Closing Out 2012

Well it's New Year's Eve and another year is coming to an end.  2012 has been a roller coaster ride for Steven and I.  Our lives together started out with lots of bumps and we are ending on such a high.  It's hard to even figure out where to start...

Our year started with us struggling financially and living two separate lives in the same house.  We hadn't quite made the one year mark of marriage.  Many friends told us the first year would be the hardest.  Not because we weren't meant to be married but because we were both older when we got married (lets face it, when you get married and your both in your thirties your "older").  We were both pretty much set in our ways as individuals and we struggled with communication as a couple.  Then reality hit us in the face at the beginning of February.  Our dear friends Steve and Jen Martin told us that Steve had stage 4 melanoma.  Talk about kick you in your face!  Here we were arguing over leaving a dirty bowl in the sink for someone else to clean-up and they were dealing with the reality of STAGE 4 CANCER!  Funny thing is that they didn't dwell on the negative and sadness of the cancer, instead they started a war against cancer which has lead to Steve still being here 12 months later!  Here's a link to Jen's blog http://martinfamilyjourney.blogspot.com

Our one year anniversary arrived in March and we celebrated with an amazing dinner at Damian's in downtown Houston!  Probably in my top 5 awesome moments in life.  I got to cook like a real chef!

I'm even wearing high heels while I cook my master piece!  

Steven and I had overcome a lot of our issues by March.  We were plowing through the first part of the year and creating memories along the way!  In May we took a wonderful trip to New Mexico for some great hiking and relaxation!  It was fantastic!

I was goofing off during this photo and nearly fell backwards down the cliff.  Lesson learned...don't goof off while at the edge!

So the first half of our year was pretty exciting and we had overcome our bumps in our marriage!  The second half of 2012 was very busy and lots of fun!

My Mary Kay business was having it's own success!  I was the first runner up in the Rockstar unit for court of sales.  My good friend Lori was the queen!  Steven and I went to our very first Mary Kay Seminar in August.  It was lots of training and we got to play fancy dress-up a couple of nights for awards.  It's always fun dressing up for events!  My success in Mary Kay allowed me to donate $450 to the Martin Family's AIM for Melanoma walk in September as well!

Steven decided to leave 24 Hour Fitness where we had been kind of working out together and joined Crossfit Champions.  I stayed at 24 Hour since I had a personal trainer.  Our weight loss was up and down all summer long.  Not really seeing any progress because every time we lost weight we had a bad weekend or week(s) and gained it back.

In last August I took the plunge and joined Crossfit Champions.  I thought it was the dumbest decision I made at the time but whatever I was giving it a try.  Immediately after I joined Steven left on an out of town trip for the ENTIRE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER!  Oh great, I joined this new place and my husband left!  In September the gym had an AdvoCare 24 Day Challenge which I participated in and didn't have much success.  The only real improvement was that I took 2 minutes off my workout.  I will stay the unsuccessful challenge was COMPLETELY MY FAULT!  I quit the last 2 weeks of the challenge and the results suffered because of it.

October was about the same.  We were working out and taking our AdvoCare supplements but not really eating clean and healthy.  In November we took our annual trip to San Antonio to watch the lights come on the Friday after Thanksgiving on the River Walk.  We had a great time!

After Thanksgiving we decided to do a 24 Day Challenge together. This my friends was the turning point in our weight-loss and life that Steven and I both needed!  We had amazing results with weight and inches lost.  We both felt great and had energy that we had never had before.  We didn't eat out for 24 days!  Our checking account was gratefully for that!  At this point I had figured out that Crossfit was EXACTLY what I needed!  It was a giant family and I loved it!

So now the end of the year is here and what's next?  2013 is going to be full of greatness and lots of success!  We will continue to get healthy together and we will also start helping others.  There are so many people out there that want to get healthy but just need help from real people who have been through the same struggles!  We're hoping to do just that!

Happy New Year to everyone and may your 2013 be a great one as well!