First week COMPLETE. And I'm still breathing...

First week of class for Eric and first week of work for me!

We feel so accomplished and it's just the beginning.

Let's just say, I hardly saw my husband this week. My typical day went something like this. 

Wake up, go to work, go to gym after work, come home to find Eric in office studying, make dinner & do laundry & clean, eat dinner by myself, make lunches, kiss Eric goodnight and go to bed. He crawls in bed an hour or two after me. 

I am NOT complaining. I will have to keep reminding myself that this is only 3 years compared to the rest of our lives. We are investing in Eric praying that it will all pay off.

The nice part is I got Saturday and half of Sunday with him! So we had our quality time.

I LOVE my new job. Basically I am a Trust Administrative Assistant. Which means I help handle different trusts accounts... and let me tell you, most of our clients are millionaires. I had to go and hand deliver a $250 bottle of Scotch to one of our millionaire clients at this office on the 20th floor of a skyscraper in Oklahoma City. It was his birthday. Pretty sure the walls of his office were made of marble. I secretly wanted to ask him if he'd be so kind to donate money to our poor family. Law school is expensive, ya know?!

On another note, I've been driving myself and my husband nuts with my hypochondriac behavior. Yes, it drives ME nuts too! I've been experiencing some numbness and twitching and so of course I thought I was having a stroke. Doc has already told me a hundred times that it's anxiety... which I guess is probably true but I think it's likely a pinched nerve. Also, I check every lymph node daily just to make sure I haven't developed lymphoma overnight. Guys, I am a nut case. 

Eric and I have analyzed these behaviors of mine and are both pretty sure this is how it goes: 

1. I hear about someone famous or someone I know personally who died or has suffered from a disease.
2.  I convince myself I have the disease and all of its symptoms. 

 Why do I do this? I don't know. All I know is.. it is ruining my life! 

Do you know why I check my lymph nodes every day? Because I asked Eric a couple of weeks ago to find out if Bob Ross was still alive. One Google search later he says "Oh, he died of lymphoma!"

ALSO, my co-worker just told me about her diagnosis and fight with lymphoma!

So what do I do? I start fixating on my lymph nodes! 

I should really start doing yoga or something. 

My husband is especially helpful during one of my "episodes". He reminds me of the truth and that God is good! Even if something should happen to me... God is still good. 

So true. I need to remind my hypochondriac self of this daily.

Here is a perfect description of me: 

In other news, I learned that there are really scary spiders here. On my way out one day, I found a pregnant Black Widow on our door knob. Nice! I about died. 

We have found 2 giant spiders since. 

We also LOVE our new church. It's called Christ The King PCA... it's a smaller PCA church but we actually really like that. Everyone's been super friendly and we have gone to several different member's houses for lunch and have gotten to know many people. It's been truly wonderful and unlike any other church experience we've had. Everyone is SUPER hospitable which has helped us to get plugged in.

Welp, pretty sure my chicken is burning so I better go. Toodles...

xoxo Chelsey, The Law Student's Wife.

My fitness journey

I am going to be completing Jamie Eason's 12-week LiveFit Trainer!
Here is the link with more info: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/jamie-eason-livefit-trainer.html

Jamie Eason is a trustworthy, fitness spokeswoman who offers this program for free. It is 12 weeks long with 3 stages.

I am going to be focusing on building muscle and getting lean.

Why?

I was an athlete in high school and college and always had accountability and a goal to look forward to whether it was a role model teammate or a race in the distant future. Now that I am out of that scene, I need some fun motivation.

Before I got married, I started looking into fitness programs that would result in optimal fat-burning and muscle growth. I then stumbled upon bodybuilding.com 

This site not only provides excellent, scholarly information about fitness and health, but also has a member section where one can read about different individuals' fitness journeys where they share what they did to lose weight and/or gain muscle & strength.

From my research, I found that Jamie Eason's LiveFit Trainer had the most positive results for members.

I was attracted to this program for several reasons:

1.   It's completely free. All you need is motivation. Jamie doesn't try to sell you anything and DOES NOT require any of her own products in order to have success in the program. Although you can do the workouts at home, a gym environment might be best.
2.  It's not just a 12-week diet & exercise plan. As she says on the site, "I'm thankful for the opportunity to share everything I've learned about training, nutrition, and supplementation over the years in this 12-week program. LiveFit means what it says—adopting a healthy and fit lifestyle." The program is meant to help individuals adopt a healthy lifestyle. Meaning, you don't just go back to old habits after 12 weeks.
3. It's different than what I am used to. I have been a cardio-bunny my whole life. From my experience and research, cardio alone sets one up for failure. Your weight will constantly yo-yo, your metabolism will be shot, and you will be exhausted with a whole host of health deficiencies. Yes, this has been my experience. Not only have I suffered from tons of vitamin deficiencies, loss of period, hormone imbalances, and severe anemia... I do not have the optimal amount of muscle needed for a high-functioning metabolism. It has all been burned away by the amount of cardio I do.
   
   As women, we lose muscle as we age and we are told NOT to lift heavy weights or eat high protein diets because it will make us "bulky". This is just not true.
   
   We do not have nearly enough testosterone to get "bulky". Real, female body-builders work VERY hard to bulk up. It does not happen overnight. By lifting weights, women can actually lean out, contribute to bone health, and speed up their metabolism
   
4. Lastly, I want to work on developing healthy habits while I am young. I know, what you might be thinking. "You're already healthy!" No, I don't feel as energized or strong as I could be and I know I can be eating more protein and vitamin enriched foods. My exercise and eating habits are not always the best. You can read about my eating disorders here.
   
   I want to focus on strength and muscle instead of being "skinny" and eating like a rabbit.
   
   As I age, my body will only weaken. If I do not learn how to strengthen it now, I will find myself 20-30 years from now with the same old habits wondering, "What happened?".  "Where did my energy go?" "Why am I weak and tired?" etc.?

I also feel it important to note that I have strongly considered and am still working out my intentions and heart toward exercise and diet. 

Thought Process

I'll admit that when I was younger, my desire behind exercise and diet was perhaps vain and selfish. I only wanted to be in tip top shape for selfish reasons.

But I don't think it is wise to throw the baby out with the bath water. 

As I get older, (still young of course) I am realizing deeper benefits to eating and exercising properly.
I won't agree with the fitness models that live by the mantras, "Be selfish so that you can take care of others" That just sounds like an excuse to be primarily selfish.

I want to be active and healthy so that I can fulfill all of my duties as a working wife, future-mother (far future), and Christ-follower. But I don't ever want it to interfere with these things. Life is crazy and unpredictable. I just want to be a good steward of my body knowing that, while doing this is extremely beneficial to other aspects of my life, at the end of the day and in the grand scheme of things, it is not of absolute utmost importance.

I ENJOY being active. Partly because of my active upbringing, I have developed a deep passion for building strength and achieving new fitness goals. It is never easy and it takes serious discipline and hard work. And there is something so therapeutic about working out. It is an outlet for me.

I DON'T ENJOY feeling run down and tired all of the time due to improper care of my body.

But, like I said, this is an aspect of my life that I am still working through.

I want to honor the Lord in this. But I am going into it knowing that I am going to fail but also that He is gracious and patient with me as I work all of this out in my heart.

This site in particular has helped me to "Guard My Motives" behind all of this.

Today was day one and I am soooo sore. Also, I am going to have to get used to egg whites. Yuck. Any tips on how to make them tasty would be appreciated :)

Anyways, I felt like sharing all of this in case it may help or give insight to one or two people in their
fitness journey. I am no expert, but I am excited to start this program. I will be sharing my progress along the way.

We made it!

We are here in our new home state OKLAHOMA! 

We arrived last Tuesday thanks to my amazing dad who drove the Penske truck and my cute little sis who took on the passenger's role. Eric and I followed in the car behind. It was a scenic and lovely drive and the only trouble we ran into was a huge thunderstorm in Texas!

Thank you to everyone who helped make this happen! We love you all and would not be on this journey without your prayers and support.

I still cannot believe we are here... this is something we prayed for months and months ago. It is so surreal to be sitting on my couch in a new, unfamiliar place.

Sometimes I have to remind myself that I am not in CA anymore and that I can't just drive over to the beach or to my in-laws. Rather, different instances of culture shock are often a reminder that I am not in CA anymore.

Examples:

1) The painter that came to paint our place. Couldn't understand a word he said. His drawl was that crazy!

2) I have seen like 20 signs that say either "God Bless America"or "Jesus is Lord". Also, there is a church on every corner. I am NOT kidding. And they are all BEAUTIFUL buildings. Welcome to the Bible Belt!! (Not complaining) It's weird not feeling like a minority here...

3) When I go running in the morning, people actually say "Good mornin'!" In California, I would say "Good morning" to every person I passed and was hardly ever returned a smile or nod back. (with a few exceptions of some fellow regular runners who I miss dearly)

4) Neighbors sit on their porches. No, it's not just in the movies... Doesn't matter how hot or humid it is, I still see couples sitting on the front porch in their cute chairs.

5) EVERYTHING closes at 9pm. No exceptions. Eric, my dad, Kori, and I all tried finding a place to eat around 9:30 and there was only one place open. We were their last customers.

6) There's no Costco. Okay, this one makes me sad. We just gave in and got a Sam's club membership but it's not the same :( They don't give you boxes for your groceries and they don't have nearly as many samples!

7) The weather! Guys, it POURED this morning for about 10 minutes. I loved every second of it. Including the house-shaking thunder. Although, I am sure it was a "baby" storm compared to what Oklahoma is used to. And guess what. Now it is perfectly sunny and not a cloud in the sky.

Also, last week was HOT but I really didn't mind it at all. Besides, we have central A/C. Thank you Jesus.

8)  The prices! Gas is sooooo cheap! I'm talking even $2.05 a gallon.

9) Friendly people! On the roads, in grocery stores, in the bank, pedestrians, you name it. We went to a church on Sunday to try it out and there was NO WAY we were getting out of there without meeting 15+ new people. It was awesome! Right when the service ended, it felt like a line of people came up to meet us! I've never felt so welcomed. <3

10) Giant bugs! Eric told me to write this one. He is constantly outside taking pictures of new bugs. (I married the cutest nerd). He found a gigantic, weird-looking wasp thing the other day and said he's going to take it the biology department at OU to find out what it is. Ha!

Oh and those fireflies... (I think they call them lightning bugs here)... let me tell you, they are like moving Christmas lights. I AM IN LOVE.

11) The sun sets close to 9pm here and the sky and sunset = gorgeous. 

12) It is not uncommon to see mansions here. Every day, on my morning run, I find a new house that I fall in love with. Colonial, Victorian, Craftsman Style, you name it... they are beyond beautiful. This one's right next to the campus...

Those are just a few things I have noticed so far. VERY different here. But, we love it and don't mind calling it home.  I miss California and love that state for many reasons... but hey, I can't lie...You're doin' fine, Oklahoma! We like you already.

Oh, and I got an awesome job as an admin assistant for Arvest Bank in the Trust department. I am oh soooo excited about it. 

Until next time!! 

xoxox. Chelsey, the Law Student's Wife.