting some cardio after the ab tabata portion, it's fine!

xoxo

Back at it

So I'm finally back at school from spring break, which I'm actually excited about. As much as I love home I always end up missing school too. Life is dull without my roommates constantly being around. There is never a dull moment in my room. Being back also means I can get back on board with my fitness. Over break I only ran twice, which is nothing. Tonight I am going to get back to it and get re-motivated.

Some exciting news on that front is that I just joined a new gym! It's called Tuff Girl Fitness. All of the Tuff Girl classes are all girls, and very focused on metabolic training. I tried it out the week before spring break and fell in love and decided to treat myself to a class pack with my tax return money.

However, seeing as you pay per class I won't be going there more than once or twice a week in order to conserve my classes. I will still be utilizing my campus fitness center. At my school, the gym is tiny so you have to go at an odd time to get some breathing room, but I still love it. The elliptical has become my best friend over the winter, because treadmills kill my knees.

My usual elliptical workout is actually a program on my machine. I do the weight loss program. It consists of...

• Four minutes at incline 4 and resistance 3
• Four minutes at incline 10 and resistance 8

I usually have to repeat the program because it only goes for 28 minutes, and I stay on the elliptical for about 40-45 minutes depending on the day. I have found these intervals to be the best option for me!

Here's a little motivation I say goodbye!


Have an amazing rest of your (hopefully) relaxing Sunday!

Hey Awesome Readers!

So I stumbled upon keepcalm-blogon.com's blog today! She is having an awesome giveaway right now! You should definitely go check it out and enter before it ends and you miss it. It has awesome fitness goodies that will be sure to motivate you to start your fitness goals.

I'm thinking about putting together a similar giveaway in the near future! Comment if you would be interested in something like this. 

Go check it out lovlies!

Here's a little motivation for you all today...

I found this on Pinterest today, and it just made me smile. 

Everyone needs to hear something like this every once in a while. So many people get down on themselves because someone else said something awful to you, or made a cruel joke. Try not to let any comments or jokes get in the way of you feel about yourself. No one should be able to change how you feel about yourself, because it should be the only opinion that matters. 

You determine your own value.

Exciting News!

I'm so excited to announce that I am now a part of Her Campus Blogger Network!

I sent in an application for this when I started this wonderful blog and didn't think that anything would come of it so soon. Instead I got an email today welcoming me into the network! This is an amazing opportunity for this blog, and me and I could not be more excited!

Check out Her Campus Blogger Network to find other blogs too!

Hope your day was great lovies.

Prepster Alert

Ever since I started college in the northeast I have found myself getting preppier and preppier. I am now addicted to J.Crew and Kate Spade and I'm not even embarrassed to admit it. Here are some of the looks that I'm dying to have this spring. 

The jeweled peter pan oxford might be my favorite from J.Crew this season. The decor on the neckline is just beautiful and best of all you don't need any kind of jewelry to go with this shirt. From Kate Spade my favorite is definitely the Small Beau Bag. I have loved the beau bag forever, and now they made the mini version which can be cross-body. Best news ever. I'm head over heels in love with that bag. 

Hopefully these items make their way to the outlets so I can get them! haha. 

Hope you all had a great day!

Rise and Shine!

Good Morning My Lovelies

There is a little motivation to start your day off with!

So today is supposed to be gross out here at home. They are calling for rain all damn day. This means that it is a great day to spend with my boyfriend, which is exactly what I am planning on doing today. I'm lucky that he lives in the same hometown as me, and that we go to school together. It means I get to see him a lot. I'm really excited to spend the day with him today.

However, because of the gross weather and the lack of a gym membership I am going to have to take my fitness into my own hands today. I just finished a PE class at my school and it taught me a lot of workouts that only take about ten minutes and completely kick your ass. They also do not require any equipment which is awesome. Today I will be using one of those workouts that I learned and I'm going to share it with you. 

Here is is! So I am going to be posting a lot of WOD posts, so keep your eye out. For this one the point of it is to do each 'round' six times, and do it as fast as possible. If you want to you can time yourself, and save that time. Then in a few weeks you can try the workout again and see if you got better. We did that for my PE class, and in a mere few weeks I improved my time by a whole two minutes. Now this can also be modified to 5 burpees, which I recommend if you are a beginner because burpees kick any and everyone's ass. Don't be afraid to modify! 

This does not look like much, but do not let it fool you. The best way to keep count of what 'round' you are on, I like to use playing cards. Just lay out six of them and when you are done with each round just flip the card over and voila!

If anyone tries this out, let me know how it went!

Have a great day lovies!

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Here's the run I did today. It was my normal three mile that I do at home. I am actually really proud of myself for these times. I haven't been running outside since September or October, which is quite embarrassing to admit, but whatever. These are actually around my normal times. Let's just say I don't run very fast haha. 

Much love!

Spring Break

It's spring break !

So, thankfully, it is spring break for me and my school. As nice as it is to be in my own room with my own bed, I am struggling with motivation at home. At school I do some work pretty much everyday and I always work out in some way, every single day. Now it's been about four days without working out and I feel lazy and gross. 

Luckily, it is pretty nice out today where I live so I think I'm going to lace up my sneakers and go for a little run. Over the summer I got myself into running, and since winter hit I have not been running at all. I really hate the cold, and find it super hard to breathe when it's cold out. So I am very out of practice and I am hoping that it goes well today. 

Wish me luck! 

Motivation

"We lose ourselves in the things we love. We find ourselves there, too."

I found this quote last night on Pinterest and it just really spoke to me because it is such a true statement. 

Just wanted to share some motivation for today.

Welcome Lovers

I cannot wait to start this journey. 

I've finally started to find my way in this world and I want to start to share that with everyone I can. I am finally happy with how everything is going in my life. I have the best friends a girl could ask for, school seems to finally be going my way, I have the best boyfriend that I could wish for, and I've finally started to find my self confidence. 

This blog with have all of the randomness that is a college sophomore's life. I attend a small college in Connecticut, that I bet no one has ever heard of, but that's okay. I live with five of my closest friends, for which I'm thankful for. I belong to the best sorority, maybe I am a little biased but oh well. 

I also just started an amazing journey into finding my self worth, and gaining self confidence. I have found all of these things through fitness. Sounds cliché, but it is so true. I have struggled in the past with my body image, like most women, and I finally decided that I could not complain about my body if I was not going to do anything about it. It has been about eight weeks, which does not seem like much, but it's a great triumph to me. 

Anyways, I do not want to drag this on since I'll be posting on this hopefully every day. 

Remember how beautiful life is, loves!