Happy Thursday everyone! It has been one slammed week for me, but I love keeping busy, so it’s been great. Tonight is my Arbonne “launch” party so I’m excited and nervous about getting this started. I know I’ll have at least a few people in attendance! I pretty much have something every single night this week and because of mine and Nick’s work schedules, we will never get the chance to have lunch together this summer. Since I had a free night last night, I suggested that we rent a redbox (I actually said rent a Netflix and Nick got a kick out of that) and cook dinner together. I thought that the Pineapple Water chestnut lettuce wraps would be good and refreshing now that it’s heated up in Mississippi. I remember being surprised at how much I liked them when Mary Lindsey served them at our Health Starts Here graduation.
Yummy pineapple lettuce wraps for dinner with @ncu2 It reminds me of my first #healthstartshere graduation at @wfmjacksonms with @thereal_ml_jackson #healthyeating #healthyliving #wholefoods #plantstrong
A photo posted by Heather Black (@hblack79) on May 13, 2015 at 5:28pm PDT
They definitely turned out to be delicious, but they weren’t very filling so I’m glad Nick had already prepared some lentils as a side. He just cooked the lentils normal and then when we were ready to eat a bowl, we seasoned it a bit with cumin, paprika, and red pepper flakes. They turned out a lot more delicious than I expected. Nick has been raving about lentils ever since the Engine 2 challenge and has been telling me that I really need to incorporate them into my diet, especially since I’m a vegetarian, but I just never took the time to cook or taste them. I’m a fan though!
GIRLS ON THE RUN
I never knew there was an actual thing called May Day until this year. My sweet GOTR cuties have been talking about May Day literally all.season.long! I loved hearing their enthusiasm and watching them act out some of their performance before GOTR practice every day. Finally the week came and they were all giddy with excitement, so I mentioned that I might come watch and I got some basic information from one of the parents. Well when I said that, a few of them just got over the moon excited, so I knew I absolutely had to be there now!
Each grade goes through and performs their skit for the audience. When 4th grade comes to perform, they wrap the May Day pole. It’s really pretty and the parents get all teary-eyed. It meant a lot to me that I could be there to see some of my girls perform. They all did such a great job! I was only able to locate one of my girls the entire time and had pretty much given up on finding any others. I was about to leave, but they suggested I stick around and have some food before taking off, so I did to be polite. I’m so glad that I did because that one girl had found 2 others, so I was able to see 3/8 of my girls there! I wish I could have seen them all, but it was chaotic with all the families and children running around and having picnics.
I cannot even express how wonderful Girls on the Run has been this season and how blessed I am by every single one of the girls I have the privilege of working with. I’ll be sure to do a full re-cap of GOTR and hopefully answer any questions you may have. If you have a GOTR in your area, please do yourself a favor and volunteer your time to this wonderful organization!
Yesterday was my last day with Girls on the Run and they were absolutely precious. We do this ‘go bananas’ cheer at the end of every practice, I was surprised at how much they all loved it throughout the season (because you act a little silly and I surely thought they may be too cool for that! haha) We accidentally kept saying that we would do the LAST ‘go bananas’ cheer before we all left for the day. They would flip out and say, “no! it’s not our last cheer. Just say we’re doing the ‘go bananas’ cheer. Nothing else. We don’t want it to be our last.” They also asked if we could be their coaches next year and if we would all be together again. We asked them what they liked or disliked about GOTR this season and one girl said everything and nothing! Basically they all stole my heart and I didn’t realize I could like kids this much because I haven’t been a huge fan the past few years. I think it’s because I burnt myself out on volunteering for Sunday School at church many many years ago when my mom was Preschool & Children’s minister. Now I think it’s safe to say… I love kids. Especially the 3rd-5th grade. They totally think I’m cool and I love it. We kept our practice very low-key yesterday and I think it was the best thing we could have done. We spent 30 minutes chatting about the season and getting some input, then we spent another 30 minutes playing games – freeze tag, simon says, and mother may I. The coaches played along with them and these girls wore me slap out from freeze tag. They are fast! The last 15 minutes we handed out their end of season gifts – picture frame that held our group picture from the 5k race, purple nail polish, GOTR headband, breath mints, and a personalized note. We all hugged before leaving and I didn’t shed a single tear, which I’m super proud of. They kept telling me not to cry, so I listened. Luckily, we still have to finalize our community service project, so I look forward to seeing them all again in a few weeks!
Time for me to get ready for work, then after work, I’ll be hosting my “launch” party! If you’re interested in contributing an order to Arbonne for my party, you can do so by clicking this link! Like I’ve said time and time again, their protein powder is legit. So if you run or workout and like a post-run smoothie or protein shake, you will not be disappointed, but they have plenty of other great products that are worth the investment!
