Whole 30, Day 24 & Still Going.

I can not say it's been an easy 24 days, but it has not been all that difficult, either. I have been cooking more than ever, I think, and I occasionally miss my favorite snacks. I mostly miss them when I am stressed. Which is often. Ha!

Both Harry and I have been eating solely whole foods, and not drinking anything but water or almond or coconut milk. I find it's the most challenging when we are out at a function or out to dinner. I think with both of us I can see a difference in our abdominal areas. We are less bloated, which is great, and all around we are improving our health from the inside out. I'm due to be finished in 6 days, but Harry is stil going so I will finish his out with him. I've been reading about how people feeling when reintroducing foods they had not been eating and how they felt afterwards. All I know is if and when I do reintroduce foods such as yogurt, procesed snacks and processed sugars, I will do so slowly. I'm not sure if I will have pretzels the way I used to. Or any of my favorite snacks for that matter. But, I have time to figure that out yet. 

Here are some of the meals I have been making: 

Chicken stuffed with asparagus and garlic and wrapped with prosciutto. Sweet potatoes on the side. 

Egg bake with different color potatoes, garlic and onion, prosciutto, salt and pepper. 

Baked sweet potatoes with avocado oil and cinnamon. 

Green beans sautéed with garlic and ghee. 

Egg muffins with prosciutto and sweet red pepper. 

There is a lot of information on the web and recipes and ideas can also be found on Instagram, Pinterest, and of course, Facebook. 

Whole 30

Time to get my eating right ... Starting here with my recent purchase. I should have read the book prior to beginning the Whole 30 eating regiment. Now I will educate myself on the topic, and with God's help, apply it to what I'm currently doing. Let's see! 

Mrs. Jessica Vega

I. Am. Married. 

This is my favorite photo!

Another favorite!

One more!

We are happier than we thought we could be! We are blessed and thankful to God! No, it's not always perfect ... Nor is it even sometimes perfect. But we are happy. I married the man I hope I would. 

Baez-Vega Wedding Week

I can hardly believe our wedding is merely four days away! The past four months literally flew by! All the planning and preparing will soon be coming to an end and our wedding and reception will be upon us! It is very exciting! Okay, no more exclamation points. 

The planning really did come easily, thank God. I will pick up my dress this week and prepare the last minute details for Saturday. Everyone has asked if I'm excited & of course, I certainly am. Work has consumed me, though, and now that I have tomorrow off, I can let my excitement take over, focus on the wedding and what I need to do over the next few days. 

I'm completely exhausted from letting myself stay up too late every day and getting up early the last few weeks to run before work. I think I will sleep in for the next three days. 

Natalie is home for Thanksgiving and Sue is coming in, as well! We, along with Shannon and Marisel, will spend some girl time on Friday, both hanging out and finishing up very last minute details. I'm excited to spend some time with them! 

And now, off to bed. Much to be taken care of tomorrow.  

The Time Has Come! Marathon #10

This Sunday I, along with thousands of other runners, will run the New York City TCS marathon! It's the biggest and best in the world! It is my absolute favorite race! This will be my 10th marathon and I wanted to compete and complete it in NYC! 

I believe I have trained harder for this year's race than any in the past. Maybe not harder as opposed to better. I completed almost all of my training runs, which is great. I only missed two long runs, which isn't so bad. Thank God, overall, my health has been good. My rest, not as good as it should have been. 

Tonight, Angela, Paulo and I went to the Javitz Center to get our race bags, numbers and shop the kiosks at the marathon expo. It was a good time, although we spent maybe a bit too much money! That happens if you aren't careful. It's not an inexpensive place. 

This will be Paulo's first marathon! Good luck to him!

I'm excited for Sunday's run. I trained & now I just want to enjoy it! The weather won't be as warm as I'd like, but thankfully it won't be raining. 

Running is my passion and marathons are something I'm able to do, and thank the Lord, do well. Some people think it's crazy to run a marathon, or that I am crazy for doing it. It is my passion and I'm good at it. I'm not the best, but I work hard at my training. It is time consuming, puts a toll on my body, but it also strengthens my mind. I thoroughly enjoy the race itself. That's not something I can say about everything I do. I thank God that I can still run them, and pray I will be able to do so for many more years to come. 

I wish all the runners out there a wonderful and enjoyable run this Sunday! This is what we trained for! 

Bridal Shower Fun

Almost one week ago, my bridal party, family and friends surprised me with a shower. Sometimes I am still in shock that I am really getting married. Not that I don't want to -- I truly do. I think somewhere along the way I lost hope that it would ever happen and was content with that. Well, God is good and had His own plan and it is going to happen; in 50 days to be exact. I am getting married. And I'm excited!

Shannon and Sue, my matrons of honor, along with the rest of my brides maids, Harry's and my sisters, worked hard and sneakily to put the shower together. 

Shannon, who tricked me the day before, generously had it at her home and it was lovely. 

Sue, who also tricked me, came in from

Canada to celebrate with us, as well, and completely shocked me! I was truly surprised to see her. Not sure why I didn't connect 'shower' with seeing Sue, but I surely was elated to have seen her. 

So many people that I care about were able to attend, and I was truly happy. I saw friends whom I haven't seen an a while, and some whom I see every day. I was pleased to be amongst people I love. I missed those who were unable to make it for different reasons, but I know we all lead busy lives. 

Ang and me.

Kristi and me.

Marlene and me.

The bridal party.

Harry's sisters. 

My sisters and our mom. 

Some of my work family. 

Some more of my work family. 

I'm missing many photos, but I plan to get them so I can make an album. It was a very special day. I won't soon forget it. Everyone worked so hard to make it a special day for me. Everyone also lied to me in some small way. Ha! Not sure what I did to deserve such great friends and family, but God has blessed me. 

I can't thank Shannon enough for opening her home up to everyone and for all of her hard work. I can't thank Sue enough for taking a day off work (Shan, too) to fly in and help prepare for the shower. Same to Natalie and Tori for coming down from Syracuse to help with the decorations, balloons and photos, and to attend my dress fitting. Marisel did such a great job with the decorations ... I was truly taken aback and grateful. 

'It's MINT To Be.'

He popped the question.

And thanks to my mom, who knew about it all but said nothing. She knew it was a special and important time for me. She looked lovely and seemed to have had a wonderful time. Lastly, I thank my sweet fiancé, Harry. He did a great job of keeping a secret that I think he wanted to share with me, but he knew how much I wanted it to have been a surprise. And it was. I am truly blessed.

 

I haven't gotten to look through all the gifts we received, but I am hoping to do so this weekend. I want to work on the thank you cards because I truly am thankful for everyone's generosity. In 50 days ... I will be Mrs. Jessica Vega. Wow. 

Exhaustion

The start of a new school year is behind us now. One week ago, I began my 16th year of teaching. I forgot to take a back to school photo.

This year I am not a 'classroom teacher.' Instead, I will be working with the kindergarten teachers as the Academic Intervention Service teacher. My job will be to get the students who are a certain percentage below their level to their level, of as close to it as possible. 

So far it's been testing to see where they are and I, along with the other AIS teachers, have been covering an overflow Kindergarten class. Our school's kindergarten classes are full so we need to place them in another school. In the meantime, we are teaching them as best we can. 

Like everyone, I'm truly exhausted. Kindergarteners will suck the life out of you. Add to that I am running here, there, and everywhere to cover classes. That is part of my job description, and I do not mind it. It's nice to see a different group of students throughout the day.

Now, off to sleep. 5:40 will be here soon!