Porch Kinda Weather and a Love/Hate Relationship

I think porch kinda weather is here to stay my friends :)

This is not in fact our porch/patio, as we live in an apartment.  Nor is this a porch of anyone we actually know!  Haha, but it does look super nice and like the type of porch we could only hope to have one day and enjoy for many springs and summers to come :)  A girl can dream right!?

Now, it hasn't quite been the 80 degree pool weather that I'm still dreaming of, but this weekend was still really nice!  You know spring is in full effect when lovely spring storms rear their head!  We've had a couple pretty strong fellas roll through over the past week or so and I love me a good storm!  I'm not so much liking the potential damage they bring, though.  Luckily, the downtown area has been spared thus far.  Unfortunately, our plans to hit the Knight's game Saturday night were rained out (thumbs down!).

Speaking of pending pool weather (and Spring Break!!), I need to be watching my diet (and by diet I am referring to my eating habits, as I don't really follow a diet) much more closely than I have been.  I consider myself a pretty hardcore gym-goer (notice I did not say athlete, ha) and workout enthusiast!  I have a love-hate relationship with working out.  ie I hate working out and love when it's over!  Hah, no really, I've grown to enjoy it and feel weird when I don't work out.  I work out often and run about 20 miles a week on average, give or take a few here and there.  I also have several personal running goals and am working hard to bring up my speed and bring down my time...ughh!  Ha

But because I workout so often, my brain tells my appetite it's ok to eat pretty much whatever I want!  Haha, I don't eat unhealthily (at least by my standards) as far as during the week goes.  I always eat breakfast to kickstart my metabolism, pack my lunch for school, try to bring healthy snacks to kick my after school cravings right in the face about 230 everyday, etc.  During the week I keep it "pretty" healthy (although somehow I find a piece of candy or chocolate to appease my sweet tooth daily as well, oops!).  But on the weekends, I definitely indulge more. Brandon's usually home over the weekend and while he's good about a healthy diet as well, he shares my sweet tooth (is that a dominant gene?  If so, I feel bad for our children, ha) and we typically have no trouble convincing the other to grab a dessert either at the store or out somewhere.

Such as a delicious lemon pound cake my Mom made for my grandmother's birthday this weekend!  This was not her actual cake, but boy was her's delish!!  With some ice cream on the side :)

So even working it out at the gym as much as I do, because I eat as I please for the most part, I pretty much just maintain my weight.  Which is not a negative, but hinders my improvements (oh the cycle continues!).  Needless to say this is, and I'm sure will remain, an ongoing battle as I am a LOVER of food :)  I've come a long way in my self confidence and feel good about my body for the most part, but we all tend to be critical of ourselves and there is always room for improvement.  So I'll keep on keepin' on in the gym and each week eatin' as well as I can.  But I'm not going to deny myself either, that's when I tend to over eat and over indulge.  Any dieting/healthy eating/living suggestions you have, feel free to share!

This week, though, I'll be trying to eat extra carefully as 4 work days and 3 school meetings are the only things separating me from SPRING BREAK '11 and 9 whole days with my hubby!!  :)  More on those developments later.  So let's get this work week OVA WITH!  Florida, here we come!!!