Getting Back On the Right Path

I have been busy this week getting back on the right path of my journey.  I have been eating well and getting up early once again to get my workout done and start the day off right.  I haven't been doing anything crazy for my workouts.  I have been riding my spin bikes for 20 minutes each morning, followed up by some weights.  Total time for my workout has been about 30 minutes.  I have been feeling SO much better.  And I can feel that my motivation is BACK!  Finally!  After all this time of trying here and there through the past year and a half since we have moved, I feel like I did when I first started my journey to a Healthier Version of Me.  I am motivated to lose the weight that I have gained since I completed the half marathon I ran in 2013.  And who knows maybe there will be another half marathon in my future...time will tell...and then I will tell you.

In my last post I told you that I am becoming an Ambassador of Life and with that comes "life" things to share with you.  This post will do just that. 

It's always a good thing to have hobbies.  Life is too short to just sit around the house and watch T.V. or stare into a computer screen.  Yet again another reason WHY I will not be posting everyday.  I tried to sit down the other day to write and something came up. 

Get up and enjoy life.  Make everyday count.  Or get the clutter from your home.  Do something that makes a difference in your life.  Because once you feel good, you can make others feel good too.  It's not about being selfish.  It's about taking care of yourself, so that you will be around to help take care of others.  Once you feel joy inside, it will radiate onto others and make them feel good as well.  This doesn't mean that I walk around feeling like Julie Andrews from the Sound of Music all the time(maybe just sometimes), but I have felt that way.  And when my kids shoot me those embarrassing looks when I belt out..."the hills are alive with the sound of music", it's kind of like a kick in the balls(or so I'm guessing).  <<<See this rambling right here, THAT shows me that I am back for sure.

I am going to go back in time just a bit to fill you in on what kept me busy from the fall of 2016 to the Summer of 2017.  If you have been following me for a while or know me personally, you will know that I love to garden.  Moving to the country was a big thing for me and to spread my wings with my gardens.

Here is a picture out our front window the week before we moved into our home...

SNOW...however it did not stay.  

The first few weeks of November 2016 the weather was beautiful.  It was like a late late summer.  It gave me a chance to get some of the plants that I brought with us into the ground before it froze.

 

I created a garden against the front of the house.  I was so happy to get them planted.  Everything was kind of all over the place, but at least they were in the ground and they would have a chance to come back in the Spring time.

So that was November and this below was December 2016...

I tried to build a skating rink for us to enjoy.  But Mother Nature had other plans.  It was way too mild.  Just when I thought, "Oh yeah, this is going to work", it would rain.  Then...

It got colder in January of 2017 and more snow came so we made a snow hill to slide down 

We had fun on it for a few days before more mild weather and more rain came.

I bought this for myself in February of 2017 

So I did start writing again. 

This definitely helped me with my journey, it made me realized that I had to keep doing the things that I love doing.  I kept track of the weather and the seeds that I started in the house.

 

The snow started to melt and I was outside again.  

The cat that lived at the property before we moved in, always by my side.

Now we will move into March 2017 with the arrival of the newest members of our family...

 

Our baby chicks.  I brought them home and placed them in their new home in a tote in our laundry room for the first 6 weeks.  It was warm and kept them safe from these creatures...

...sitting outside our laundry door.

April 2017

The weather broke and I was beginning my work outside...

I grabbed some blue spray paint and marked out the rest of the gardens I had planned to build.

Then the digging began.  

My new workouts...the digging, shoveling, the raking and more digging.

But it was so worth it.  Not that it changed my physical appearance.  It changed they look of our property and it changed the way I felt. 

I was happy.

                                  The dirt arrived                                    Time to spread it around

My little mini-me came out to help me move some of the dirt.

It all started to take shape.

I covered the fresh triple mix with garden fabric to keep the weeds down until it was time to get the perennials in the ground.

April was a very busy month.  

The beginnings of the chicken run.  In April we moved the chickens into a coop into our garage until we were able to get the chicken run built.  More digging was involved for sure.  I dug as far as I could and hit bedrock for every single one of the holes.  It was the best I could do.

I took a break from digging and went and rescued some after Easter spring bulbs that were being cleared out...

 This coming Spring will be very exciting.

May 2017 

         We up cycled this old steel door.        It was time to build the chicken run.  

The new home for our 3 chickens.

They were happy with their new home.

June 2017

Grass seed went down and grew into a beautiful green carpet between the gardens.

Here is a collage of the progress of the front lawn and gardens...

This spring is going to be so exciting watching everything that I planted last year come back to life.  

I have caught you up on most of the things that went on in my life.  There are some other "life" things that I will write about in future posts.  

Until then...

Stay Strong!

Trina

 

An Ambassador of Life

In my latest blog post I wrote about some "targets" that I wanted to hit.  One of them being that of becoming a personal trainer.  At this time of my life I do not want that for myself any longer.  As I wrote that last night, I was thinking of what I wanted and some new goals for my future.  One of them being that I would like to become an Ambassador of Life.  Yes, I am self proclaiming that I Trina Campagnaro is an Ambassador of Life.(And yes, I'm still a Chocoholic.  But I'm happy to say I have been sugar free this week so far)

My role as Ambassador would be to live my life as I do on my journey to a Healthier Version of Me.  That means eating right and being active with exercise, being healthy and strong.  I will continue learning new things about a variety of subjects I am interested in, and I will share it with you as I go.  I have many different interests and hobbies that I already do.  I believe I have mentioned some of them in past blog posts.  Such as I sew, paint, garden, bake, cook, and I am a silversmith.  I will inspire others with living a life that I love.  Even with its UPS and DOWNS.  Oh...and one other thing that I do right now...I am a chicken farmer.  A chicken farmer of only 3 chickens right now but we are looking at getting 3 more in March.                                                                                    

                  Our chicken run...                                       ...and our chickens

The above pictures were taken in the Spring of last year 2017.  The chickens started laying eggs in August of that same year.  They are so funny and relaxing to be around.  Right now, they are tucked safely in that same chicken run, only we have winterized for the cold, snowy winter months.  There's nothing like fresh eggs for breakfast or for any other meal for that matter.  More news about the chickens in future posts, as they too have a lot to do with my journey.

I feel like I have SO much catching up to do, but I can't fit everything I want to tell you in one post.  And I will not let stress get the better of me again, so I will be taking this blogging slow and steady.  But I promise you it will not be a year and a half before I write again.  It might not be everyday as I have A LOT to do now, and I will enjoy every minute of it.

Something that is more fitness related...one of the things that I find inspiration in, are songs.  This morning I made a quick play list for my morning spin.  It included a song by Madonna.  As my legs were going around and the sweat started to build on my forehead, I listened to the words she was singing...

"Say what you like, do what you feel

You know exactly who you are

The time is right now

You got to decide

Stand in the back or be the star"

Well I choose to be the star.  

The song is Beat Goes On.  

Through the rough patches of my journey I knew what I had to do to get back on track, but I didn't listen to myself.  I was just sitting there like some silly girl, just as this song starts.  "If you wait too long you'll be too late"...yes, I could be too late to grow old with my family.  I knew that if I kept up the unhealthy ways it would not be good for me or my family.  So as the chorus goes...

"(So get down, beep beep, gotta get up outta your seat)

Get up, little girl

(Get down, beep beep, gotta get up outta your seat)

It's time, your world

(Get down, beep beep, gotta get up outta your seat)

Your life, your choice

(Get down, beep beep, gotta get up outta your seat)

It's time, live it up"

"On and on, on the beat goes..."

My heart beat!  That is what beat I want to go on and on...

So whether you are a Madonna fan or not, these words I found very inspirational to me today.  And the song that followed...well...it speaks for itself...Wonder Woman.  Yes, it is the song from the original Wonder Woman series.  Find the songs that inspire you and feel free to share them in the comments of my blog.  Who knows...someone else might find inspiration in them too.

Well it's late now and I must get to bed now.  

I promise I will get to added some new recipes and workouts and more pictures.

Until then...

Stay Strong!

Trina

Finding Motivation Can Be Difficult

First of all, I would like to apologize for my absence and leaving you all hanging way back in June of 2016.  I am sorry.  Life got in the way.  It was a life of unhealthy eating and stress.  But I am happy to say that that has changed.  It has taken me a while, but I am in a much better place, and I believe I can write to you once again.

As I got to my spin bike yesterday morning, I found one of my note books near by.  I had a look through it while I was warming up.  On the very last page I found this...

Known as Target #1

Not sure why I named this Target #1, but I did.  This is from the year 2012 it appears.  This is what I wanted and needed.  SO...let us see what can be crossed off for better or for not wanting or needing anymore.

-to write and sell a book...etc...YES I would still love to do that and maybe now I can

-to reach my goal of 130 lbs by Tyler's birthday November 14, 2012...Obviously I can not go back in time, however I can move forward with a new goal for that same date.  I think 130 lbs was unrealistic for me.  New goals will be set in the next few days.

-to become a personal trainer...I do not want that anymore.  

-I want to live in the country on a smallish farm...I can check this one off my list in the BIGGEST and best way possible.  I will talk more about this later.

-I want my own car...CHECK

-I want to go to Fiji...Yes please...this is still on the want list

-I want to inspire others to get healthy...Yes I do...I believe that I have accomplished this target/want, however I would like it to continue on and on.

In finding this scribble of mine kind of gave me that kick in the butt that I needed.  Looking back on my journey I know that I got into a really good place with my eating habits and workouts.  BUT...there is always a but...and I kept thinking that my butt was still too big and that I needed to lose more weight.  What I didn't realize then, was that I had arrived at the Healthier Version of Me.  Then life got in the way and it was a bit of a downward spiral into Blobville, and I was the one running the land, because I certainly wasn't running, walking or biking  on the land.  Anyway, I don't want this post to be negative.  I want to fill you in on the last year and a half.  The last blog post in June of 2016 I left you hanging.  Well...have I got a story to tell.  It will have the good, the bad and some ugly to it.

So back in June of 2016, we put our home in the City of Waterloo up for sale.  We wanted to move to the country.  And that we DID!  Eventually.  We spent that spring and summer of 2016 looking for a place to call home.  It was a lot of road trips, a lot of hotels, a lot of unhealthy eating, a lot of expense and A LOT of stress(in which caused more bad eating).  We thought we found a beautiful place by a lake, but it fell through when it came to the home inspection.  Sad at the time, but the sadness didn't last.  While we thought we had that lake house, our home SOLD in the meantime with a closing date of August 22nd.  So we had a month and a half to find a new home.  On the August long weekend we found our home.  It was a brand new build on a 4 acre lot. We asked our agent to arrange a viewing.  The place was perfect!  However, there was already another offer on it.  To make a long story short...our offer was accepted and we found our new home.  We moved in on October 31st of 2016.

This was a picture from the Realtor website.  Obviously this was before we moved in.  I will post more pictures in future posts, as this home and property have A LOT to do with my journey to a Healthier Version of Me.

Finding your motivation can be difficult, and you don't have to sell your home and find a new one to get your motivation back.  Change is good though.  Whether it's a small change or a big change, you are the one that needs to make that decision.  It will take time and that's okay.  You will get there.  My journey is forever ongoing and I hope you will be a part of it again.  

I will leave you for tonight as it is getting late and I must get up for my morning workout and healthy breakfast. I think I will make some Oatmeal pancakes for breakfast.  Yummy.

Until then...

Stay Strong!

Trina

Did You Miss Me?

I have missed you. 

I have a very special post coming soon. Hopefully before the end of the month. 

Stay tuned...

and Stay Strong!

Trina