Nothing feels as good as crossing accomplishments off your goal board

Its been about 3 months since I redid my goals and I'm happy to say the forward momentum that started with a simple goal writing session moved us across the country and gave us a $500 a month raise. You want to know the best feeling in the world? Well its the title of the blog so you probably guessed it...Crossing off accomplishments from your goal board. I have never felt more joy than when I'm crossing off goals from my list. Sometimes I feel like that one act is what motivates me more than the actual accomplishment of the goal.  I am also a habitual list maker, (mini goal boards to cross off accomplishments) I have lists for everyday, every week and every month. I use sticky notes, white boards, my iPhone and anything I can write on. I have them everywhere they are visible to me whither I'm at the grocery store or I'm in my bed. I find myself easily distracted without a list. A.D.D what? What was that? Shinny things. See. Okay.... so I find lists most helpful when they're in an order of most important to least important and organized by time frames for each task. I can already hear the moans..."but this takes way to much time" I promise this will make you more productive than you have ever been, which in turn will buy you back more time than you could ever spend making lists. Become a list making fool, make sure your lists tie into your 1, 3 and 5 year goals and make sure those goals match your 10 year vision. This is so important guys, know what you want. You have to know what you want....your 10 year vision should be that for you and everything you do should feed into that perfect vision you have for yourself. Be committed to your vision. No amount of setbacks should deter you from moving toward your vision. Can it change? Sure...but not everyday, not every month. Your vision should be pretty solid once you create it.  If you don't know what you want,  I would not recommend making lists. What's the point? You're creating directions to nowhere. FIGURE OUT WHAT YOU TRULY WANT OUT OF YOUR LIFE. If you're completely lost and have no idea what I'm blabbing about this is a good place to start.

Your daily lists change as the unexpected distractions of life happen. It's okay. Rearrange, redo and keep moving forward. Just like your goal board changes. You must stay on top of them to keep them relevant to your life. So in that light I'm holding myself accountable and redoing my goals again. I will be posting them by the end of the week. Things that we thought would take us much longer are coming together and rocking our world. Not going to make a huge announcement yet...but I will leave you with a clue....its not a baby...

Two intense days of in class lecture

and Practical hands on work...and of course WOD'n

Did I mention how proud my Hubby makes me. First time in his life he is passionate about his career choice.

Goal accomplished CrossFit L1 Certified

Eats:

Kale wrapped lunch meat, egg, avocado. In the car.

More fast food.

Working on more seafood in our diet, Mahi Mahi frozen from Trader Joes Amazing! Steamed spinach and fresh guacamole

apparently I love Kale too, kale, salmon salad from Tree Huggers

-Mrs.T. 2011

The Power of One

"Every single thing you do matters. You have been created as one of a kind. You have been created in order to make a difference. You have within you the power to change the world" - Andy Andrews, The Butterfly Effect

Jere and I at Success School

We spent this weekend with some of the most inspiring people on the planet at AdvoCare's Success School. One of whom was best selling author Andy Andrews. It would take pages upon pages to really describe what we experienced this weekend, but I feel like Andy's message about the butterfly effect really does the best job at summing it up. Every decision we make has an effect on the world, whether you believe that or not, it's a scientific principle known as the law of sensitive dependence upon initial conditions. Just like the scientific law of gravity you don't have to understand it, believe it or even be aware that it is there to be effected by it. Scientific laws are truths. Sometimes I feel like I have to do something obnoxiously great to change the world. But its not the truth. I change the world with every decision that I make, how I react to situations and the attitude that I choose to have. And so do you. The pure fact that you are alive and breathing gives you purpose and ability to leave a legacy. Not by what you accomplish (building your resume) but by what you've contributed (building a legacy). At the end of your life you will look back and have one of two feelings #1 Regret or #2 Fulfillment. You choose every time you make a decision. Do  you live a safe life of mediocrity or do you let people in your heart and your life? Do you chase the dreams that God put in your heart or let fear, the little gift from Satan, keep you in your safe place.  Do you trust that struggles are part of his plan to make you stronger or fall into a pit of depression crying "why me" when your plan doesn't work out? I want to share  a story that I heard this weekend about the power of one decision:

AdvoCare's new endorser Colt McCoy  had one dream from time he was a little boy, to be the quarterback that lead his team to a national championship. On January 7, 2010 he was face to face with his dream. It was the last game of his college career as a Texas Longhorn.  The day was perfect and as quarterback to win the most games in college history, he was hours from achieving his dream. His plan was solid. However, God had different plans for him that day. In one play Colt was hit and his shoulder was numb. To shorten the story he was taken out of the game and Texas lost to Alabama. Then Colt made a decision that effected millions. He decided that day how to react to his reality. Here is what he said seconds after the game was over: 

Thousands have written, emailed, and shared this story of faith. Because of his decision to trust that everything happens for a reason and to voice that on National TV Colt touched more lives than he could have ever if they would have won. 

How many times have you missed the opportunity to make the right decision?


Don't get me wrong we don't have to be incredible starting quarterbacks to make a difference. We all make a difference. I use to think that my decisions would only effect me and some of the people in my life. Don't make this mistake. Settling for less than your best, not chasing your dreams, being "realistic", not challenging the "way we do things" when they don't seem right does not do anyone a favor. Clarification; I'm not saying quit your job and move to Mexico because that is your dream, I'm saying make small conscious decisions every day to get you closer to that dream. Be grateful for what you have, enjoy every second of your life (good and bad), take a stand for what you believe in and fight for your dreams. If your plan is to go to college, get into debt, settle for a job to pay off your debt, live pay check to pay check, switch jobs every time you are offered a little more cash, live for the weekends, trade the precious hours of your life for dollars, and build your retirement fund so you can finally live your passion at the age of 65,  I  strongly urge you to find a new plan. Even if you truly love your job your future depends on someone else. Pension plans, benefits, retirement are all things of our past they will not be around long. This system is failing and we are seeing the effects.  Be smart and create multiple streams of income, get out of debt so that you do not owe anyone anything and prepared. Become financially independent so that you can be a contribution not just a cog in the big business machine living for your pension.

This is not an advertisement for AdvoCare, but it is an endorsement for direct sales. I don't know any other way for an average person to create an abundance of wealth. Find one that fits your passion and start creating a second stream of income. There are thousands of great companies out there. If you're into Makeup, especially if you are into organic non-toxic makeup, Arbonne, is a great company. There's ones for jewelry, tupperware, house decorations, cell phone services....do some research and find one that pays well, has a value system that you believe in and is filled with people that you want to be around. Our AdvoCare team is like our family. Beware of companies that promise quick easy money. It's not easy. You will work if you want to be successful. Here's my question, if you are going to work hard for the next 5-10 years why not build something that is going to pay you for the rest of your life?

3 of the most amazing people we know

Jere and I are part of AdvoCare because we are passionate about helping people get healthy. The products work and the business opportunity works. If you're still reading I'm guessing you are looking for something, that you want to be a difference maker. You will effect millions whether you want to or not, you will change the world no matter what.....its a fact.

The question isn't will I make a difference, the question you should be asking is what kind of difference do I want to make?

Freezer Burn

Adjusting to the cold Ohio weather has been a lot easier than we had thought. We already did an outside running WOD in the snow....it was awesome! Growing up we hated the snow, the reason we left Ohio in the first place was the weather, now the snow has a calming, welcoming affect on us. We spent 3 years traveling around looking for a place to call "home" a place where the grass was greener. Think we were really looking for ourselves. We had to break out of our comfort zones to discover who we were. We had to leave to get a different perspective. Funny how perspective can change everything. The lessons that we learn on our 3 year excursion gave us the perspective we needed to truly appreciate everything we have in Ohio. We are loving every minute of the freezing state that we call home.

Our new CrossFit home, The BOX, lots of cool people that share a sick obsession with CrossFit. : )

Coolest free handstand pic yet!

Love Trader Joe's for Meat and Fish

and Buffalo Jerky with no MSG!

While we were making dog food, we were eating some of the celery with almond butter, found this one at Sam's Club for $5.99 an there is no sugar added.

Had this at Fresh Market while we were in FL, we recreated it at home, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and a little Garlic Expressions to add flavor

Not 100% paleo so use sparingly

Not a huge fan of processed lunch meat, so we bought full turkey breast and cut our own. If you are buying lunch meat read the ingredient list. If you can't pronounce the words and/or don't know what it is don't buy it.

Absolute favorite snack on a cold afternoon, mix chocolate muscle gain with coffee. Love AdvoCare Muscle Gain.....its predigested so you don't get bloated and its ran through a program called informed choice so there isn't anything shady in it.

Asparagus, turkey and sweat potato

My sister got me the Paleo Diet Cookbook for my birthday! Can't wait to try some new recipes!

Paleo is great for Dogs too

About 6 months ago my sister in a last resort effort to reverse her 2 dogs ongoing health problems started making her own dog food. Her older (7yrs old) pug, Bailey was overweight and having seizures on a weekly bases, her puppy Chloe, was having major stomach issues, lots of gross diarrhea. The vet put them on expensive medicines and fancy food but nothing seemed to really help.

My sister, Britta, her boyfriend, Tommy and Chloe and Bailey(aka Santa)

One of our family friends learned about a making your own raw dog food in California and was having amazing results with her great dane. So my sister decided to try it out. Within a day Chloe had no stomach issues, with in a month Bailey lost 10lbs and was not have seizures at all. Hum....have you ever read whats in dog food? Its mostly corn filler, the exact same corn that makes up most of our processed food. Corn by the way is a grain, not a vegetable. Seriously do you know that everything in the middle of the grocery store (processed) foods contain some form of corn. Watch Food Inc if you don't believe me. Its cheap, it keeps you full, you can turn it into anything and its subsidized by the government. As a profit driven organization its a no brainier to use corn in food production.  But its obviously not what our bodies or our four legged bffs are designed to eat. I was attracted to the paleo diet because it was founded by asking the question, "what is the optimal human diet". Had nothing to do with making money on a fad diet, or losing vanity pounds or even figuring out how to eat the right combination of our adulterated modern food,  it was about finding the diet that was most suitable to our bodies. It scrapped everything we knew about food and started from the beginning notion that everything we needed to thrive as a species was provided to us via the Earth. Love that simple theory. And it makes sense....our human ancestors diet would consist of lots of lean meats and seafood, some veggies, some berries and nuts when they could find them. Before farming they would not have had access to the quantity and variety of fruits and vegetables that they would have needed to survive. Sorry vegans, I know its hip to be a herbivore these days but back in the day that wouldn't have been a survival option. And I love The China Study, I took out of it that we should be eating the raw food that nature provides for us, that nature is still the best doctor and that getting off of processed foods will do miracles.  I will point out too, that there is a huge difference in being paleo (eating free range lean meats) and eating tons of fatty store bought meats. Don't be a bad example for the paleo peeps. Do your research, lean meats, game meats and seafood not fatty steaks and processed meats.  Our bodies are made to eat meat we evolved for millions of years that way. I'm not picking on your lifestyle decision if you are vegan or vegetarian, I respect your decision to live a meatless life and to take a stand for your health, it just doesn't make sense to me. So if being meatless make sense to you, go for it! I support you. I love you but I'm not in love with you.

Wait I got lost in my rant....this is about dogs. So guess what the homemade raw dog food is, PALEO!! Yay!! I was all over this when I got home and saw my sisters dogs eating the same diet that we were!

Meet Sam and Bob, our paleo dog subjects. Bob is our big baby, he's sick all the time, he has been to numerous vets that tell us different things but mostly that he has allergies and he has to be on  medications his whole life. And I guess this is not uncommon for dogs. What?! I don't accept that. Sounds so familiar to human doctors doesn't it? Why aren't we looking at the source of the problem...like maybe dogs aren't suspose to eat grains.

Our local butcher grinds up bones and everything for dog food

$31 total for 8lbs of chicken and 8lbs of beef

Apples, Blueberries, carrots, celery, green beans and flax seeds total price $18

Cut up and mixed together

Thought about eating it

Mixed the beef and chicken together

Bob gets about 2 cups and Sam get just under 1 of half and half mix 

Cleaned the bowls

split them up into daily servings

Made about a month of food froze the leftovers. 

they slept like babies : )

Going to mess around with ingredients next time. We can get our dogs the chicken with the bones in them. They are big enough that they can chew up the bones. Think it will be more cost effective. We also went to our local discount grocery store and found out when they sell their veggies on their last day. Found out for $1 they will sell a full bag of veggies that are past their sell date! That should save us some money next time too. We'll update on the costs. This batch cost us $50 for a month for two dogs. Got a lot of our information from:  http://www.barfworld.com/ you can buy it from them pre-made. We used their ingredient list to get an idea of what to put into their food and how much to feed them.

Anyone else make their own dog food? Cat food?

Confessions of an adrenaline junkie

Okay, okay, I admit, Jere and I are completely addicted to adrenaline and endorphins. Our latest adventure included a 4.2 mile obstacle race called the Iron Knight and of course the big move to Ohio in the middle of the winter. We laugh and call ourselves out every time we're about to do something ridiculous..."off on anther Shanna and Jere whirlwind adventure" or "next on the Shanna and Jere show".... never gets old. We love change, we love adventure, we love the unknown and thus our life is one leap of faith to another.

CrossFit Evo teams at the Iron Knight

300 Push-ups between 4 of us

40 pull-ups No Kip, girls got help! Oh yeah!

4.2 miles of running all together in between tasks

Equipment carry

The Boys did all of this task

Jere playing in the woods

Tire Flip

Humvee push

After the race we got back together for the sweetest handstand photo op ever!

The next day Jere and I were packed up and ready to hit the road. The lessons we learned in FL will be coming home to Ohio with us.  Trading the sunshine and palm trees for snow and gray skies we knew what we were getting ourselves into. We were prepared.....well at lest we thought we were, until we realized we would be driving during the worst winter storm since 1967. Awesome!

Jere drove this bad boy and I followed with his truck

Last picture in the ghetto of Orlando. : )

SPARK fueled our entire 24hr drive.

Yes exactly how I remember Ohio....gray and cold.

So thankful for my sister and her bf! They helped us move in the blizzard

Of course we helped them out the next day as they moved into their first house

Big things coming up next on the Jere and Shanna Show:

1. New flip house
2. Babies
3. Crossfit Gym (starting in our garage)

Preferably in that order. : ) Tomorrow I'm going to show you how to make raw paleo dog food! And a sneak peak at our new CrossFit home, until we have a house and a garage to start ours.


In food news:

Poached eggs on top of sausage, bacon, mushroom, & peppers with some avocado

It was like a delicious stew all mixed up