Embracing Ruby

I CAN NOT BELIEVE IT!! 

I am not officially a Ruby with It Works!

Let me just be real with all of you as to why this is such a huge deal. I am not a sales person by any stretch of the imagination. I couldn't sell a naked person in Antarctica a jacket; I am that bad. Not even joking. I am a people-pleaser by nature. I do everything to meet their needs most times at my expense. So, like I said, this is a BIG deal. I wanted to take some time and share my journey with you. The good, the struggle, and the awe.

So when I started this journey, I wasn't even thinking about becoming a distributor. It was more of this red headed health nut wanting to help get all my fruits and veggies in during the day. Hello Greens on the Go. That was all it took and I was hooked. I started to feel so much better each day I took them and new there was something different about this stuff. It was doing so much for me that I tried other products. And fell in love with each one I tried.
I started to think about becoming a distributor but kept telling myself I couldn't do this; I wasn't cut out for it. I would never be able to reach any sort of high rank, let alone sign a customer up. Some how my best friend was able to get me to just commit and take a step of faith. And what a step of faith it has been ever since. I made a goal that all I wanted was to be able to pay for my gas each month since I had a full time job. And the first month I did that. I signed a bunch of customers right out of the gate. I was pumped I was excited! I hadn't been able to sign a distributor but figured it would come. Then the next month, I signed up maybe two more customers still paying for my gas for the month, but still no distributors. I started to get nervous. I figured maybe all I will ever be is a distributor and thought that was alright because at least I was paying for my gas. I knew I was shy and talking to people wasn't a forte for mine.
That next month nothing. No customers. No distributors. But STILL paid for my gas for the entire month. That is why the fear set in; I thought I had exhausted all my resources. I wasn't really sure what to do next, but held onto the hope it would turn around.
The next 3 months it was the pretty much the same story, I think I signed one customer in that time frame, BUT my gas was still being paid for each month. I think that fact kept me trusting God and knowing that I could do this. I hadn't failed yet; I was still making ends meet. That didn't ease the fear or panic that I was feeling. And if you are in the place right now: I FEEL YOU. I know that moment of panic you are in, that dark place you go to thinking it won't work for you. That you are watching other people on your team succeed and you look at yourself and feel ashamed your aren't making it happen. I know. I was there and some days it does come back and sits in the back of my mind.

That being said; we are now at the 7 month mark. I started to overcome my fear (not by Mt Everest standards, probably more rather large hill standard) of talking to new people. I start opening up more in hopes that I would be able to succeed just once. I managed to sign a customer that wasn't a friend and then it happened: distributors. I got two distributors!! Not much but for me it meant a TON. It was such a great feeling then from there it took off. I have managed to talk to more people and those distributors have really hit the ground running. They are blowing me out of the water, and this time I am ok with it. I know that it is alright for them to do better than me because we are a team. And we all are there to help each other out.

It may have taken me 8 to 9 months to get to this point, but it was worth the wait on this one. I am amazed out how things work out. I can't even imagine it getting any better than this. I had the realization when I double promoted that now I will be making an average of $600 a month!! I will be able to change from just paying my gas to paying a loan payment!!! I will be able to pay my loans off that much faster now. Not only that but I am also blocked in for Emerald which would be an average of $1,000 a month! I never dreamed that I would ever be in this position. I didn't think I would have wait it takes. Those 3-4 months of nothing had me second guessing my choice. I am still in shock that I have accomplished this. I still can't believe that I have the chance to keep going further. I am excited to see what can happen and what God has in store for me. To see how I am going to continue to grow as a person and the fears I will be able to overcome.

Am I still afraid? Absol-freaking-lutely. Do I still doubt myself? Some days yes.

Am I going to give up? Not by a long shot.

I can't stress enough to not give up. I know first hand those dark days and moments of panic, but they can't keep you from smiling and pushing forward. We define who we are and who we will become. No one else will do that for us or should they define our idea of success. My path is going to be different from others in this company, but it is the one that works for me. Maybe it isn't the best, but it what works well for me.
I encourage you to find the path that fits you best with whatever area of life you are in. You are made for greatness. Don't you for ONE second think that you are not. We don't all have to be a sales person. Some of us are just better suited to dig in the dirt of life and find the gemstones.

Blessings,
Ali

[Pro-Fit]ness all Around

So I have FINALLY been cleared to go back to normal activities after spraining my ankle. Woot!! Physical therapy done. Restrictions gone. Praise Jesus.
I can get back to working out like a semi normal person now. I say semi because I really can't "run" without buying a brace. Now I always hated running but did it to say active and healthy. I am not going to buy a brace to prevent my foot from swelling while running. It is not worth it to me. Before you all freak out, aka no more running for Ali.
I have instead switched to biking and getting back to my love of rock climbing. Working lower and upper body just at separate times. Upside is the pain of them both doesn't occur at the same time. But hey no pain no gain as many a persons have stated.

So with all this added activity, I decided to try ProFit. I opted for the chocolate flavor (my brother told me never vanilla). I have never taken any whey protein in my life so this was a WHOLE new adventure for me.

This is my thoughts on it:

• Horrible Solo.
• I definitely don't like it with just milk. That was probably right up there with my worst texture experience I've ever had. It didn't mix all the way together which is probably why I disliked it so much. 
• So much better in Shake form.
• This is a much better option. I definitely HIGHLY recommend adding it to a shake. For instance: I am in love with the combo of ProFit (chocolate flavor), 1 banana, 2 spoon fulls of peanut butter, and 2 cups of almond milk. Just add some ice to it and you are golden. It is perfection!!

So whether your goal is just getting healthy or athletic performance help ProFit is able to do all of that:

• Experience quicker post-workout recovery
• Helps to build lean muscle
• Maintain healthy cholesterol levels
• Promotes healthy digestion

ProFit is really quite amazing. It definitely gives me the boost I need to help my muscles recover after a hard workout as well as giving me energy to just function afterwards too. Not only that, but it is completely filling. This stuff keeps me full for the rest of the night. I workout after work around say 5:30 - 6 pm, so it takes the place of dinner some nights (not all of them before we all get concerned). I mean what is better than chocolate after pushing your self that extra mile or extra hour at the gym or outside in this wonderful heat? And knowing that it is only 100 calories!! Yep ProFit is only 100 calories. Hallelujah!!

I will put in this subtle warning though; it will cause weight gain. You are building muscle which does weigh more than fat. Don't worry; I flipped out for a second so you wouldn't have too. Still am a little bit if I am being honest. That being said; I don't recommend ProFit if you are not working out enough to burn the calorie count off. 

Fitness junkies: I highly recommend adding ProFit to your regime. It taste great and does so much for your health.
Average fitness gurus: I still would recommend ProFit since it does so much for your health on top of workout recovery.

Have any other questions? Feel free to drop a comment and I will gladly answer.
Blessings,
Ali

Lost in the Woods

I apologize for my lack of posting in these recent weeks. I have been a little swamped with dirt, fresh air, lots of trees, way too much sun for this ginger, and an obscene amount of bugs.
I am currently volunteering at Camp Ao-Wa-Kiya. A camp I grew up at and have fallen in love with over the years hence why I keep coming back :]. So, I have fallen victim to the lack of internet and sleep deprivation causing me to become lazy about posting...

I will definitely take a moment to say that this was and is a much needed break from my routine life. I needed the escape. I needed the time away to really reflect on my life and where I see it going. The truth is I have NO idea. None. Zip. Scary to think that I have no plan. I have no idea where I am supposed to be headed in life. I have been asked so many times this week and last what I plan on doing with my life. I am 25, and still have no idea what I am really wanting, or more accurately, what God is calling me to do with my life.

And you know what? I believe that is alright. It is ok not to know. If you have it all figured out, that's awesome!! If you don't, that is awesome too. It is alright to be unsure. To enjoy the time of silence and confusion as weird as that sounds. I know for me, I am thankful for my job because it is paying my loans off. Do I wish that I was able to spend my summer completely here at camp? Well, yes I do. I would love to be able to dedicate my time here doing something I am passionate about, but that isn't what God has planned for me at this time in my life. That is something that I am learning right now. That I need to be ok with maybe getting a no sometimes rather than the answer I want. I have to be willing to have a detour happen in my life as well as still being able to give 100% of my effort to it. As if it was exactly what I wanted it to be, thus me putting everything I have in it. Things won't always go our way; shocking revelation right? The world keeps spinning. Who knew?

I think sometimes we need to just get lost. We need to escape of this reality that we think we own and are needed too much in to leave for a brief second. ESCAPE! Take a break. Take a moment. Step back. I don't know what other phrases I could give you before it clicks. Find some fresh air and breath deep. We all need to find that something that we are passionate about or just find what we are really wanting out of life. I know this may be a huge step for some of you. It definitely will be for me. I have found a new found fear and excitement in discovering what it is that my life holds in the coming month, year, and decade. Yes, I will be afraid. I have no shame in admitting that. I won't lie and say that I will be completely confident in my abilities. I think being afraid is completely in the norm of life. It helps to see things more clearly in some ways because, for me especially, I am thinking completely about what is in front of me. And because of that I am thinking through things more than I probably would if I was confident in doing something. You don't have to be fearless to accomplish great things; just brave enough to do them despite being afraid.

So are you ready?
Ready to get lost?
Ready to embrace some fear?

Come with me and get lost in the woods.

Blessings,
Ali

Revisit those Dinos

Jurassic. World. Don't ask. Just go see it.
Dinos. Action. Chris Pratt. Need I even say more?

But really, this was such a great movie.
You don't have to have seen Jurassic Park (the first one) before going to see this one. It would help you catch all those lovely Easter eggs that pop up throughout the new film. And, there are quite a few of them if you are paying close attention.
You will laugh, you will jump out of your chair, you may even scream, and there is a slight chance that you might possibly even cry. There is no shortage of dinosaurs in this movie. You have a favorite? It is probably present in this movie. Or you will soon find a new one to fall in love with. I am a Raptor fan myself; they are so smart and cunning as well as deadly. I have loved them since the original, and I wasn't disappointed this time around either.
Plus again Chris Pratt.

So, revisit number two. It Works Cleanser. Last time I wrote about it (Itchy Desert or Smelling like Citrus) I came to the conclusion a couple months ago, that it was going to be worse before it got better. I figured it was time to tell you if that actually rained true or not.

My face is so much better than it has been. To but it as blunt as possible my face has been for the most part clear during that horrible time of the month of us females. I had to do a double take this week. My face is always, I repeat, ALWAYS disgusting and oily during this week. I can happily say that is not the case this time. Which is super exciting. I can't begin to tell you how happy this makes me. For once in my life, I wasn't thinking about what my face looked like or what people were going to say. I just merely went about my normal everyday life!!

It's worth mentioning that it does take awhile for the Cleanser to show results. So, you must be patient. Trust me when I say I know. I am not a super patient person. I want it to work right away or at least in the first couple of weeks. This is not one of those products. lol, sorry. But I will definitely admit that it is worth it to wait.

So GO SEE JURASSIC WORLD!! and give the Cleanser a try. You won't be sorry in the long run.

Blessings,
Ali

Tight. Golf. Swing?

Sorry for such a long break between posts; the holiday and busy life caught up with me not to mention the Sprain Recovery I am still going through. Almost out of the woods on that, thank goodness!!! I have been dealing with this for long enough in my book. That being said;

Today’s topic: Joint Aches and Pain.

Sounds like such a motivational topic. Gosh, I bet you jumped up in your chair for that sentence. Ha.

Obviously, I sprained my ankle in March, so I have had a lot of joint issues. For instance, my joint was extremely tight the first time I went to see my physical therapist (ok it still has the tendency to be tight all the time). She laughed at how tight it was; I am an over achiever apparently. I struggle with keeping my ankle moving while at work since I sit at a desk for most of my nine hours of job time. Add to that how busy I am and I tend to forget those exercises that are supposed to help keep my ankle motion flexible. My fault all around I know.

It is why I got so excited when I seen that It Works offered a product that was supposed to help with my joints!! I thought finally a way to break through this struggle. I have not tried Relief YET, but it is next on my list. After I had written it off that is, let me explain why I had done that. So, Relief is supposed to promote healthy and flexible joints as well as strengthening the cartilage in the joints. Sounds awesome, right? I thought so. Plus this is great for all the golfers out there who tend to put a lot of motion and repeated stress on their joints. Which is why my dad was willing to give it a try. He is an avid golfer. Like goes every weekend once the snow melts, or to the heated stalls in the winter to hit golf balls type of golfer (he don’t mess around). I was excited to see how it would work for him that way I could get it too improve my ankle function. Well at the end of his 30 day supply he said he didn’t feel any different. To say I was bummed wouldn’t be accurate. I was totally hoping this was going to at least do something even it is was minuscule. I was prepared to write a meh review for Relief; I actually had it written up and was waiting to post it… 

I am kinda glad that I had waited to post it since a couple days later (possibly a week) he asked me to re-order it for him. I asked why since it didn’t work in his book. As it turns out my dad has a heel that bothers him often well, it didn’t bother him while he was taking the Relief. I have witnessed him gimp around when it bothers him. I can honestly say I haven’t seen him do that since he got Relief back into his daily routine. This gives me hope that there is more to this sucker than I originally thought. I am ready to take the test to see if it will work out the same for me and give me some mobility back that I have lost. 

All you golfers, sprain recovers, or athletes out there who are having joint pain, you may want to ask me how to get back that flexibility. I have the stuff for you!

Blessings,

Ali

More than Your Ordinary Breakfast

Ok, I will admit that I don't, and if most of  you are like me, you as well, don't get up and go out for breakfast. We need to probably start changing that mentality. I absolutely LOVE breakfast type foods. There is definitely a soft spot in my heart for eggs, syrup, toast, pancakes, the list goes on and on. I can be very picky about how certain breakfast foods are prepared, but let me be the first to say that Anna's House hits a slap-shot right past that all-star goalie.

As soon as you walk in the door, you are greeted with that 50s vibe (which I happen to love). The nostalgia should be enough for you to know this is going to be great. If not, well take it in. The place is really sweet looking. I mean I wanted to steal almost all of the fun light fixtures like this one. I also would totally decorate my kitchen similar to this, but probably with grays and mute yellows instead.

After we were able to take in all the creative nic-naks that had all around, we drove into the menu. Talk about option over load! I didn't know where to even begin or what to get (I will have to go back like six times). Oh, don't for one minute think that all they have is breakfast. They have countless lunch options as well. I decided to keep it plain jane since my mom and grams were picking creatively named things (I knew I could try theirs ;]). I went with good ole French Toast combo which meant I got eggs and sausage with it. I wasn't expecting too much, but I was pleasantly surprise by the added surprise of cinnamon. It was just a subtle hint with each bite, but it made this so incredible! Not to mention that delicious Vanilla Chai Tea Latte I had too. Also, yes I was a child and had scrambled eggs can't go wrong with scrambled.

My mom decided to go with the breakfast burrito since that was what her and my brother always get when we are in Disney. We were expecting just a little thing; we were so completely wrong. This thing was huge plus it came with your choice of potatoes. So much food! Breakfast Burrito or massive amounts of eggs, cheese, sausage, and green peppers wrapped in a tortilla was created with the perfect combinations of all the a fore mentioned ingredients. They made sure you weren't overloaded by just one (you know like egg) ingredient.

My grams... Ya let me just show you the picture first:

Hi my name is Twilight French Toast, and I am heavenly. Twilight French Toast. Get it. Don't question. Just get it. The sauce is a Crème Brûlée sauce. I know what you are thinking, gross. I did the same thing, but NO it is soooo good. It totally makes this dish spectaular. The fruit and brûlée sauce together is just perfection. And GIANT. This picture doesn't do it justice. That thing was monstrous. This definitely came home with us, granted it lasted all of about 10 min and then was devoured by gramps. Needless to say, I will be expanding my horizons next time. I am going to go for the Red Velvet Pancakes. Ugh I am already dreaming of those beauties and wanting to go back already. I am so glad for Fat Fighters otherwise Anna's House has the potential to cause me so much weight gain.

Overall, this is a fantastic restaurant and I am so glad it has come to Grandville. If you are looking for a new place to try or just driving through town, head on over to Anna's House. Open 6am - 3pm so plan accordingly. OH! Also it is new so super busy starting at about 8:30am on Saturday and Sundays. But once you get a seat, endulge, enjoy, and feast!

Blessings,
Ali

Tom + Chee

If are like me, you love yourself a Grilled Cheese sandwich. Now, perfecting said grilled cheese is no small under taking and usually ends in either a burnt concoction or soggy mess of under-grilled bread. Or maybe you are a master chef and never have this struggle for gooey middle yet crisp outer structure.

Which ever persona you find yourself being, maybe it's time to treat yourself to a break. I am certainly glad that I had an adventure with my friend Mo to experience some amazing food. So, let's talk about Tom + Chee. This is becoming a popular restaurant in what seems like a short amount of time. And, we just got one in the Grandville last week. Best day ever! Talk about grilled perfection. Also, it is worth mentioning if you haven't quite figured it out yet, Tom stands for Tomato and Chee for Cheese. Clever right?

Mo and I went on opening night and added bonus: Mo had to wait like an extra two minutes since they were so busy, she got a free dessert. Their dessert come on grilled doughnuts! She graciously shared hers with me. She got a S'more Doughnut. We took a bite at the same time and made the exact same face. It was like heaven in our mouths. It had just the right amount of mallow, chocolate, and gram smashed in-between a doughnut. This is the work of pure genius right here. Obviously we were in awe by this sweet delight since I started with dessert instead of the actually meal ha. You are probably now drooling; I would recommend wiping it away and possibly getting a napkin because I am not done yet.
The sandwich. Oh the sandwich. You want to talk about warm comfort food, this is it! The options are endless at Tom + Chee. Create your own or choose from one of their sandwich combos. It depends completely on your mood when you enter the door. If you decided, like me, to go the create you own route, you can choose from like 6 different types of bread, cheese, and several meats and veggies. It's pure bliss.
The soup. I am not one for tomato soup; it's not really my thing. BUT, this tomato soup left me rethinking that decision. They offer three different degrees of tomato soup: classic, creamy tomato basil, and chunky tomato basil. They are all made from real tomatoes which is probably what makes it takes so great. We all are used to the store bought can tomato soup that is watered down rather than made with real tomatoes and milk. Oh, what we have been missing.
They your order arrives at your table and it looks so great. I mean look at that food. Comfort food at it's finest. Be still my beating heart.

Bright red tomato soup and the perfectly brown crisp sandwich with just the perfect ratio of melted cheese and meat or veggies. You should definitely take a moment out of your day to check this place out. It is soo good; I went back the very next day (fat figthers I have never been more thankful for you) sans the dessert doughnut. Still highly recommend that though.

Rainy day?
Stressful week?
Pain of the heart?

Go right for the comfort food. Head right to Tom + Chee. Throw the carbs, fats, and grease out the window and enjoy life. Take a breather out of the busy chaos and be a kid again.