Hello to all my dear friends out there!!!!!

I apologize for being MIA as far as blog writing has been concerned these last few weeks. As many of you who know me personally can attest to, my boys (pictured above on our family vaca in Hilton Head) have been keeping me quite busy all summer!

Cole is starting his senior year at Kaneland High School and our summer has been full of road trips to various universities. A lot of fun, sorta sad/scary and VERY time consuming! Between that and following him around to watch as many of his football camps and 7 on 7 events as possible to make the most of the time I have with him still in high school, I’ve been very on-the-go!!!

Chase is going into 7th grade and is still a 3 sport athlete, so we went straight from travel baseball into football without much of a breather! One team just isn’t enough, so he’s playing for his Kaneland Harter Middle School football team AND his TriCity Chargers travel team. BUSY!

So enough with the excuses…the point is, whether you’ve missed my blog posts or not, I’ve really missed writing them. I’m a verbal person (did that really even need to be said?) and I get a lot of my best thinking done when I’m putting my thoughts and words into writing. I am at the point in my life where I realize how valuable (and short) the time with my boys is becoming, so I don’t regret a second that I’ve spent being at their events, driving them around or just plain being home as much as possible when they have been home this summer, BUT…..

School starts Wednesday and I will have my days back and I am ELATED!!!!! I mean VERY excited here! If you could see me now, I’m actually doing a happy dance on my deck thinking about it!!!!!! Hey, like I used to tell them when they were little “Mommy would love to have you home every minute of everyday, but it’s the law that kids go to school, so it’s out of my control. I will just have to suffer through getting some time in the house alone…” Hahahahahahahaha!!!

I love the summer…it’s probably my favorite season of all, but I also love routine and the two just don’t go hand in hand. Summer is fun because it IS a break from the everyday routine and that’s great, but I’m ready to get back to it. I’m ready for everyone in my house to have a reason to get up and get going and to have a schedule they need to follow. I look forward to coming home to a clean house after work…or at least a house the way I left it, rather than trashed from a full day of teenagers manning the fort while I’ve been at work!

How about you all? Are you ready to get back to a healthy plan? Are there some pounds that crept on while you were busy having fun this summer that you’d like to shed before the holidays? What are your goals? What would you like to have happen in the last half of 2013 as far as your health and weight go? How can I help you achieve those goals and what you really want???

There are certainly personal goals I’m looking forward to working toward this fall and I know that being at my Weight Watchers meetings will play a huge role in helping me a accomplish them. I love the ideas, inspiration and support that we all share with each other each week. It’s something that can only be understood by those of us who have struggled with eating and weight challenges. It’s incredibly empowering to surround ourselves with folks who are winning that struggle and are willing and HAPPY to share their secrets to success. I’m looking forward to having everyone back to attending on a more regular basis.

Remember, (I am reminding myself as much as you!) there is no failure when it comes to managing your weight and health. It’s all just feedback, that when paid attention to and used to make adjustments, will help propel you to achieve whatever upcoming goals you set. My hope is that we can all look back on the summer with terrific memories, happy feelings and most of all….no guilt.

Here’s an outstanding recipe from Susanne. A HUGE shout out to her….since she sent me the below email, she succeeded in achieving her 10%!!! That means she has lost 10% of her body weight since joining Weight Watchers and is still going! Yahoo, Susanne!

Hi Terra,

Hope you’re having a good week! We were out of town for a few days this week so I missed seeing you. I am keeping in mind what we talked about in last week’s meeting….focusing on the big picture, improving my health will take time, remembering that a single week’s gain doesn’t take away from the big picture of many weeks of good changes and weight loss. I lost 1.4 pounds this week and am close to my 10% milestone…I know I will reach that goal this summer. Thanks for all your support and encouragement!

I enjoyed a new recipe for lunch today that is floating around facebook and pinterest a lot this month, but just in case you haven’t seen it, I thought I’d write it up. It was delicious!

Avocado Chicken Salad (makes 4 servings)

8 ounces cooked boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I used left over cooked chicken breast from dinner the night prior)
1 avocado
1/4 chopped onion
juice of 1/2 a lime
2 Tbsp chopped cilantro
salt and pepper, to taste.

Start with cooked chicken breasts (either use prepared cooked chicken, left overs or you could poach the chicken breast to cook it). Either chop or shred the chicken into bite size pieces.

Mash the avocado and lime juice until smooth. Add cilantro, onion and cooked chicken breast. Salt & pepper if desired (it’s pretty flavorful with the lime juice, so it doesn’t really need salt).

You can adjust the amount of chicken breast and avocado to the portion you prefer. I enjoyed a nice size lunch portion by only making 1/4th of the recipe with 2 oz. chicken and 1/4 avocado, served on a light english muffin, but I think it would be great over a tossed green salad.

Thanks, Susanne!!

Enjoy!!

-Terra 🙂