The Mountains Are Calling And I Must Go

   I've liked this quote lately. To me it is a reminder to keep pushing myself towards all of the 'mountains' in my life. Losing my baby has been really hard. And with my son's 3rd birthday coming up, I being the weirdo that I am, am feeling sad because I had envisioned being pregnant for this event. I pictured Grayson blowing out his candles, while I had my little baby inside of me. I know my baby is still with me, but it doesnt make it hurt any less or the hurt go away. 
   I want this month to be a better month than last month. I want to grow from this and not let it destroy me. I know what I need to do to get to a better place, mentally, physically, and emotionally. I know that this season of my life has just been a hard one. And I want to be a good mom for Grayson and really be present and there for him. 
   My weight is at an all time high since my initial weight loss. It's depressing but I also feel like it's just reflecting how hard things have been. I'm going to start waking up early for my runs again, I function better when I do this and get more done through out my day. I want to eat healthier as well, since that hasn't been on par lately... I just want to feel like myself again and not so sad. 
  I realize this post is a downer but it's hard trying to act like i am "okay" all of the time. Because honestly I am not okay sometimes and sometimes I am. And for a while that is just how it's going to be. 
  I am happy we are moving so we can have a new start and make new memories. I am thankful so much for Grayson and my husband. Our relationships have gotten even stronger because of this. I can't imagine a life without them. <3

Xoxo,
Brittany Marie Powell 

IT'S RAINING & Giveaway Winner Announcement!

Hey Y'all! 
It's been a while since I've written on here. Lots of events have taken place since I have last written! To say the least ;-) We were lucky enough to be able to visit family for Christmas this year which was a lot of fun.

lilly presents from my lovely mother! #lillychristmas

I loved seeing Grayson interact with my little brother, it was too sweet. I miss my family a lot and I am happy to at least have my sister out here now!!

All of us, after Church. I love how you can only see my Husband's head! Ha.

We also had it flood in the home we are renting out. It completely flooded in the kitchen and it was quite the ordeal. A huge mess, and a lot of stress. Grayson came running saying "IT'S RAINING" and I was thinking he was just playing or watching a show, and then I see this.... 

I had a melt down (and that's putting it lightly).... luckily nothing *really* got ruined even though some major important things got wet.... vacuum... computer..... and other random kitchen appliances. At least my Blendtec was safe ;-) I think I actually went to get that first thing haha. I feel like our place is still  in shambles a little bit. We had to use every towel we had, plus a lot extra from my husbands family. They were really great in helping us and helping shop vac out all the water. They've had this happen a few times to different homes they've lived in or rented so they knew what to do luckily! I am also glad that we were home when this happened because we were about to go out on a date and let my sister tend Grayson. Which that would have been way worse to have her alone and have that happen! I am thankful for my family and everything that they do for me. I wouldn't have been able to make it through this weekend without them haha. 
I am trying to at least find a silver lining to this in that I can now completely re-organize my kitchen, pantry (it leaked in there too) and linen closet, since we had to use all of the towels and it was pretty much a mess prior to this. [well a "trying to look halfway organized" mess.] So there's that! ;-) 

Sisters<3

I want to also take this time to announce the IdealShape Boost Packets Giveaway Winner, not too many contestants this time! But it's all okay, since the winner is Kendal Ianuzi, my sister... She's pretty pumped to try these out and is thinking of starting a Fashion Blog herself. She is seriously amazing at putting outfits together! She is also one of my biggest supporters when it comes to my blogging and youtubing which means a lot to me :) I love her and I am so happy she is back and that I get to see my son, Grayson spend time with her and see how much he loves his Auntie "Kennel". Thank You to all those who have entered and stayed tuned to my Youtube Channel for some more exciting Giveaways which shall be taking place soon! 

Xoxo,
Brittany Marie Powell 

Have you ever had anything major happen to your home or where you were living?

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday My Loves!
Today I woke up and ate breakfast and got Grayson and I ready for the gym. I ran 3 miles. My new thing has been running with my iPad and reading. 
I am really love my new hair extensions. They are from a company called gud hur and have an etsy shop, etsy.com/gudhur and when you use the code BPOW2014 you can score 15% off. I've enjoyed having my hair short, it's a lot more manageable for me, with my working out and chasing around a toddler, but it is so fun to be able to have long hair when I want to! I love how it looks curled :) I don't think my hair would ever be able to grow this long naturally. 
I am still obsessed with Suja juices, I wish they weren't so dang pricey, I need to just get myself to start juicing again even though it isn't really the season for it, because my body feels so much better when i'm drinking fresh juices, especially greens. 

I also was able to get some much needed cleaning done today. I've held out on the packing for now. Packing stresses me out! lol

I attempted to try doing my hair hungry runner girl's method today. I have an instyler and I loved it the first few months I had it but then I forgot about it and gave up on trying to figure out how to curl my hair with it. Her video made it super simple to understand and even though I need a bit more practice it was an easy method. This is why I love Youtube! You can learn nearly anything on Youtube.

Anyways, that's all for now, I am hoping to get in some strength training during Graysons nap today. And I am also hoping that we will find a baby sitter so that Grant and I can go on a much needed date together tonight!! 

XOXO,

Brittany Marie Powell

Happy 4th of July!!! :)

Happy 4th y'all! 

  We had a lazy morning together as a family. I made a chocolate shakeology with frozen berries and it was really good!

  Grant and I then proceeded to do our workout. Today was Body Beast Build Shoulders. It was hard, but I am really like the style of these workouts. I love doing the super sets and some of the moves Sagi has us do. We worked out with Nani there and that was a challenge, a lot of pausing happened to help him with a toy or kiss his hand cuz he pinched it, but we got it done. "WHATEVER IT TAKES!" I've been SO sore. It is different than running sore. In fact I really have only ran a few times since my race because I've been putting my all into these Body Beast workouts. I want to get back into my running tho. For a while my knee was hurting but it's been feeling better now. It was especially sore after leg day! I like the structure that comes with this workout. And how each day we are focusing on diff body parts. I also like watching Grant lift ;-) haha.

   Tonight we have a little family get together we are going to. I wonder if Grayson will like fireworks this year, last year he was a little bit chicken, and cried. Well that's all for now you guys! Enjoy your days :-) I know we will. 

Xoxo,

   Brittany Marie Powell.

   

Utah Valley Half Marathon

   Woo Hoo! I did it guys, completed my second half marathon. The morning of the race was kind of crazy for me, I woke up at 3:30 a.m. and drove to where I thought the buses were. But it turned out it was the buses for the FULL marathon and not the half. So I ran back to my car and had less than 10 mins to make it to the half marathon bus location. I honestly barely made it. But the fact that I did reassured me in some small way that I was meant to do the race.

  I always feel somewhat inadequate at these events. Especially when the woman I sat next to on the bus was on her 35th half marathon! Crazy. My time was not as good as my first half. I think waking up as early as I did had a lot to do with it. I also had to use the port a potties quite a few times during the race tmi I know haha. It was all worth it when I crossed the finish line tho. There really are no words when you finish. I think for me a lot of emotions hit me during this race. It's funny how that happens. It also has offered me a lot of clarity and insight for what I want to do next. I'd definitely want to get my body ready for a full marathon in a full and calculated way. And I really feel like strength training needs to be a bigger part of my goals now. I know I say it often on here, but I really do feel that way. I also have something else I'm working on but I am waiting to unveil. ;-) 

  Some things I took away from this race:

  1) practice waking up and running at the time your race is scheduled for so it's not sucha shock.

   2) fuel better pre run.

   3) set up a race playlist. I kept hitting next song a lot this race because too many slow songs came on shuffle.

    4) hydrate better! 

    5) RELAX I think I stressed about this race way too much, and at the end of the day I am proud at listening to my body and pushing myself the right amount. I now feel like I could do another half this summer or maybe even a full. 

   Anyways that's all for now, Happy Father's Day everyone!!! I'm so thankful I have my husband and for what a good father he is to our son.

Xoxo,

   Brittany Marie Powell. 

11:11 o'clock !!!

   So I'm planning out my week in my head right now. My goal for this week is to lift/strength train daily, and wake up early to do so. I do much better with strength training, when it wake up early to do it. My June goals are: 

I feel like by putting my goals out there, I'm much more likely to reach them. I'm going to sleep now, gonna be up bright and early. Seize the day! 

Xoxo,

   Brittany Marie Powell.

We Bought A Car!!!!!

   Finally, after years of waiting and sharing a car, we bought our second car! It's a 2012 Ford Escape and I couldn't be happier! There's something so great about having your own car. It's flex fuel and gets great gas mileage so that is why we chose the Ford Escape. It's so clean and brand new looking I need to put the seat covers on, since the seats are cloth. I'm very HAPPY and this is by far the most expensive thing Grant and I have purchased in our marriage which was a little bit scary haha! 

   Anyways. Back to my usual health/fitness related ramblings. I was inspired by LivyLovesToRun to do a two week no cheat challenge. I know the scale don't lie, and I know I've gained weight lately #byebyefelicia So instead of wallowing in my misery and eating my feelings, I am going to be proactive and do something about it. I've lost weight before and I can do it again. I'm not going to come this far and throw it all away. I miss feeling confident in my own skin, which lately I just don't. And more than any number on the scale that is whats important to me! 

   I have my half Marathon soon and I am nervous. I don't feel like I've been training 100% I've been tired and exhausted an emotional wreck. So I am going go get personal now. After I had Grayson I got on antidepressants. They really helped me and I do not regret going on them when I did because I really did need them at the time. I very much believe in doing things naturally and it's a constant inner battle with myself being on these medications. I know that with proper nutrition and meditation I can overcome my depression/anxiety woes but I've tried it and it hasn't worked. The only thing that has helped and I've noticed is the medication!!! I want to go off my Meds and this past month and a half I have tried and I've really been a mess. My motivation and passion for running faded a bit because I get to thinking I'm not good enough, which my pills help balance me out. So for now, I am back on them. Which I have mixed feelings about but I can't handle feeling how I've felt. It's not fair to me or my family for me to be this way just because I want to be med-free, so I will keep taking them.  Anyways I just needed to vent about that because it's been a really big challenge for me lately. 

   I'm going to run now actually cuz I just got Nani to take a nap he doesn't feel good today poor little guy! 

Xoxo, 

   Brittany Marie Powell.

What I Ate Wednesday

   Hey guys. So this post is pretty much just going to be some pics of my random eats lately. Not all from today, both Grayson and I are sick so this is just a real quick fun post of food yaaay!

    Green Juice made in my Blendtec: cucumber, kale, and lemon.

    Do you ever buy food for your kiddos and then wind up eating it, even tho you don't really care for it that much?! you.still.eat.it. Yeah, explains my gogurt consumption as of lately. We have a Costco sized box so gogurt for days around here. FYI they're darn good frozen. 

   Sweet Plantain Egg White Cake with Cottage Cheese

I've been making cauliflower purées and mashes lately mostly because they're filling and I can eat a lot of it. A volume food really. I like big salads, kale chips, cucumbers anything low cal that I can eat a lot of for replacement tv watching "cheez it" time which is what I used to do haha 8-) not gonna lie some days I still eat a lot sometimes it's good sometimes it's not but most of the time it's some sort of vegetable healthy concoction I've made up. I am proud of myself for running today even tho i feel like crap! Kudos to me. And with that I will say good night fellow readers. If anyone actually reads this haha 8-)

Xoxo,
Brittany Marie Powell.

#MIMM

I LOVE Healthy Diva's Marvelous in My Monday Posts, so I decided to hop on board. 

Some of my Marvelous recent eats have included:

                           

Sea Salt Carmel Arctic Zero Ice Cream. This is by far one of their best flavors yet! I am obsessed with all of them but I'd have to say that the Strawberry flavor is my favorite. I also love that the whole pint is only 150 calories and that there is protein in it as well.

 

 GREEN SMOOTHIES! I am so into these again. For a while I stopped eating them because 1.) It got too cold. and 2.) I think I overate them when I was prego with grayson so sometimes they just don't sound appealing, but lately they really have been good to me. This one had 1 Cup Almond Milk, Spinach, 1 Frozen Banana and some Frozen Tropical Fruit Mix. I also added a packet of Stevia because let's be honest, I am kind of a sugar addict. This has been my go to breakfast lately.

I am proud of myself. This weekend during night-time hours I was craving a quesadilla like mad. But instead I steamed some cauliflower and carrots and sprinkled a generous amount of cheese and some of the Bolthouse Farms Yogurt caesar parmesan dressing, which has been marvelous to me lately. I find I always get the worst/most fattening cravings at night, because I'll watch my Hubby eat all these delicious things and I'm like...... so yeah sometimes I gotta get creative haha.




I went to nordstrom rack a few days ago, and got

Grayson this like dressy t-shirt. It is so adorable on! I love it. It's funny how much I love boy clothes now. I also scored myself these Sperry's, they're totally me. They have pink glitter on the sides and they were only $9.90. I love finding good deals, and hardly ever pay full price for clothing. It actually kind of pains me to do so! Haha 


        I am still trying to come up with a crown for my little man for his BIG 2 BIRTHDAY! I finally got the supplies so now I just need to get crafty. This one looks so perfect. I'm always amazed at how crafty some people are, it inspires me. 


       HAPPY MONDAY EVERYONE! 

           SEE YOU TOMORROW :)

                         

xoxo,

Brittany

#tmtt

   This morning I decided to go to the gym for an elliptical workout. I ran twice yesterday (2.6 miles and 3.6 miles) and I wasn't feeling running this morning. Grayson really likes the gym daycare and had a full on terrible two tantrum when it was time to go. Lovely. Lol. 

   

^elliptical session.

   I had a makeup fail today. I wore too faced lip injection gloss and kissed Grayson and well... It plumped up his face as well! I was so scared when I looked back in the car and saw this: 

I washed his face off with a wash cloth and water and it went away shortly after but it was scary! 

   For dinner we went out because I was tired and lazy and didn't feel like cooking. We got my favorite Pho :-P I am so obsessed with this soup! My favorite place to go for it is in Park City, at Shabu Shabu. The broth they have is phenomenal and has a strong ginger flavor which I love! 

  It will be Grayson's 2nd birthday soon! I've been pinning lots of fun ideas on Pinterest. I want to make him a cute little birthday crown. And I already decided on how I want his cake to be which you guys will see! I can't believe how big he is getting, but at the same time I can because of his Terrible Two tantrums! Haha. I'm just going to embrace all of his little stages, the good, the bad and the ugly. Because I know I am so lucky to have a child of my own and to be a mom. I know there are lots of women out there who want that very thing so badly. #alwaysbethankful 

   I've been drinking a lot of chamomile tea lately, I am hoping it will help with my muscle soreness. I also like drinking it at night to unwind. 

xoxo, Brittany.