Nourish Yourself: #whatsbeautiful

Since I wrote this post about A Typical Day in my life thoughts have been lurking in the back of my mind that I don't really take the best care of myself. Yes, I run daily. Yes, that is good for my heart and soul. Yes, I try to eat as clean as possible and strive for nutritious home cooked meals. Yes, I slipped some days. Yes, I am on target 99% of the time. But I feel I fall short in the pampering department. I just don't do it for myself and it comes down to budgets.
I am not good at spending money on myself for anything outside of my running related expenses. As much as I may want to feel like a beautifully pampered woman, I save those cents for groceries, pampering darling daughter, treating the family to dinner out once in a very rare occassion, etc. But is this necessarily right? Yes and no and I really don't want to go long into running a family on a budget, I just want to say, moms, you do deserve to pamper yourself.
After writing about my typical day I realized, I don't spend much on toiletries and often go to the bargain. And as I sat there with itchy skin thinking about it I remembered how when I was pregnant I indulged and bought Oil of Olay Ribbons to shower with daily with dreams of avoiding any stretch marks due to well nourished skin. And the calming scent soothed my soul. Over 5 years later, I am no longer moisturizing my skin and I am scratching like crazy. And I did the crazy. I indulged in another bottle of Oil of Olay Moisturizing Body Wash and you know what, I feel pampered when I scrub up. Within days, I am less itchy but not perfect yet and it feels good.
My next battle, my hair. It seems limp and unhappy. I know running and sweating puts a lot of stress on it but what if I good make it happier by nourishing it, and myself, a bit more and still not break the bank. Perhaps the Pert Plus or Suave Kids 2 in 1 shampoo, darling daughter likes the picture on it, isn't enough. Perhaps I need more? Perhaps not. I really don't know so if you have a favorite hair care routine please let me know! I feel every woman deserves to feel beautiful since we are each beautiful in our own ways.
That is one part I love about the What's Beautiful Challenge with Under Armour. I am so lucky to be a sponsored partiipant, you can read more about that HERE, as I can see it changing me and my own personal perspective about my training and my own beauty. I am finally able to call myself an athlete. You can hear me talk about that in the video below. I am embracing the challenges and trying new things. I am becoming stronger and more focused on my goal. I am saying #iwill when things get tough and moving forward. I am getting back up when I fall down and am not discouraged. If we truly push ourselves to test our limits I believe we will fall down. I see it as part of the challenge to becoming stronger. And in all this, I will remember to pamper myself to allow the goodness within me to shine out!

Daily Gratitude: I am thankful for the moments when my stomach doesn't hurt.
Daily Affirmation: I have a beautiful heart!