Lovely Lee

Today was day 21. 21 days ago I began a journey of the Beachbody 21 Day fix eating plan. I have always struggled with my weight. I've always wanted to be thinner, healthier and more fit. I consider myself a pretty athletic woman, and I'm also really strong. Before I got married I didn't really work out or eat healthy. Food has always been a close companion of mine. If I was stressed, I ate. If I was happy or celebrating, I celebrated with food. If I was sad, a Chick Fil A milkshake and french fries did the trick. After "I do" my husband and I wanted to get in shape and eat healthier. I gained a little   lot of weight during my first year of marriage. I was also in Grad School getting my Masters Degree and working full time. My husband and I decided to try out Crossfit in March of 2014. We only lasted a few months. At that point we were both over it and just accepted that we enjoyed eating out more than eating healthy and working out. In early February 2015 we d...

This weekend was all things hard, lovely & beautiful & though there are moments that I would go back and change, it was exactly what the Doctor ordered for this weary soul of mine. It has been a tough couple of weeks, as this entire season has been. A few bright faces showed up last week on campus, nine of them to be exact. Nine sweet, beautiful faces that are mine for the year. Nine girls who I get to love, mentor & live life with. I am beyond excited. They are sassy and fabulous and I enjoy my moments of teaching them, laughing with them and learning beside them. After a full week back at work last week, I was excited and ready for the weekend. Friday night I had to work last minute, and though it wasn't terrible, something that night generated a long time argument of Jonny & I. We went to bed upset, woke up upset and it was a mess. We argued, the volume escalated quickly. It was hard, there was some hurt on both sides, and like a normal married couple who is ra...

Last night my husband and I were driving home from having dinner with my parents and my sweet sister who is in town from Arizona. We were talking about my family, how much we love them, and the craziness that is the Leonard family. I mentioned something about our finances, and my precious husband, he just started talking to me, little did he know he was calming me. He was reassuring me that I don't need to worry. We both work hard, really hard. We both love our jobs and we are faithful, hard workers. We are at a special place in our lives. We don't rely on anyone to support us, {except for my dad who puts me on the costco business card so we have costco access, thanks dad.} We don't have any children, we both have relatively new cars in great condition, a beautiful apartment that we love, and we are paying off student loans. We are actually doing really well. Jonny has this way of calming me down, and I am so grateful for him. The learning part is what happened next... ...

Today's blog is sponsored by the lovely voice of Jenn Johnson & Bethel worship, alongside the Jillian Michaels detox water sitting on my desk half drunk. Drank? I don't know. I'm no English major. Clearly. The past few days have been a real struggle for me. I've wanted to sleep, and hide from the world. I kind of succeeded at it, until our community group time last night. I just need to take a moment, I want to thank, {by name} the beautiful people in our community group~ Beej & TK ~ Hannah & Joey ~ Jamal & Christine ~ Stephany & Shane ~   Mark & Reba ~ Mandy & Gregg.  Each of you have abundantly blessed me in this season of my life. The girls have prayed without ceasing for this weary heart and I am not sure I could do without them. They are a blessing that neither Jonny or I expected. I love every moment we spend laughing together, praying together and reading and discussing God's word together. Each moment is so precious to me,...

I'm back at work this week. Some of you may know that my job allows me a month off of paid vacation time. This time was sweet, it was treasured and I enjoyed it. I took a 10 day vacation to Florida with my husband's family, celebrated a dear friend as I stood beside her as she married a God fearing- selfless man, and I spent some days in San Diego with my best friend. It was needed, but I am grateful to be back to work. However the title of this post is currently how I feel. These are desert days. Most certainly not because I am back at work, I absolutely love my job. These are desert days because people, life is hard and there are some days that I am not sure I know how to navigate it all. My story is one that even I am unsure of reading. I have had some tough days, where as my little sister would say "Kelly, you're being ugly." I struggle with anger, and some things in life have me pretty angry. I have a sweet friend who has been trying and trying to get preg...

There's a song out right now called Raise Em' Up by Keith Urban. You can listen to it here . Every time it comes on, whether I am in the car, or in my office, I turn it all the way up. It's about being an American, the freedoms we are allowed and the beauty of having chances to become everything we  could dream of being. Tears fill my eyes at these lyrics : So, you meet someone The only one You take her by the hand Make a stand Buy some land Make some love And them babies come Raise 'em up Raise 'em up Raise 'em up trophy high Raise 'em up to the sky Raise 'em up, show everybody that newborn smile Raise 'em up tall and strong Raise 'em up right from wrong Raise 'em up so damn high they can hear God singing along My Mom & Dad have an amazing story. They met before they were Christians, and life was a little more difficult for them. My Dad was a young, attractive entrepreneur with a thriving business and Mom was in her first year...

Some of you may or may not know what Crossfit is. The truth is, I am still learning exactly what it is myself. Basically in my own words: Crossfit is a sport which incorporates elements of high intensity training, olymic weightlifting, gymnsastics and many other exercises. According to my trusty friend wikipedia, there are over 10,000 affiliated gyms half of which are located in the US. There is a workout of the day, also known as {WOD} which is posted {for us the night before} allowing me to decide whether or not I want to die the next day.  Jonny and I began doing crossfit in March of 2014. We lasted about 3 months with school, new jobs and our first year of marriage. Eventually we quit. We had a super tough season of marriage, and we both packed on about 20 pounds, and in early March of this year, decided we would try again. This time we would incorporate clean eating. Now since its #vulnerablethursday, {Mom, its just a hashtag people use on social media} I will admit that I l...