The title says it all. I just want to move to Austin. I’ve always loved that area for some reason. Though it may be super hot and humid and I always look like a gross sweaty mess I still love it there.

One thing in particular that really captured my attention while we were there was the large amount of active people. On our way to downtown to eat at Shady Grove we drove by Lake Austin which I think is actually called Lady Bird or Town Lake (not sure). It was about 1 in the afternoon and it was freakin hot! I couldn’t believe the amount of people walking, running, and biking I saw along the trail by the road. It was a busy place! My uncle said it’s around a 5 mile loop around the lake. One of my life goals is run around it someday or even better to live close enough where it can be a normal place I go to run.

Also, I noticed many paddle boarders when we crossed over the lake. I’ve never tried paddle boarding before but I’ve always read that it’s a great total body workout especially for your core. And I’ve seen paddle boarding yoga and I think that’s one of the coolest looking activities!! It’s at the top of my must-try exercise list. Plus you get to paddle around on the lake in your swimsuit! Not much is better than that!

Some days I believe that I was born to be a hippie, but thankfully I was born on a farm which allows me to have a very different conservative perspective on a lot of things in life. Austin calls out that internal free-spirit I have. I would just love to hang out in that area and be a hippie. Well more like a writer/photographer/fitness junkie/ health freak/ thrifty shopper. Maybe someday I’ll get to do that though…maybe in Austin. Maybe somewhere else.

Across the street from Shady Grove was the place called Juiceland. I would have loved to try it out.

We’ll see where I go and end up! But living somewhere with lots of running trails, workout places, and healthy eating restaurants is definitely characteristics I will be looking for.

Real quick question: Has anyone heard anything about this book or have read it? “Eat, Drink, and Be Gorgeous: A Nutritionist’s Guide to Living Well While Living It Up” by Esther Bloom.

One of my best friends from school said I would absolutely love this book, so I was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on it. On Amazon it had mixed reviews. If you just want a basic guide on eating healthy in moderation, working out, healthy alcohol choices, etc. this is the book for you. If you want the science behind everything then not so much. Thoughts?

Though I think may want to move to Austin it’s so nice to be home and to finally get my life back to “normal” again until school starts back up. I live a very blessed life and am surrounded with wonderful people and live on a beautiful farm with wide open spaces. This kind of space and privacy probably isn’t too common in Austin unless you have lots of $$$. I can’t complain about my life here.

So I’d been kind of worried that after not working out for so long that restarting would be kind of rough, but it really hasn’t been.

Yesterday morning I went out for a 3 mile run and my time was about a minute or so slower than normal, but I wasn’t really trying to make my same time either. It felt really good to run again, but running at 10 am in the morning isn’t always the smartest thing to do. I got a little overheated.

For breakfast yesterday morning we didn’t have many groceries at the house since all of the ladies had been gone and it was just my Dad. I made some protein pancakes with some Greek yogurt, protein powder, and egg whites. They turned out pretty good just a little burnt on the outside. Story of my life.

Mid-afternoon yesterday we still had some coffee remaining in the coffee pot, so I put it in the fridge for awhile then made my own iced coffee. Since we didn’t have creamer my Mom suggested I use sweeten condensed milk. I can’t tell you exactly how much sweeten condensed milk I put in there, but it tasted really good!

And I had a coconut Luna bar along with my coffee.

This morning I got up a little later than planned and wasn’t feeling very adventurous in the kitchen, so I just had toast with almond butter and bananas and a bowl of vanilla Greek yogurt with the other half of the banana and some almond butter. It was just what I needed.

Soon my Dad picked me up and we went out to change the length of some sprinkler nozzles on a field of sorghum. The hoses were almost dragging the ground so we shortened them. First we had to untwist the hose from the top part then take off the nozzle. We throw the long hose aside and twist the nozzle to the shorter hose like the one in the picture. Talk about a good arm workout. Holding your arms above your head and having to twist the hose then the nozzle really works yours arms. Especially your forearms!

My Dad had to run to town so while he was gone I did this total body strength workout from Fitness Blender. It’s a great workout for your legs especially the glutes! Ouch.

A green monster smoothie made its return into my life today for lunch along with half of a turkey sandwich. I had almost forgotten how yummy my green monsters are!

I don’t have much else for you today. I’m not sure what I’ll spend the rest of the afternoon doing. Maybe some more farming or more things around the house.

I’ll leave you with a picture of Marley. She’s a cutie sometimes.

What city you would love to live in? Have you heard of the Eat Well book? What have you heard about it?