Moda VoxBox from Influenster!

Hey all!

I've been pretty quiet lately, but I can assure you things are still going strong! I haven't eaten the best over the holiday but thankfully the in-laws have a treadmill that I can use whenever I want!

I'm dropping in tonight to share this awesome VoxBox that I got recently from Influenster! (<- invite link) For those of you who don't know Influenster is a really sweet website where you review products and post about them to social media. Occasionally, they even send you a box of free (often full size!) products to review! This is called a VoxBox. I have been lucky enough to receive a good handful of these boxes and am excited to share my latest one with you. This has to be the best one yet!

Contents of the box:

- Rimmel London Scandaleyes Rockin' Curves Mascara

- Rimmel London Moisture Renew Lipstick (red)

-  Rimmel London Moisture Renew Lip liner

- Puffs Softpack

- Jergens Ultra Healing Extra Dry Skin Moisturizer

- Resource Natural Spring Water

- Hair Food Moisture Hair Mask + Coupon!

- Packet of Swiss Miss Simply Cocoa + Coupon!


Pretty awesome box of free stuff huh?! I can honestly say that I enjoyed testing every single product.

My favorite things by far were the hair mask and the cocoa. The hair mask smelled simply amazing and actually did a decent job taming this wild mane that I have going on here. Sadly it can only be found at Target so I haven't gotten a chance to use the coupon yet (nearest Target is 100+ miles away) ....but next time I head into Marquette I plan to try out Hair Food's line of shampoo and conditioner too! The Simply Cocoa was also amazing. I loved that it only had 5 ingredients and it was a perfect thing to come inside to after a few hours of shoveling.

The part of this box that I wasn't too excited for was the make-up. I'm not a big make-up person to start with so I felt pretty clueless. I even ended up googling how to use lip liner. Overall it just wasn't 'me'. The color made me feel silly and the lashes were a bit TOO big. This could totally be because I'm a make-up newbie and have to idea how to correctly apply these things, but either way I personally wasn't a fan.

The other contents of the box (the water, tissues, & lotion) were good products, but nothing to write home about. The water was good but I prefer my reusable water bottle over plastic and the tissues were.... tissues? I liked the lotion but the hubby was not a fan of the scent. Too bad because it felt great on my skin!

It was so much fun trying all these products! Thank you Influenster for the awesome box!


I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes. All opinions are my own. 

My 1/2 marathon training plan

In case you missed it in my Project10 video I have recently come public with a very intimidating goal of mine to complete a 1/2 marathon in May of 2015. I'll be doing the Journey's Marathon in Eagle River, WI! It's the hubby's home town so it's the perfect location to visit. 

I have been spending a lot of time researching different training plans trying to figure out what would be the best for me. As of now I am not promising myself that I will run the whole thing. My goal is to finish, and if that requires a little walking along the way that is ok with me. However, if I were able to complete the race without walking that would be such an accomplishment! That being said my current plan is to train and plan to run the whole thing, but not to be disappointed if I don't! 

After a ton of research I think I have finally nailed down a solid plan. Starting now I will be working through my Couch-to-10k app three days a week. If I factor in missing a few days (probably due to snow storms) and a few repeat weeks, this should bring me into the middle of January. When I complete the Couch-to-10k program I will be at a point where I can run 60 minutes without stopping (or having to rest for a week afterwards), which is exactly where I want to be when I start my official 1/2 marathon training!! 

I have chosen an 18 week training program off the Garmin training site. This program not only includes 3 runs a week, but cross-training, Pilates, and body-weight exercises! Even if I am not able to run the whole 13.1 miles by the end of it at least I know I'll be a well balanced individual. I have also decided to invest in a Garmin Forerunner 220 to help me with my training at this point. It's a GPS watch so I can track my pace, distance, and time.Best of all I will be able to download my training program from Garmin's website onto the watch so the watch will give me alerts on when to run/walk/rest etc! I am so excited to have this nifty tool. 

Well there you have it! As of now I am super motivated and excited to embark on this couch to 13.1 plan! I'll be sending in my registration soon so I will have NO OPTION to back out! I'm sure the upcoming winter will give me quite the challenge, but I think I can do it!

P.S. Anybody looking for a running buddy?

Have a fabulous Sunday! 

Feeling accomplished

I'm 11 days into my Body by Vi Project10 challenge I can honestly say I'm feeling great. I love the shakes and so far I'd have to say they are the best tasting shakes I've ever had. Perfect for someone with a sweet tooth like me! My only complaint is that they don't seem to be as filling as my beloved Unjury shakes, but there is no contest with the taste. 

My highlight of the day was my workout. I ended up bribing the hubby into working out with me and I can't tell you how much I enjoyed having company after working out alone all these months! We did week 3 of the c25k and then finished up with a circuit workout at home. . I didn't feel nearly as silly doing burpees when he was doing them too! I'm hoping to be a lot better in the future about incorporating body-weight exercises and strength training into my routine.

I've seen a decent amount of weight loss during the Project10 so far too! However, I'm being cautious because I have also cut back on the carbs in my diet which I know can lead to a loss in water weight. Either way, I'm still enjoying the lower numbers! Hope you all have a great night!

Project10 Challenge for Kids

I've decided to stop putting "Day X" on my titles because I've done a pretty poor job sticking to daily posts in October. However, I still am fulling planning on continuing my 31 days of movement and linking them up to my '31 Days' original post, so I promise I'm not giving up!

I am very excited to announce that I have accepted a Project10 challenge with ViSalus! I first heard about ViSalus by a friend from high school who has had absolutely amazing results. Since starting this product not only has she lost 70+lbs, but she is off almost all of her medications, and now takes 10x less insulin per day! Amazing huh! Let's just say I was intrigued. This product clearly was effective, but I already have my own type of protein shakes that I really do love. What convinced me to try their products was when I heard about their Project10 for kids. If you purchase one of their challenge kits and lose 10lbs during the 90 day challenge, ViSalus donates 30 meals on your behalf to kids in need. What an amazing program! Not only can I continue on my own health and fitness journey with nutritious shakes, but I can help kids in need at the same time. I am so excited to have accepted my challenge and my kit should arrive by Tuesday! (I really hope I like it!)

As a part of the challenge I had to submit a video of my first weigh-in. I wasn't too happy about shouting my weight out to the world, but it's even more incentive to film that second video when I'm 10lbs down.

As you might have seen in the video, I have also shared that I will be running (maybe some walking in there too) my first 1/2 marathon in May 2015! I am SO excited and nervous about this! Most of my free time the last few days has been spent checking out different training plans. :-) I can't wait to document this Journey as well (haha no pun intended, but I am doing the Journey's 1/2 marathon in Eagle River, WI!) This will be quite the adventure!

Wish me luck!

*P.S the Project10 program has a system where if you refer 3 people you get your kit for free, so if you're by any chance interested in accepting the challenge as well hit me up for my referral website!

Day 6: Moving day is MOVING day!

Exciting news!!! I've been pretty quiet lately because we've been busy buying and moving into our OWN house! I'm completely in love :-) Things are finally starting to come together so it feels little less chaotic and more homey. I promise I will have pictures of the inside soon, but in the mean time here is the outside!

What you can't see in the picture is Micah's huge two car garage attached to the side. I am SO glad he finally has a garage large enough to fit both our cars AND all of his tools.

Moving really got me MOVING! Check out my Vivofit steps from the last few days. I'm proud to say I haven't been slacking! :-)

Happy hump day everyone! I'm off for a run! 

Day 5: Goal setting + my 2014 goal updates!

Not much has been more motivating to me in this journey as goal setting. I love setting goals and since I'm competing against myself it gives me the extra drive to get going without the temptation to compare myself to others. Like most of us out there, I have always made lots of fitness and weight loss goals around the new year. In the past I've done great for about the first month, only to to eventually give up and let them fall by the wayside.

This year I did things a bit differently and so far have had great success sticking with my goals and keeping them in mind. Here are the steps I followed that (so far) have worked great for me!

• Set multiple, obtainable goals - for instance, instead of setting out with my only goal to lose 100lbs, I set multiple, smaller weight-loss goals. For me this helps keep me from getting discouraged because I am soooo far away from achieving it. Plus, it is SO motivating to be able to check things off my list! 

• Make your goals 'public' - This is pretty much the whole point of this little blog I have here. When your goals are public you are holding yourself accountable to whomever you decide to share them with. Your goals are usually a very personal thing, so I use the term 'public' lightly

• Set daily or weekly goals that will help work towards you main ones - Little things like getting your 10,000 steps in a day, or refusing to take the elevator this week at work can help you work towards many of your health and fitness goals! 

• Write them down and keep them visible! - Out of sight out of mind right? 

• Take pride in your accomplishments, and don't get down if you don't accomplish everything - When I am finally able to cross a goal off my list it gives me such a sense of accomplishment. However, there are some goals on my list that I probably won't get around to this year. O well, they'll make perfect 2015 goals! If I accomplished everything then they were too easy right?! 

**And now my updated 2014 goals! I was able to cross a few more off my list and am getting closer and closer to some more of them! Come at me December 31st!

Weight Goals 

1. Lost 15 lbs 12/4/13
2. Lose 20 lbs 12/8/13
3. Lose 50 lbs 2/19/14
4. Lose 70 lbs 7/11/14
5. Lose 85 lbs 
6. Lose 100 lbs
7. Reach goal weight of 150

Fitness Goals 

1. Run a mile without stopping   1/16/14
2. Race another 5K   4/12/14
3. Run 5 miles without stopping 5/31/14
4. 365 miles for 365 days 8/25/14 [403 miles so far in 2014!] 
5. Run a mile under 10 minutes [Current time 11:46!] 
6. Race my first 10K 
7. Complete Jillian Michaels 30-day Shred 
8. Go running with my husband and actually make him try
9. Complete an overnight backpacking trip 

General Goals

1. Get out of the morbidly obese category 2/24/14
2. Stop shopping at the plus size department 8/10/14
3. Get out of the obese category

Happy goal setting!

-Sarah

Day 4: I joined a running club!

I've never been comfortable calling myself a runner. I DO run, I just run slowly.  In fact, it was two years ago from this day when I ran my first 5K. Since then, I've completed a handful more 5Ks and even two 5 mile races. What I love about running is that it is very personal. I love racing against my own time and working towards improving my personal best. Ok, I love running only when I've been running.  When I've been training for a few weeks I feel good! I get the runners high, and have no problem motivating myself for my next run. However, when I've taken a few weeks.....or months.... off, I hate it. It's SO hard for me to get back going again. Since winter is coming soon, I had started looking for ways that I could motivate myself to say active through the brutal cold and snow (besides shoveling of course!) I wasn't necessarily looking into run clubs, but when I saw The Balanced Life Run Club it just seemed like the perfect opportunity! It did cost me $27 to join, but 10% of the proceeds are donated. Also, now that I paid for it I have another reason to actually stick with it and participate!

As apart of this running club I will be jumping back into my C25K runs at week six and try to regain some of that endurance that I lost. Today I was able to complete my run but I sure did struggle!

I am so much looking forward to what this group of ladies has to bring! I've already been so motivated by hearing other people's stories and about their relationship with running. It's going to be great.

Have a great night!
-Sarah