Hey guys!!

When I heard about FitFluential, Inc. I immediately thought to myself that I wanted to be a part of their community. Their website describes the company as “a network of digital influencers in the fitness industry. We are people with a passion. We are people with a voice.” I mean, how can you read that and not WANT to be a part of it??

Well, they’re also taking applications for FitFluential Ambassadors. I know it sounds formal, but they consider their ambassadors to be the “highest rank” in their fitness community. And now they’re looking for ambassadors for every major city in the US and Canada. I want to be one of these people for Cleveland!

Let me tell you why – cuz I know you wanna know.

I want to spread the word about what I’m all about and what my blog is about. If you’re a regular reader, I know you know this already, but I work full time, teach group fitness (back to 1x a week!), am a certified running coach for Team Challenge, and train for races on my own, all the while being a mom to an active 9 year old and a wife to a just as busy husband. Life is all about balance. I know it may seem like I do too much to people who don’t know me, but this is what makes me me. It’s what makes me happy.

Staying active with my family makes me happy.

Running a half marathon with my sister makes me happy.

Teaching group fitness makes me happy.

Helping others reach their goals makes me happy.

Being active on vacation makes me happy.

Our home garden makes me happy.

Reaching my own goals makes me happy.

Running makes me happy.

Ice cream makes me happy.

My family makes me happy.

And at the end of the day I’m what makes me happy.  This is my message for you.

I’m not a speedy runner, but I’m fast enough and educated enough to be able to help others starting their running journey. I teach group fitness but I’m not perfect – I still eat too many sweets and struggle with my weight sometimes just like others. I train for races, but I’m never first in the pack – I’m a middle of the pack girl and I’m OK with that. I do the best that I can do and I never quit. I know that our bodies are stronger than we think they are and try to push myself outside my comfort zone at least once a week.

My strongest quality is my PASSION for what I do. I ALWAYS try my hardest and encourage others to do the same.

I’d love your support in letting FitFluential know I’m their girl!

1. “Like” them on Facebook and leave a comment telling them they’d be lucky to have me.
2. Tweet “@FitFluential, @heatha262 is who we need as our #Cleveland ambassador!” with a link to this post
3. Leave a comment on this post!

PICK ME!! I promise to do Cleveland proud!

You may have been able to tell from my last post, but yesterday was a stressful/important day for me. It was my first meeting for Team Challenge!

The reason it was stressful is because I had to get up in front of the potential participants and give a speech. Public speaking is a HUGE fear of mine and, to be honest, it totally sux. I used to hate giving oral reports in high school and college, and client meetings are my least favorite responsibility I have at my job.

So anytime I have to talk in front of a crowd I get the worst anxiety! I know it sounds weird since I’m a group fitness instructor, but that’s completely different. I know what I’m doing when I’m teaching class, and don’t have to “wing it”.

But, I got up there, told my story, and tried to be as motivational and encouraging as I could (and probably sounded like a big tool in the process). But I survived. And a great thing happened: my very best friend signed up!!! I’m SO EXCITED to help her run her first half marathon, and go to VEGAS together!! I like to believe it was my speech that convinced her to commit.

Tonight was a lot less stressful. I taught Group Power at the gym, which always helps reduce my stress, and then came home for family grooming night.

What’s family grooming night, you ask??? Well…..

Hahaha!! I can’t believe I just posted this picture (let along take it!). But, we’re being real here, and this is what we do. We’re so totally cool, right? Don’t even tell me you don’t want to be our friends! Lol.

Has your week been stressful?? What do you do to reduce stress?

Today was a day full of vegetables! My kind of day! Hehe.

So, J has this never-ending battle with the squirrels over our tomatoes. It’s been going on for years. Last year he even borrowed his dad’s BB gun (!!) to shoot from the porch to scare them away. Unfortunately for J, the squirrels still won the battle last year. So, in an effort to stop the squirrels before they have a chance to steal the tomatoes, J picked the ripest of the bunch today.

Once these spend some time on our kitchen ledge, they’ll be ripe in no time!

While he was picking the tomatoes, look what was found:

Something’s eating our cucumbers, too!! So weird, right? Whatever (whoever) it is, likes their cucumbers just like I do – without the skin!

We did pick two nicely ripe cucumbers today, though, and ate one of them with dinner. It doesn’t get much fresher than that!

Our zucchini plants are being brats. We’re having the same problem with them this year as we did last year. They grow nice and big, and even flower, but we never get any zucchini. Does anyone know why this is? We’re at a loss. See the yellow flower blooming below? I swear, they really want to grow, but they don’t. Our zucchini plants are teases.

I guess I can live without the zucchini, but I really really hope the sweet potatoes grow. They’re looking good so far, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

The vine below is the sweet potato plant. It’s really taken off, I just hope it “plants” itself into the ground so the potatoes grow.

It’s supposed to be another hot one tomorrow. I’m off to enjoy one more cool night with my boys. I think we’re headed out on a bike ride!

If you have a garden, how is it growing? Are you at war with any animals?

Wow, why do Fridays always come and go so fast?? Sigh……..

In any case, today was very successful! Check out our green bean plants:

Do you see the basil plant growing nice and tall behind the green beans, too? The plants are in competition!

Sorry the colors are a little washed out in the picture above, I was playing with the settings on the camera…..aren’t the beans oh so pretty, though?

I gave them a good wash, and then set the bowl in the fridge to use for dinner tomorrow!

Can’t wait!

After lunch I pulled out the ingredients to start baking another banana bread (since the one I baked earlier this week was already finished today and we had MORE ripe bananas to use!). Yeah, we always have an unusually large supply of bananas in our house.

But then this happened:

I don’t think I’ve ever dropped an egg since I’ve really started baking. Weird. Good thing I had just bought a new carton of eggs!

The end products:

The loaf on the left is the same banana bread recipe as Tuesday, but this time I added some crushed walnuts. The loaf on the right is a recipe completely new to me: Cinnamon Bread!!

Oh my. It’s actually not too sweet, just enough. Those brown swirls are a combination of brown sugar, cinnamon, and margarine – YUM!

I think this would be perfect for french toast!

We each had a piece straight out of the oven with a little butta – and it was OH SO GOOD. C said to me right away “This is the best bread you’ve ever made – I’m having this for breakfast every day until it’s gone!” Guess it was a success, huh?

You can find the recipe here. The only changes I made was to use whole wheat flour, and I had to make the buttermilk substitute (1 TB white vinegar and milk to equal 1 cup total). I can see myself making this bread for holidays to come, it has brunch written all over it!

Hope your Friday was a success!