Today was much like bookends – it started and ended well, but the middle was a bit of a mess with a lot of naptime mishaps. But the majority of the day went well. Yay!

We ventured out of the house for a fun activity this morning. Before Braedon arrived, I would be out and about doing things with M a few times each week. I haven’t felt 100% comfortable venturing out with two by my lonesome…until today. I tackled my worries and took Makenzie to one of her favorite places – the library for story time. We even picked up some new books. She loves getting new books. And I love making my little girl happy.

Then, this afternoon I headed to the gym for another light cardio workout. My body has responded incredibly well to getting back to regular workouts. I haven’t encountered any side effects that would point to me going back too soon and I have yet to feel sore or uncomfortable in any way. Today I completed 30 minutes on the elliptical, doing the following intervals.

Repeat until you complete your desired time. It made for a great workout. I love getting a little glisten going on.

So, today’s earlier post discussed blog accountability. I don’t know if you remember, but I had a goal to try a new recipe for dinner each week here in the FFF household. I finally began embracing that challenge this week. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a recipe, because its more throwing things together, but it sure did taste good!

Roasted Eggplant Paninis

• 1 small/medium eggplant sliced into rounds
• olive oil and seasonings
• 4 slices hearty whole grain bread
• roasted garlic hummus
• tomato, sliced
• 1 cup fresh spinach leaves
• 2 slices swiss cheese

Preheat the oven to 425 F. Drizzle the sliced eggplant rounds with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and oregano. Roast for 25 minutes.

And I assume you all know how to make 2 sandwiches out of the above ingredients. Then, cook the sandwiches in a panini press.

What? You don’t call that a recipe? Well, I imagine you don’t come here for stellar recipes. Although, I can hopefully give some good meal ideas on occasion. This “recipe” would be one of those. And give me a little credit. At least I don’t write recipes like this one (thanks Evan for that laugh!).

Question of the Evening – Sandwiches: Hot or Cold? Getting your sweat on during a workout: Love It or Leave It? .

I’ve heard about plenty of studies claiming that writing down and then tracking progress plays a key role in successfully achieving goals. The key point in this reasoning is the accountability of a place to look back over goals and progress. This always made me wonder if I didn’t set goals well enough. I don’t have tables and charts with my goals saved on my hard-drive. I don’t have an inspiration board hanging on my refrigerator. I don’t carry around my monthly goals on a 3x5 index card in my purse. The closest I get to written goals is my daily to-do list – which I lately don’t even have the time to write that.

Then, when I thought about it, I realized I do in fact have a place of written documentation – this blog. This blog helps hold me accountable in a variety of ways and I like that. I have fitness goals I shared on the blog. Even though I certainly feel no pressure from anyone out there reading, the fact I am working to achieve them in front of plenty of others never leaves the back of my mind. It undoubtedly will help motivate me at times to get in that workout or try that new recipe because I want to share it here.

The community of support also inspires me to believe in myself and push towards every goal I put out there. Including some scary ones I possibly consider working towards. I haven’t told you yet that I have my eye on a longer race (a 1/2) I would love to do at the end of the year if I end up liking running as much as I started to before getting pregnant. See…blog accountability. I’ve been trying to keep that a secret because its not certain. Then, it feels so good just to put that possibility even out there in public. It holds me accountable to not fearing new goals and dreams, even if those new goals could change.

Blogging also holds me accountable to myself. Every day I write a post I must reflect on myself, my day, my life. How’s that for accountability? I can never forget the blessings of my life when I showcase it post by post for all of you. When I have struggles, posting about them helps me to learn and grow from them much differently than silently allowing it all to swirl around in my head. I have a reputation I like to keep by not giving up on my beliefs and what I present here – like consistent honesty and realness in ALL things.

Sure, I can (and will) always do what works best for me and adapt goals accordingly as I go along. However, simply having the blog as a sounding board of my thoughts and reflections helps to always keep things in perspective. It always puts things into the light for me to clearly see. It always holds me accountable. To my goals? Certainly. But mostly? Mostly to myself.

Question of the Day – Do you feel your blog (if you have one) helps hold you accountable in some way? What about reading blogs?