This is my 300th post! A huge milestone, following shortly after my one year blogiversary! To celebrate, I’m baking for you guys again. Read to the end of the post! 😉
We just arrived back in Charlotte from our visit with my family. I’ve been busy tonight planning for tomorrow morning’s yoga class and cooking for our Easter lunch with Brandon’s family. More details on that later but first I want to catch you up on the rest of our visit to Georgia. Read part one here.
I have to share Friday night’s dinner. It was incredible!
My dad is an amazing cook (he is the one who created my love for cooking) and prepared a delicious feast for us last night – roasted cauliflower, grilled Chilean sea bass on the Big Green Egg and steamed rice. We also had crusty bread with real butter. Mmm…
Not to be outdone, my mom made a strawberry custard pie for dessert.
Speaking of strawberry desserts, I finally posted the recipe for the strawberry crisp on Bakin’ and Eggs. Make it!!!
By popular request, I made overnight French toast for breakfast.
It seems like we’ve had French toast every weekend for breakfast lately. I don’t know where this trend is coming from but I will go with it because French toast makes for a tasty weekend breakfast!
After breakfast I headed out for a run. I ended up covering five miles around town. It was an easy, effortless run. Love those!
Meet Sam. My parents recently adopted a golden retriever from the Adopt A Golden rescue in Atlanta. I finally got to meet him this weekend. He is 5-6 years old and a total sweetie.
He spent the majority of the weekend begging for attention and pats. You would never know that he hasn’t lived with my parents his whole life. Golden retrievers really are the sweetest, loyal and family oriented dogs. I am so happy that Sam has a good home now!
Lunch was chicken salad, pimento cheese, pickled asparagus and fresh fruit. I’ve had a ton of fruit the last couple days. A huge thank you to my grandmother for stocking up!
Family pics before hitting the road! 😀
It was so nice to see my family this weekend! It’s crazy how hard a four-hour drive makes it to see them more regularly. I’m just happy that they are within driving distance because that hasn’t always been the case.
And finally…in celebration of my 300th post, I’m baking for you again.
Here’s how to enter…just tell me ONE GOAL that you want to achieve in the next 300 DAYS. (It does not have to be fitness related – it can be anything!) . I will pick a winner Monday evening and ship you a package of freshly baked bars via Priority Mail this week!
Happy Easter!!!!
Does it have to be fitness related??I would like to spend more time at home with my husband 🙂 Life often gets in the way of what is most important! Ps. I love your red dress!
it doesn’t have to be fitness related! i added that above, thanks for asking! 🙂
i LOVE your goal and it’s certainly one that’s been discussed in our home too!
My birthday is in a couple of weeks, and I want to kick off another year by doing at least 30 minutes of physical activity everyday for the first 100 days!
AWESOME! 😀
I’d love to enter, and someday I’ll move to the US and then you’ll have to run this giveaway all over again so I can have a chance of winning your yummy goodies! 😀
HAPPY 300TH POST!! In the next 300 days I’d love to master the Headstand!! I’ve never been able to do it, but I’ll keep working on it, and I know I’ll get there! 🙂
Happy Easter Jen!!
P.S. LOVE your dress!! You look SO gorgeous in it!!
aw, emma. i need to send a special package over to you sometime! i’m sorry 🙁
you can totally master the headstand! i know it! our teachers always tell us, “practice, practice, practice!” that is such a fun goal!
Happy 300th Post! The greatest thing I would like to accomplish is to graduate nursing school in July!!
that is a huge accomplishment, molly!
Become a runner…..we shall see!
yes, you will!!!!
I would like to graduate from nursing school in May and then pass my boards in June!!
Also happy 300th post! I LOVE your blog, its one of my favorites! 🙂
Aw, Sam is adorable! Looks like a great time with your family. My goal is to run a 5K on July 16. I have lost 125 lbs. and this will be my first “race”; yikes 😉
lisa – that is AMAZING! congratulations and i seriously want to hear how the 5k goes!
LOVE your red dress!!
My goals are to pass my Physician Assistant boards, get my dream job, and get back on track with my fitness routine. It’s amazing how much better I feel when I’m eating healthful foods and exercising regularly!!
go kate! i love that you are pursuing a career that makes you happy and committing to taking care of your body!
My goal in the next 300 days is to run my 2nd half marathon in under 2:00.
Your blog is so inspirational & I want to congratulate you on your accomplishment of finishing yoga teacher training & I thank you for sharing your journey with all of us!
lauren – yay for sub-2 half marathons! you can do it!!!
thank you for the kind words about my blog and teacher training! 🙂
I’d like to get my half marathon time under 2:00 and my 5K time under 25:00.
Congrats on 300 posts! My goal, which I’ve already put into practice, but will certainly continue another 300 days and beyond, is to be less critical of myself. I’ve accomplished a lot – imagine what I could do with a more positive outlook!
Mine is fitness-related since my marathon is a week away 😉 Either run a 3:50 or….if all the planets align and I have the best running day possible…try to qualify for Boston!
i love having a goal and a stretch goal. i know you will qualify for boston – just wait until you have that “perfect” race day! 😛
can’t WAIT to read your race recap!!!
My goal this year is to finally sell our South Carolina home that has been on the market for four years- yes, FOUR YEARS!
We now live in Ohio and I would like to find a place to call home instead of our current rental home.
Love your red dress by the way!
wow, courtney. sending you TONS of good house luck. i can’t imagine! i know you must be so eager to settle down in ohio. a rental just never feels the same as your own home.
I want to make it to a morning body pump class. I set my alarm but I never get up. I want to change that!
goooo bodypump! 😉
My goal for the next three hundred days is to continue to make healthy choices for my future. I recently gave up the scale (and my near obsession with the number on it) so hopefully I will continue with my new outlook that health is about so much more than a number.
LOVE this. i don’t have a scale at home either. liberating not to focus on that number and to go off of how you feel!!!
Sounds like you had a great time. I’m looking forward to visiting my mom and dad sometime next month.
As for a goal, I would like to take a yoga class OR find a good yoga DVD to do at home. And I would like to pretty much have my solo strength training program down so I don’t have to stop during my workouts to look up what I should be doing in my old training book.
Sam is precious!
angie – i love both of your goals! yoga and strength training are two of my biggest workout loves 🙂
Happy 300th post!! I’m hoping to run my first half marathon in June 🙂
woohoo! you better report back on how it goes!
I have two goals that I would like to achieve in the next 300 days. One goal is I want to be able to do drop backs in ashtanga. The other goal I want to achieve is I would like to start teaching yoga! Thank you Jen for allowing us to share! 🙂
angie – you WILL get that drop back and you WILL start teaching yoga. you’re going to be a phenomenal teacher. i know it! 🙂
My goal for the next 300 days is to find more time for my self, and by that I mean self love. I feel that is one area in my life that I have been really lacking in.
Oh, I really enjoy your blog, you are a real inspiration!
awesome goal erica. thank you for sharing!
Good morning and happy Easter! Looks like you had a great trip. My Goal for the next 300 days is to focus each month on a measurable short term goal. I tend to focus to much on the long term and miss out on some small things I can work on. This month was the first month ive done it, trying to
Focus each week on getting a workout in x amount of times. But I’d also like to PR in a half marathon, continue my yoga practice, and be a better and healthier cook 🙂 I’m hoping my smaller goals will help me accomplish the bigger ones! Have a great day!
sarah – those are all awesome goals that will add up to a healthier, happier you! love your approach!
Congrats on 300 posts!!! I’m hoping to run my first half marathon this Thanksgiving(the atlanta one actually). I’m a new follower to the blog and women like you are so amazing and inspirational as I take this running journey! This is such a sweet giveaway and I’m so happy to find the blog of a fellow georgia girl! You are quite amazing 🙂
mary nevin – i will be in atlanta this year for thanksgiving. maybe i will run the half too!!!
thank you so much for your comment and the kind words about my blog! 🙂
Congrats! what an awesome milestone! I want to run my first marathon and/or PR another half! And a non-fitness related goal would be to be able to take a week long vacation somewhere! Oh and finish my MBA!
Congrats!
My goal — to take 5 minutes 3 times a day for prayer/devotional time for a month straight. (I’d previously tried to do 15-20 minutes in one sitting, but for me it just hasn’t worked out.) My goal is for it to become part of my daily routine.
Btw — love the dress! Care to share where you got it?
Jenny – the dress is OLD! I think I got it in college at the Polo outlet. It’s just a Polo shirt dress. Super comfy and easy to wear!
My goal for the next 300 days is to be more yes-minded. I catch myself passing up opportunities sometimes and my life has become a little too routine lately. I want to see it take a new direction. I want to do something different, go somewhere new. I want to surprise myself.
By the way I am a fairly new reader and your blog has been an inspiration from my fitness regimend to the food I cook. Congrats on the 300th post and keep it up!
thank you for sharing michelle! i love your goal to embrace new and exciting opportunities.
great to hear from you – thanks for the encouraging words about my blog!
read at least 50 books in the next 300 days!
I want to get to improve my “crow” pose and develop the strength / technique to be able to jump back to chaturanga.
not an easy thing to master and such an awesome yoga goal to work towards. you can do it!!!
Happy 300th post I love reading your blog and my husband is a huge avett bros fan. I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy 5 weeks ago and my goal is to find the time to exercise 5 days a week so I can drop these last few pounds
CONGRATULATIONS on the birth of your son! i can’t even imagine what it must be like to get back into your fitness routine with a newborn. awesome job melissa!
Happy 300th post! In 300 days, I would love to be able to maintain a 10:00 minute mile pace for a run longer than 1 and a half hours. It’s time for some speed-work 🙂
speed work, while painful, is extremely effective! also a great way to build some mental toughness. good luck!
Congrats on 300 posts!!!!
I would like to finish my first marathon and most importantly HAVE FUN training for and running it with my twin sis! 🙂
so fun!!!
I’d like to be able to do more binding poses in yoga. Sometimes I feel like the only one in the class who can’t do a bind! I blame it on my short(er) height….but really I think I need to be more regular with my practice! 🙂
BTW, I only discovered your blogs a couple weeks ago….now I can’t go a day without reading! And I made your incredulada enchiladas a few days ago, and they were a HUGE hit. Thanks!!!
Yay! Congrats!
Fun fun. I would like to become a better water drinker. Instead of having to tell myself to drink more water I would like it to become automatic for me 🙂
Congrats! I would like to get my sweet tooth under control, but at the same time not feel like I’m depriving or restricting myself!
Congrats to you! My goal is to take more time out for myself.
My goal is to start my own business! I’m graduating from grad school this week and am ready to take the plunge!
Start practicing yoga! I keep holding off because when I can workout I’d rather run, but I will make it a priority!
In relation to your post, I hope to spend more time with my grandparents as well! They are only a few hours away also!
Congratulations on 300 posts! You have a great, inspiring blog. My goal in the next 300 days is to practice yoga at least twice a week. Running is my passion but whenever I practice yoga I love the whole-relaxed-body feeling it leaves me with. That’s my goal and here’s to your next 300 posts!
Congrats on your 300th post!! 🙂
Congrats on 300 posts!! I love reading your blog, thanks for what you do!!
I have so many goals, but my two main ones are to complete the p90x program that I am doing and to start a new career. I’ve been working from home and will be transitioning back into the office environment soon. I hope I can maintain my work life balance and still have time for my family and for myself.
Hey Jen,
Congrats on your one-year anniversary and 300 posts. I’m so glad I found your blog. My husband and I have been trying to move closer to family for about a year, so our #1 goal in the next 300 days (hopefully much, much sooner) is to move from Florida to the Midwest. 🙂
Have a great week,
Becca
oh congrats Jen! Love all the great things happening in your life and blog! That overnight french toast is a great way to celebrate.
Cheers!
LC
Congratulations. I love your blog and it reminds me of home. I live in Colorado now but my parents live in Landis, NC – so your talk of NC and the south makes me feel close to home! : )
One of my goals is to maintain a balance between work and play this summer. Did not do that this winter and I got burned out.
Peace and Light,
Mary Frances
Happy 300, Jen! Thanks for inspiring us to live healthy and be our best. I want to lose 10 more pounds. I lost 10 last May and have kept it off, but want to do 10 more!! Okay, so maybe the baked goods aren’t the best way to achieve that, but had to enter anyway 🙂
jen-love your blog! one of my favorites, you always motivate me!
i have 2 goals. one is to get back into a solid yoga routine, & the other is to sign up for baking and pastry school since baking is my passion 🙂
My goal is to run my first half marathon on June 26th and then
Make plans for my 2nd!
I’m completely changing my workout philosophy—going to continue running and incorporate yoga as my strength workouts instead of weights. If I can make it through my 6-week goal, hopefully it’ll be a 300-day habit!
My goal is to work on my breathing more in yoga. I want to slow down, focus more, and get more out of each practice!
Complete my first marathon on May 15th!
Congrats on your 300th post! My goal is to run a 3rd half marathon before I start training for my 1st full (which is Disney next January!)
My goal for the next year is to save! save! save! so that when my husband comes back from Afghanistan we can buy our first house. 🙂
Congrats on your 300th post!! You’re blog is amazing!! You are such an inspiration. One goal I would like to achieve in the next 300 days is to quit buying so many magazines. Kinda silly but I’m spending way to much on magazines that just get thrown away and it’s becoming a bad habit.
I have plenty of fitness-related goals (sub 4:20 marathon!), but my biggest goal is to apply for and land a new job. My current position is very unstable and stressful, so I want to secure a position that is a better fit for me. Congrats! Here’s to 300+ more!
Kind of a weird combo, but right now I am working with a trainer in hopes of getting back to my pre-pregnancy weight only to hopefully get pregnant and do it all over again:) Yes, losing weight before gaining again for another. My son is 21 months and still have some weight to lose thanks to gaining waaaay to much during my first pregnancy. Hoping to not gain nearly as much the second time around.
I have recently discovered your blog and I LOVE it! I check in every day just to have a little slice of inspiration.
I have signed up for my first 5K EVER! I have never been a runner but I set a goal when I was pregnant (my daughter is 8 months old now:) ) and my race is Memorial Day. I have also been embracing a whole healthy living lifestyle since she was born. So my goal over the next 300 days is to improve on my food choices and increase my fitness level all while trying to balance time with work, my daughter, and husband. It may sound easy but being a new mom and actually making time for yourself can be difficult, but it is so beneficial to everyone! 🙂
My husband just finished his enlistment in the military and we are moving from FL (where we have been stationed for 4 years) back to our hometown in NJ. We are going to move in with my mom until we find a new place of our own. My goal is to help her make healthier food choices and to encourage and motivate her to get moving with my husband and I. We are both runners and I would like to get her to exercise regularly with us…even if it’s just a bike ride or long walk on the beach 🙂
I find that I tend to get tunnel vision week to week getting things done, so I love that you’ve inspired your readers to think 300 days in advance!
That said, looking forward 300 days is daunting for me; I plan on finishing my Master’s thesis and applying to law school. There’s so much I want to get done in between – run my first 5 k, vacation in Florida with my girlfriends and register for Spanish immersion – but I think finishing one academic commitment and focusing on the next is probably enough to focus on for now.
Congrats on 300 posts! I think all of your readers appreciate your dedication – I certainly do!
In the next 300 days I want to take control of my time and life by transitioning into a home based business. I long for time to be with family and friends and to do more travel. Setting my own work schedule will enable this.
lori – i totally feel you on this one. good luck!!!
Congrats on your 300th post! Here’s to many more!
My goal is to complete the Couch to 5k program and run my first 5k–hopefully the first of many races to come.
couch to 5k is an amazing program. i predict you become hooked 😉
My goal in the next 300 days is to have this baby!! In the meantime though, I think just being able to handle the challenge of being pregnant and staying fit and active is my ultimate goal.
congratulations and wishing you a happy, healthy pregnancy!
Mine is running relates…
To BQ at the Bayshore Marathon on May 28th!
WOOOHOO!!! good luck and please report back!
I’m going to stop becoming a ‘yes’ person in the next 300 days and constantly over-committing myself…it’s my ‘i’m stopping to smell the roses campaign’ and putting me first this year 🙂
this made me smile! awesome goal – do it!!!
Run another half marathon. I was hoping to run in two different ones this spring, but my allergies have been so horrible that every time I run I get a fever and am down for the count for a couple of days. I’m really, really hoping for a fall half!!!
Thanks for the fun giveaway!
My goal is establish some consistency in my workout routines. I want to be active every day of the week in some capacity, even if it’s a quick 30 minute walk around the neighborhood.
Congrats on your 300th post!
I have a bunch of goals for the next 300 days, but in addition to qualifying for the Gansett Marathon (running Baystate in October!), I’m in research mode to become a yoga instructor. 🙂
do it – you will NOT regret going through teacher training. totally transformational experience.
good luck with the marathon!
The next 300 days I would love to have more time for myself. I am constantly going 100mph trying to do everything at once! Just like you, two jobs can be exhausting sometimes and become such a balancing act! I would love to devote more time to reading a good book, spending time with friends, and enjoying my new city. One day at a time 🙂
Congrats on 300 posts! Here is to 300 more!
the only reply i have to this is AMEN! 😛
BodyPump. Back track. Two big plates. June.
YES!!!!!
Two goals: to have a healthy baby boy in a few months and to work hard to get back into shape afterward 🙂
awesome and so exciting. congratulations!!!
My goal is to do a hand stand or arm balance, all by myself, without using a wall. I’ve currently got crazy wounds on my elbows from failed inversion attempts. Here’s hoping in the next 300 days I’ll succeed!
YES!!!!! You can do it! And battle wounds are the best. You’re hardcore! 😉
I just want to cherish every moment with my family 😉 Life goes by WAYYYYY too fast.
To PR my 2nd half marathon in October, and to get married to my fiance :)I also want to concentrate on loving myself and accepting my body as is. I spend too much time focusing on what I don’t like, and have been missing out on the wonderful things it does for me.
I want to control my temper better 🙂
Run either MCM or NYC Marathon (will know Wed. after noon which one I am running)! So excited to know if I am going to DC or NYC in the Fall! It will be my first marathon!
SO exciting tara! please let me know which one it ends up being.
It’s hard to focus on one goal…..I started thinking of way too many goals! Run my 3rd half-marathon, move to a new job location, be present and helpful with my family. I want to really focus on being in the present moment, not always looking towards the future but appreciate the here and now, that’s my goal!
grace – all awesome goals but i love the “being present” focus. something i can stand to work on as well!
I want to begin a career that makes me feel happy & fulfilled!
two thumbs WAY up to this!!!
In the next 300 days, I want to accept my recent diagnosis with Diabetic Neuropathy. Since being diagnosed I’ve been told that running (one of my supreme joys) will be a BIG “no, no” for me. That hit me hard! I hope to find a new and equally relaxing way to continue to battle diabetes through exercise. Maybe I’ll take up swimming?
Saraya – I am sorry to hear about this but I appreciate your outlook. I can’t imagine how it must feel to have to give up running but I think your outlook on finding an alternative is awesome. You will find something else you love. I never thought I would but I honestly can say I love yoga as much as running. Hang in there!!! And swimming is addictive – give it a try!
In the next 300 days I WILL start teaching group fitness. I recently received my AFAA Group Cert. but have been having some trouble finding somewhere to teach. I plan to make it happen soon though! I am determined!
Jess – this is awesome! You can do it! It’s hard to break into but once you do, the opportunities will keep coming. Hang in there!
I ran my first marathon this past March. It was amazing but much slower time than I hoped- 4 hours 56 minutes. I am fully confident I can get it down to at least 4:40 if not 4:30. I know this sounds wild but my half time is 2:03. I know I can’t simply double it, but I can do better! I’ve got to get my speed faster and work on hill runs. I’ve been running a LOT of hills lately to help out. I plan to run New York (yes I’m in the lottery 🙂 or Chicago Fall of 2012 with a lot of halfs in between. That’s a bit further than 300 days away but I am looking forward to getting into tip top shape! Wish me luck!