Hi :)

It has been a long time since my last post. I was going to wrap up blogging but a few people kept telling me they miss it, and I do too! So I figured I would check in every once in awhile and share what is happening in my life!

Lately it has been work, eat, sleep, workout, repeat. I like my job a lot and my coworkers are awesome, but winning the lottery would be pretty sweet.

 

Kyle and I celebrated our two-year anniversary in October. The time has flown by! I know the next two years will be filled with lots of new adventures and memories.

 

I am still getting to the gym five days a week at 5:00 am. This makes me proud, sometimes when everything else is out of my control, knowing I have this in control makes me feel pretty darn good.

I have some hefty goals over the next few months. We are going to California in March and another family trip sometime in 2017 plus weddings galore! Courtney is getting married in May, Kyle’s brother in September, and three other friends next fall as well…. I gotta get my arms looking good!  I will do another post soon with goal updates.

These two are adorable and I couldn’t blog without sharing their picture! Follow me on Instagram baileymckenziesff – I promise to post again :)

Whole30

Hello friends! It has been awhile.

Life has been great, busy as ever, but so fun…. They say life flies by when you are having fun.

 

Kyle and I completed the Gopher to Badger Half! We
are so excited to be done with running and focus on other things, but
he said he wants to do a FULL someday! Jesus take the wheel, I am not mentally
there right now.

His sisters, Katie and Kelly, also ran the half! First half ever for them and
they did fabulous.

Katie ran with her roommate Ryan, and they did awesome too.
It has been fun having her living closer to me now… We just need
to get in a better routine to hit those 5:00 am workouts together ;)

I have been working now for three full months, my oh my! I love my job but I love my co-workers even more, which makes work so fun. Working downtown has been awesome, I have so many things to do during the day like go to the Farmers Markets, shop at Target, Macys, Banana, Marshall’s, etc. or eat. Literally you name it, it is down there.

I have been really good about only eating out once a week – it has been tricky! But truth be told my co-workers and I are always going on walks and finding new treats to try.

 

Skydiving this past weekend was amazing! It was Jennifer's first jump!

All smiles post jump!

Last week we were talking about ‘eating clean’ (yuck, I hate the word ‘clean’) and the Whole30 came up. I kid you not, 24 hours later we all had our grocery lists planned out and were committed.

I have wanted to do a Whole30 for a while but it was too tricky with events. I finally realized I will ALWAYS have events in my life and I will need to learn to make it work if I truly want to try a Whole30. This month I have a wedding and a fancy work lunch for completing my August challenges. – but I also decided to stop with the BS excuses.

So here we are, four days into September and I am gearing out for day one of my first ever Whole30.

Maybe this will help me blog and Instagram more, because lately I have been MIA from both!

Cheers to the next 30 days of no wine, chocolate, cheese or bread!

The Real World

I dreamed my whole college career of graduating and getting a real job. A job with good pay, benefits like a 401K, a real 'work' laptop, my very OWN desk that I could decorate with all the fancy stuff I purchased at Target over the past four years. I dreamed big. 

As I was preparing for day one I had so many nerves, I liked to refer to them as 'excited' nerves though. Mainly, I was nervous/excited about how I was going to go from super flexible eating schedule to a busy schedule; were there snack breaks? Can you eat lunch whenever you want? What type of drinking fountains do they have? Can I bring water into meetings? Will I still be able to workout at 5 am? 

It was stressful stuff! But I packed my bags and headed out the door at 4:37 on my first day of work. I got to the gym and waited for it to open. People stand outside and wait, it reminded me of Black Friday shopping. Ha!! I got in a good workout and another lady commented on the amount of bags I had, I refer to myself as 'the bag lady'. 

I have made it to the gym or ran at 5:00 am the past three weeks everyday except one. That makes me proud! I am proud of myself for not giving up or letting sleep win. 

My first few weeks of work were good. I started to see my dreams come to life when I walked into training and I had my very own laptop that was MINE. I could bring it home or I could leave it at work, man I started dreaming of the kind of work bag I was going to purchase! 

(First day of work!) 

I have met some good people that I can see friendships with in the future. I am not as exhausted as I thought I would be. But what does stink is walking into the house at 6:00 pm and realizing I have less than two hours before I want to be in bed. 

I feel like I get home, eat dinner, change, unpack, repack, and go to bed. Social life? Nah. TV? Nope. Laundry? Haha, no. I have no clue how people can have children! Hahha. 

It has been an adjustment but I'm excited to see how the next few months go :) 

And Just Like That...

I AM A COLLEGE GRADUATE. 

Little Bailey has changed a lot!  It still doesn't feel real and I'm starting to wonder when it will start feeling real. Maybe next week when I start working 40+ hours a week? Maybe when I realize I never have to take another exam unless I get my MBA? Maybe it will feel real when I start receiving monthly checks vs. giving my school money? Who knows, but I'm just happy to be DONE. 

These past few weeks have been really relaxing but busy at the same time. I have tried some new fitness classes! Kyle and I tried out Orange Theory, it was awesome. I burned about 750 calories in 60 minutes! We also tried Cycle Bar cycling with Katie this past weekend, that was also really fun. I LOVE group fitness classes but they can be spendy when you're not at a gym. For now I will stick to LA Fitness and Anytime Fitness. 

I got asked a second time to become a group fitness instructor at LA Fitness and I am meeting with the group fitness specialist this week. I have always dreamed of becoming a boot camp or spinning coach but I figured it would happen later in life. Not a week before I start my full-time job, hahaha. Who knows what will happen! 

I am really excited to start my job next week and get in a new routine. I know it will take some time to get adjusted and 'comfortable' with becoming a 5:00 am'er but it will feel good. I will try to minimize the energy drinks and I will *try* to not become a grandma who goes to bed at 7:00 pm every night. 

More to come in a few weeks! 

It's MAY!

I cannot believe it is May already…. Holy cow, I swear it was just January 1^st!

  

May is a big month – there will be a lot of celebration between my graduation and so many other peeps graduations, it is the month where Minnesota weather *finally* starts to warm up and I am more active, it is Kyle’s birthday and we want to set our second skydive date, and it is the month before my birthday so that makes it extra special ;)

It is also a big month because I plan to start training for summer races. Like officially. I say I am going to start training and then I am all like ‘ahhh I rather lift than run 10 miles’. I need to buckle down and get past the first few terrible weeks of training and then my body will begin to have the runner’s highs again.

Kyle is also training for a half marathon this summer so it will be fun to train with him. I told him I would run it with him but I am worried I will slow him down! I need to get my butt into gear so I can keep up with him!!

I will be sure to check in and let you all know how my running is going!

The Final Stretch

I cannot believe I am about a month away from being a college graduate! It is crazy to think that I can count the number of quizzes, exams, papers, and final projects on TWO hands.

I do not start my job until June 6^th so it will be nice to have a few weeks off and relax. I will probably not do much relaxing, but I do plan to shut my brain off and not think about school or work ;) I am hoping the weather will be nice so I can do a lot of rollerblading and biking!

I really want to get into a good groove of things before I start my job. I am hoping to be a 5:00 am girl but yikes, I am nervous I will need an afternoon nap at work!  If I were to be at the gym at 5:00 am I would need to be up by about 4:25, holy smokes, I am yawning just thinking about it.

I am so excited to start another chapter of my life! I am also looking forward to a summer full of races, weddings, graduation parties, lakes, bbq’s, skydiving and so much more!

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I wanted to share a yummy protein pancake recipe I have been making! It is SO good and it keeps me full for 4+ hours, which is a huge deal for me :)

19g Kodiak cakes (2/8 cup)

7g coconut flour (1 T.)

½ t. baking powder

30g PEScience protein (1 scoop) {code: CORINA for 30% off}

46g egg whites (1 serving/3 T.)

6T. almond milk

Mix all ingredients; if it is too thick add water, place mixture on griddle, cook both sides. Top with greek yogurt for more protein, fruit for sweetness, or even a Lenny and Larry’s cookie if you want cake flavoring (and have extra carbs)! I usually have pancakes multiple times a week and if they turn out pretty I post them on my Instagram @baileymckenziesff 

Birthday flavor with a Lenny and Larry's cookie.
Higher in carbs but perfect meal post leg day!

Banana cream pie! YUM.

Cookies N' cream butter from Trader Joe's with whip
cream and pudding made with Fairlife milk. 

Pineapple yogurt with fresh pineapple, cookie butter
and whip cream!