The Thank You Project

by karen | Jun 15, 2017 | Non-Fitness

I’m not a psychologist (in fact I did pretty poorly in that class in college) BUT I am human. I strongly believe that one “want” of any human is that of acknowledgement. We (humans) want to be acknowledge in our actions or just simply our presences. Think about it, when you walk in to a room and someone greets you, it makes you feel good. Even if you are on the “no people” bandwagon, deep down I know you want to be acknowledge, you want people to miss you while you are avoiding people.

Saying “Thank You” is one of my favorite ways to acknowledge people and what better way to do that then with treats!? Which is why I came up with what I’m calling #TheThankYouProject. I want to bring awareness and encouragement of the usage of the words “Thank You”. Its easy to participate. You simply download the document, print, cut, shop, attach and then GIVE!

You can download the document by clicking on the image in step one 🙂

PRINT

CUT

SHOP

ATTACH

Post to social media with #ThankYouProject

Bonus Points- write a personal note on the back of the tag before giving

6.9.17 Menu

by karen | Jun 11, 2017 | Weekly Menu

Meal 1	Slower Cooker rib meat with sweet potato
Meal 2	Arugula Salad with Chicken and Veggies
Meal 3	BBQ Chicken and peach skewers over spaghetti Squash
Meal 4	Grassfed Beef and Veggie Ragou
Meal 5	Friendship Curry with Rice
Add On	Hulk Cakes

This was Jackie’s first week and I think she knocked it out of the park! Here are your recipes for this week. All were heavily inspired by Paleo Nick. I think my favorite was the spaghetti squash one, but I’m having the ragou tonight!

TX 2 AR

by karen | Jun 8, 2017 | Non-Fitness

Chief-er…..we are going on a road trip…whooo!! (reference)

Friday morning, I dropped off meals…attended the 5:30am class (which ended up being women only)…

800m Run

5 Rounds

10 Alternating DB Snatches 55/35

15 Sprawls

20 Ab Mat Sit Ups

800m Run

I grabbed a quick shower….set the GPS and Chief and I were Hot Springs, AR bound! I was bound and determined to listen to a book the WHOLE way, but I got sleepy driving so I pinged back and forth between book, podcast, LOTS of Amazon Music. I don’t know the way I went to AR, I just put it in Waze and Google Maps and listened to what she had to say. Chiefer slept the whole time. Believe it or not, I only stopped ONCE in the 7.5hr drive up there and that was because I needed gas, not because of my tiny little bladder…hey, I’m impressed!

Other Things I listened To:

Amazon Playlist: “Singing In The Car”

My Random Amazon Playlist

Dave Ramsey EntreLeadership PodCast

We arrived Friday at the William’s house a little after 2:30pm. Judd had the grill going and Kim was working the oven, chicken and veggies for the win. As the kids and dogs played, we ate and caught up on life. They have a beautiful piece of property so in the middle of lunch I let Chief out to play off leash and the little turd ran off, so we spent a good 20mins looking for him (in the rain). He must have LOVED what he was after because I was whaling on that shock collar. He finally returned and we went back to eating. Then I gave the boys their boots (I had sooooo much fun picking these out). It made me happier that they looked so good in them and that Hudson just LOVED his little guns! How cute are they!?

The weather started to clear up so we chanced it and changed into our swimsuits to take the boat out for a bit. It was wonderful! Did you know that boats need plugs? (inside joke). After we got off the lake, we returned the boat, dropped Chief at the house and went out for dinner, but I have to admit, it was good, but it wasn’t as good as Kim and Judd’s cooking (no kidding). We came home and attempted to sing a little karaoke, but I fell asleep along with the babies so we went to bed.

It felt good to sleep in. Kim and Judd were already up by the time Chief and I woke….Judd was even at the store (he came home with flowers, it was sweet). We had a lazy breakfast…coffee and gluten free pancakes and started watching the weather so we could go out on the boat again. We changed into swimsuits just for it to storm, so Judd grilled lunch and we had an amazing salad from a recipe Kim found off pinterst). We saw an opening and decided just to go to one of the beach areas so Hudson could swim. After a little bit of swimming, Judd’s parents showed up via golf cart and we followed them to their house and went cruising on their boat. The weather was beautiful and so was the company (Judd’s Dad played Chris Stapleton on the radio). We made it back in as it went dark, made it back to the house where Kim and I and the babies hung out for a bit and then went to bed. Judd went back to have dinner with his parents and to go night fishing (he was still asleep when I left the next morning).

Sunday morning Chief and I got up and started gathering our things and loaded the car. We said our goodbyes and were on the road by 8am. The trip home was SUPER long due to weather and wrecks and bad driving, we finally pulled into the garage a little after 5pm.

The trip was 100% worth it and we WILL do it again in a heart beat! Thank y’all for having us…I love y’all!

Kim and I became FAST best friends in 5th grade when I was living in Conway, AR. We attended the same church, school, country club pool, same girl scout troop (aka drama club) and lived within a short biking distance from each other. It was rare that we were apart. After 8th grade me and my family moved to Beaumont, TX, but Kim and I stayed in touch visiting back and forth. She even became friends with my BMT friends. Life got busy as life does and while we didn’t talk as much for a while we were still able to pick up right were we left off…not missing a beat. I will always refer to her as my sister and I am more than happy to be Aunt Karen to her beautiful boys (and any other children she might have). Love You Sis!

The picture on the left has 19 years difference, summer of 8th grade till last weekend.

I’m excited to announce…

by karen | Jun 5, 2017 | Weekly Menu

It is with great pleasure to announce the newest addition to Living Amped Meal Prep team,

Jackie Johnstone.

For those that don’t know her or haven’t had the opportunity to workout with her, let me introduce her (because she is fabulous).

After graduating from Gallaudet University, Jackie went on to study at the Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts College. Her work experience includes several locations: Lakeway Resort and Spa, ViUDA Bistro, O’Leander Cafe, Stephen F. Austin Intercontinental Hotel, and Arouse Your Palate Catering.

Currently, Jackie teaches Culinary Arts at the high school level, for Texas School for the Deaf (TSD). In addition to teaching, Jackie coaches a team of students in the Culinary Bowl. This year, under her coaching, TSD culinary bowl team won first place for appetizer, second place for entree, third place for dessert and second place for kitchen safety. Overall, they placed 2nd out of 5 teams. First time for TSD to reach 2nd place!!

Jackie is an active athlete in her CrossFit box, CrossFit Jaakarhu and will be celebrating her two year CrossFit Anniversary this August.

Photo Credit: CrossFit

When she is not in the kitchen or the classroom, she cares for two silly Pygmy goats, two dogs, (Labrador and a Doberman) and a cat. She also consider herself a low-key girl who loves living out in the country with a good bonfire and a charcoal grill.

A huge thank you to each of whom have and continue to trust me with your meals and nutrition. Who have continued to order from me week after week and have allowed me to grow as a person and a business. I’m really looking forward to working with, and learning from Jackie. We have already started collaborating on projects including the launch of a Project X in July. I also will be pinging yall for one on ones to take regular body comps etc. Thanks again for giving me (and Jackie) this opportunity, y’all are amazing!

If you have any questions about our Meal Prepping Service, please send us a message so we can answer any questions!

6.2.17 Menu

by karen | Jun 1, 2017 | Weekly Menu

Meal 1	Easy Hamburger Casserole
Meal 2	CREAMY SUN-DRIED TOMATO CHICKEN
Meal 3	Marinated Shrimp and Summer Vegetable Quinoa Bowls
Meal 4	ONE POT BRAZILIAN PORK RICE WITH PLANTAINS
Meal 5	ROASTED CILANTRO CHILLI CHICKEN THIGHS AND POTATOES
Add On	Hulk Cakes

Favorite: I think Meal 2 will taste the best! But you let me know!

Changes:
Meal 1 – I used spaghetti squash instead of (gluten free) pasta because I don’t feel like gf pasta reheats well personally.
Meal 2 – I paired with mushrooms that were sprayed with balsamic vinegar and avocado oil and roasted in the oven
Meal 4 – This was a rough one. The pork I bought had waaaayyyy too much fat for my liking so total last min I changed almost everything about it. I used rice, but got some already cooked pork from central market and made the plantains almost like soft chips.
Meal 5 – I promise this one taste better than it looks.