2014 in Review.. What a year! ((Part 1))

 

2014 was the year our biggest prayer was answered.. actually, it was answered twice. Our struggle with infertility was something I opened up about a year ago, sharing this very personal journey with hundreds of friends, family members, and even strangers. Now, looking down at my 23 week pregnant belly and constantly feeling the kicks and movements of my two precious girls...
I can honestly say I have everything I've ever wanted in life.

 

I have an amazing husband who is perfect for me, a huge family and group of friends that support me during the highs and lows, and my two growing blessings in my belly.

I have a beautiful home with space to grow into as our family expands by four feet this May.
I have a crazy Weim, Smokey, who completes our family and loves us unconditionally.
I have my health.
I have my parents.
I am blessed.

I'm blessed beyond words can describe and can't believe this is how I'm beginning my 29th year. With such a great start to 2015, let's look back on my 2014 Goals.
 
Career Goals:
 1. Master my new position as a Health Fitness Specialist in Coverage with NIFS.
In August, I accepted a promotion with NIFS to become a Manager of my own corporate fitness center; NextGear Capital. I've loved the transition to corporate fitness from commercial fitness! Starting a fitness center from the ground up and getting it running has been great experience and I love coming to work everyday!

2. Build my Advocare business to the Gold level by February 2014. 
This is a definite failure. Our Advocare business has slowly decreased over 2014 with our focus being on starting our family. We continue to love the products and take them daily, but aren't actively recruiting new distributors. Advocare has been an amazing blessing of a Plan B income that we continue to generate today. Right now, we are enjoying our 40% discount and will see where it goes once the twins are a little older :)

Wifey Goals:

1. Prep all 10 of our lunches for the week every Sunday and plan out our week.

This goal has been a huge success over the year.  Some weeks are better than others...but for the most part, meal prepping is just apart of our Sunday routine.

2. Have a house cleaning schedule and perform 20-25 min of daily cleaning

FAIL! I need to recreate my cleaning schedule from our old house to adapt this to our new house. I do have a new routine that does work well (when I do it!) I will update on this soon.
 

3. Reduce our spending (ex. coupons, sales, etc)

Our focus has been on reducing spending a lot lately. With the thought of adding in two new family members this May and a hit in my salary for at least 3 months, we continue to look at new ways to cut costs in our budget. Our most recent success was switching from AT&T to Sprint, which will save us $30/month!

-$360 a year-
If we invested this little $30 difference over 10 years this will generate $5,697.15!

Next move...cutting cable?! Stay tuned

 

Fitness Goals: Maintain 125-128 lbs and 18% body fat

Looks like I'm going to have the same goal as last year! I'm currently tipping the scales at my heaviest weight with these girls growing by the day. I'm trying to keep my weight gain slow and steady by eating healthy (most of the time) and staying active at work. It's a huge mindset change to be happy about the scale increasing and isn't always easy to watch your body change, but I remind myself daily how blessed I am to be in this situation!

Before babies

 

 

22 weeks pregnant with twins

       

 

Part two of my 2014 Goals: Part II will be posted soon- Check back for that and more pregnancy updates.
-xoxo-
Sarah

 

 

 

 

How did I get here?

Happy Hump Day!

It's time to switch gears! With all the recent baby talk, setting up doctors appointments, filling out countless medical forms... I'm ready to switch gears! I have been doing a lot of reflecting lately and couldn't help but ask myself...
How did I get here?

I will never forget being a miserable, freshman engineering student at Purdue University in the fall of  2004. I never thought much about "what I wanted to be when I grew up" because so many people told me, "You would be a great engineer." I mean, I did love math and enjoyed learning about science. I was in the top 20 of my class (of only 117) and had followed the typical "path to success." Most of my family went to Purdue and I grew up a Boilermaker. What I naively came to quickly realize was that...

1. Engineering at Purdue is not easy, at all.

2. My brain doesn't work like the brain of an engineer.

To say I was miserable my first semester at Purdue is an understatement. I cried EVERYDAY. Seriously. (My mom has kept most of the pathetic emails I sent begging for her to come pick me up to come home.. for good LOL) After I realized I was stuck at Purdue for at least a year, I spent nearly every night looking up different majors. For the first time in my college career, I started really thinking about what I wanted.. what would make ME happy? The night I stumbled upon Health and Fitness was like my Oprah- "AHA moment!"

I remember asking myself, "I can get paid to workout and help others achieve their goals?!?" COUNT ME IN!! I immediately switched majors at the beginning of my second semester and haven't looked back since.

My journey in this profession has allowed me the opportunity to work in many different settings and states. I started out as a Personal Trainer at a small fitness center in Raleigh, North Carolina called Forever Fitness in June 2008. My experience here was one that has yet to be topped. I had such a fun work environment and met so many amazing people, including my best friend, Michelle, and her husband Todd!

My first day at Forever Fitness in June 2008!

Michelle & Todd: Love them! :)

I lived life to the fullest. I made tons of mistakes, but I wouldn't change a single thing about it.  I learned so much in my first two years that set me up for success as I ventured all the way to the Windy City of Chicago in May 2010. I love the fast-paced, busy lifestyle. There is never a dull moment and I was reunited with all three of my college roomies- Sara, Mal, and Dharma :) My love for Chicago didn't help the expensive cost of living and after working two jobs for 10 months and 7 days a week..I decided it was time to come back home to Indy. 

Working at Pure Vibes Fitness in Chicago in 2010 :)

When I arrived back at home, I was lost. I had just left a toxic relationship, didn't have a job lined up, and was back to living with my parents at the age of 25. I worked to cover my bills as a part-time server and beverage cart girl at the Brickyard Crossing during the warm summer months while I took my prerequisites to apply to the University of Indianapolis for my Master's in Occupational Therapy. 

 Everything changed on May 1st, 2011. 

Barry and I's first picture! May 1st, 201

Barry and I had known each other for awhile. We first met when I was in college and he was teaching at Speedway. I was working at the Brickyard Crossing as the cart girl and he was working as a cart barn boy over the summer ;) We had exchanged some back and forth comments which always left me with butterflies in my stomach, but we were at two completely different points in our lives. After our summer of working together, I returned to Purdue to finish my senior year and he continued to teach and coach at Speedway. I would occasionally run into him when I would be home from North Carolina. At a friends Christmas party in 2009, we talked for hours, but again, the timing wasn't right and we continued living our lives hundreds of miles apart.

 When he walked into the Buffalo Wild Wings that Monday evening in May, I remember the butterflies quickly returning. I was just finishing up my shift and decided to stay after and hang out with some friends of mine, just a couple tables away from Barry. (I'm no dummy!) It didn't take long for him to come over and join us. After some awkward flirting on my end, I was "showing him how to use his iPhone" and put my number in there (smoooooth, I know) We went out that Friday and have been together ever since.

In the process of finding the love of my life, everything in my career seemed to come together easily. Speedway opened up it's first gym, Anytime Fitness, and I was able to come on board as a Personal Trainer in May 2012 after deciding not to attend graduate school. (Paying off student loan debt for the next 20 years didn't excite me!) I'm now a Health Fitness Specialist with NIFS and loving the change to corporate fitness. I'm also building my Advocare business and looking forward to starting our family :)

Life is good. 

I am very blessed. 

Anytime Fitness Speedway Run or Dye Group

Barry and I enjoying our day in the Advocare suite at the track!