30 day Green Smoothie Challenge!

Happy April 1st! I thankfully am not a fan of April Fool's Day and now that I'm basically working with myself and not in a school, I don't have to worry about anyone any pranks! 

Last week, I saw an ad on my Facebook for a Green Smoothie Challenge...I'm all about Green Smoothies, so I clicked on it hoping it wasn't spam. I was in luck and it's actually an awesome website. www.simplegreensmoothies.com 

They are challenging people to replace on meal a day (usually breakfast) with a green smoothie. They give you the shopping list and recipes. They also have a 21 day cleanse program and you can buy the green smoothie recipes ahead of time so you can see them in advance! 

Today is Day 1 and I made the Simple Peach Smoothie.

SIMPLE PEACH  |  Serves 2

2 cups spinach, fresh

2 cups water

2 cups peaches

1 banana

*Can substitute peaches with mango or nectarines.

It was really good and it makes enough for two servings, so I'll grab another for a snack later on today! I'm really excited about the challenge, my friend and I are doing it together! I used to drink smoothies all the time, like every day, but I've gotten lazy and need to get back into it. It's a great way to get your veggies/fruits for the day and they are seriously delish! 

Yes, they may look like sludge, swamp water...I've heard it all, but seriously don't knock it before you try it! 

So here's to a new month and a healthy, happy month! I've got a couple things working as far as the blog goes...one is a new design thanks to a friend who is way better at that kind of thing then I am! 

Have you tried green smoothies? What's your favorite recipe?

xoxo,

SamanthaDiane

Working out hard, or hardly working out?

Well, I wish I could say that I've been working out hard...but I've been hardly working out. HOWEVER, I have been going to the gym more than I had been! I joined 24 HR on December 09 and I've been a whooping SIX times since then...yeah I've been basically supporting them by my monthly dues...you know a donation some may say!


I have since found two classes I love! Pound and Pilates Reformer. The reformer class is FO FREE! Say what?! I've never been to a gym where the reformer classes are free, so you can find me every Saturday morning in that class! And then Pound...I'm a horrible dancer and have no rhythm to speak of, but I LOVE this class! It's on Tuesday, Thursday and Sundays. I can't go Tuesdays because that's my busy busy day at work, so I try to go the other two days. Here's the description of Pound from their website :

Pound is a full-body cardio jam session, combining light resistance with constant simulated drumming. The workout fuses cardio, Pilates, isometric movements, plyometrics and isometric poses. Burn calories, strengthen and sculpt infrequently used muscles, and drum your way to a leaner, slimmer physique – all while rocking out to your favorite music! Through continual upper body motion using lightly weighted drumsticks, called Ripstix™, you'll turn into a calorie-torching drummer. Rock, rap, pop and old school music fuse to create the Poundtrack series.

It is SO.FUN! And extremely hard and boy are you sore after! It's a mix of pilates, yoga, cardio and abs. It's awesome!!

I also belong to Revolt Now Fitness. I had seen it on a couple other blogs last year and decided that since I was moving to a smaller place and prob wouldn't get a gym membership right away I'd join! It's $50/yr and you get a meal plan and workouts. I have been seriously slacking on this...mainly because my small apartment has no room to do the workouts. So I have to go to the gym to do them...and I like to go early so that I'm not dealing with a million people watching me {I know that more than likely they're not watching me, but still}. And seeing as I've been digging this whole sleeping thing, getting up early to hit the gym isn't on my list of things I want to do. But I need to get over it and start going at 6am. Maybe even 5:30 and then I could come home and shower and grab a power nap if need be! :)

Not living near my parents{and their pool}, I need to get my butt to the gym and eat healthier because I'm going to have to be amongst people to get some sun and in the past I could be in the comfort of my parent's backyard with fencing to shield the neighbor's from going blind haha!

I've seen this on Facebook lately and crack up every time!

Are y'all gearing up for summer by working out/eating healthy? I pin a bunch of great recipes/workouts on Pinterest so maybe I should go check them back out!

New adventure

Hello!! I'm not sure I'll ever get many readers, but I figured I'd give this blogging thing a try since so many of my friends do it, and I LOVE blog stalking reading various blogs about so many things! I'm hoping to use this blog as a way to keep myself motivated and forever striving to become a healthy Godly woman. I plan on sharing recipes, workouts, bible verses that have been on my mind.

Last night I started my new LifeGroup with my church, we are going throught the book: A Woman after God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George. I've read the book before and it was awesome! However it was either in high school or college...either way it's be a long time! Going through it again it's so cool to see things I highlighted then compared to now! In my group I'm the youngest one and the only one that is single! I feel like I am going to learn so much from these ladies and I can't wait! One of them told me last night something she was told by another lady when she was single, she told me I needed to enjoy this time b/c this was the last time God would ever have me to himself!! Once he blesses me with that perfect man and we have children I'll forever be juggling all of the challenges of daily life and trying to have a relationship with Him. This really hit me and made me think. Goodness I need to stop saying "oh poor me, I'm single and don't have a special someone", I need to thank God daily for this time and use it to grow closer to him every day!!

So in the book's first chapter it talks about having a heart devoted to God...which is where I came up with my blog's title! Martha and Mary were sisters and Jesus and his disciples came to see them and Martha immediately went into panic mode! You know this mode..."oh my goodness I have so much to do!" You're running around trying to make sure everything is perfect. Martha was doing all this and her sister, Mary, went and sat at Jesus' feet, listened and worshipped Him. Martha goes to Jesus and says to him "Look at Mary! She's not even helping me! Don't you care that she's doing nothing?" He replied (and this is my favorite part and the verse that I'm going to meditate on all week): "My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her." Luke 10:41-42

So many times we get all bent out of shape over things we have no control over or things of the world, when all we need to do is look to God and thank Him for all we have and the many blessings He's bestowed upon us! Such a big tap on the shoulders from God to me! He's saying, "Hello!! Samantha! I'm here, please give me your all and everything and I will take care of it!"
So that's my goal this week! Acknowledge Him in everthing I do, and take everything to Him!

This is quite a long post for my first, but as soon as I started typing I realized I really did have a lot to say! :)

I look forward to talking about so many different subjects! I've recently started re-started my healthy lifestyle! Making sure I'm eating healthy and exercising!! Now, to add spending time with God daily in His word to that!

2013 is the year of ME! I'm working on bettering myself, mind, body and spirit!

xoxo,
SamanthaDiane