saturday in madison.

This Saturday was well spent. Steven and I made our way to Madison, IN to spend the day together. That afternoon we walked around Madison exploring the little shops they have. It was fun to go somewhere so different from Louisville and we were lucky enough to have the perfect Fall weather.

Around 5 pm the shops began to close. (Crazy, I know!) Then, Steven and I went to this adorable little coffee shop called Madison Coffee and Tea. We sat around and talked for about an hour. I loved being able to sit by the window and see the scenery of Madison rather than a busy road like we are used to at home.

When we finished up our coffee, we made our way down to the river. There they had a "Scenic Tour." Basically, it was a lighted walking path along the Ohio river. Steven and I spent the majority of our evening walking the path. 

How exactly does this relate to "Healthy Living?" The whole point is Steven and I could have spent the day sitting around on the couch watching Netflix (which we love to do), but instead we spent the day walking around a new place. Just because you aren't throwing your running shoes on and heading to the gym or eating a salad instead of a hamburger, doesn't mean you aren't making "healthy" choices. I strongly believe one of the first steps to creating a healthy lifestyle that will be permanent  is to live a more active lifestyle. Don't spend all of your free time laying on a couch staring at a television. 

enjoy the journey.

It seems to be easy to get caught up in the idea of your long term goals. I want to be skinny. I want to be healthy. I want to be fit. I want to be... 

STOP

Take a breath.. It is important to not only look into the future at what you want to be, but enjoy where you are at now. You will never get this time back - don't overlook the present while you're focusing on the future. The process of finding a healthy lifestyle for yourself should be something that you enjoy. If you don't allow yourself to have fun doing it, most likely it won't take long for you to slip back into old habits. 

I am all for using working out as alone time, but some days working out seems like nothing but a chore to add to your seemingly never-ending to-do list. On days like this, look for ways to make exercise fun. After a particularly challenging week, I was ready to toss my daily exercise to the side. If it wasn't for Jessica, one of my very best friends and partner in this healthy lifestyle exploration, I would have spent my evening sitting on the couch behind a textbook. However, we encouraged each other and got to spend time jogging in this beautiful weather instead. That beats being cooped up inside any day. 

Two and a half miles later, we not only had managed to squeeze in a good amount of much needed girl talk, but a nice workout as well. That was a win-win in my eyes. 

Remember not to get bogged down with a routine. Do what you need to do to make this journey enjoyable for you. Mix things up, enlist a friend, or do whatever it is that will make the time you spend working towards your goals good for you. 

-Melody

out of the office.

Hello! Today I totally felt the pull to get outside, but that isn't always as easy as it sounds. While juggling 15 credit hours and 25+ hours a week at my internship, getting outside during the week sometimes is restricted to the time I spend walking to and from my car. 

I work in a central part of the city downtown. This means I have many tempting restaurant choices for lunch all within a short walk. There is even a food court full of all the fast food I love to hate in the same building I work in. Days like today, when the weather is so great and the office seems so dreary,the pull I feel to go out to lunch is even stronger. 

Don't worry, there is a solution. This desire to eat out is caused in majority by my desire to get outside. Today, to get the best of both worlds, I took my packed lunch outside. 

Obviously, this was much healthier than the various options I had to eat out. Even when eating somewhere like Subway, it is better to have complete control of the foods you are eating than to assume what is in the things being served to you. That being said, I'm not saying you should never eat out - I sure do.. However, do so sparingly. Don't just waste it on a day you're tired of being at work. 

Hope you are having a good start to your week!

-Melody

enjoying the sun.

Hello! Today marks the end of my school week - hooray! Thursdays are my "short" days and I actually get out of class while the sun is still out.. what a treat! That mixed with the awesome weather we are having made it impossible not to get outside today. I decided to jog in a different part of the city than I normally do. This  made for a nice change of scenery, which in turn made my jog a little more interesting. 

I also found a new app that I thought was awesome! I normally hate jogging new routes because I am horrible at judging how far I actually jogged.  RunKeeper for the iPhone not only used GPS to track my distance, but also kept a log of my speed. I absolutely loved this app! I was able to play music directly from my music library through the app and simply touch the screen to hear an updated distance and time at any point during my workout. It then stored my finished exercise within the app so I could track my progress. What more could I ask for? Did I mention it was free? Can't get much better than that!

As you can see, I am not the most athletic person. The fact that it took me 15 minutes to jog/walk a mile is not something to be proud of exactly, but it's a start - and that's all that matters! Fifteen minutes may not seem like much of a workout, but with such a small amount of free time I have to take what I can get. Fifteen minutes is better than nothing after all. 

Thanks for stopping by!

-Melody