You guys. I saw an email from facebook about a sweet friend of mine who wrote to me and probably didn't know I wasn't checking FB anymore so I wanted to respond and BAM. Sucked in. (Not really.) I scrolled the news feed for about a minute before it made me feel awful again so that was an easy way to log off. Facebook is a dang battlefield! Opinions criticism opinions criticism occasionalpositivepost politics religion critcism opinions VOMIT.

This is not a judgment. It's just not good for ME.

To my sweet friends who consistently post sweet and uplifting things on the daily..more of THAT in the world, please. I have cool friends.

Anyway, the rest reminded me of something our friends used to talk about regarding life as relates to piñatas. That's right. Let me explain:

Imagine that you are, in fact, a piñata. Fun, right!? You're a colorful, unique, handcrafted piñata. The "supposed" to be candy filling (or, let's say..healthy fruit snacks if you're Chris Tate..or just straight up blueberries) is all of the stuff you put into your brain. Your awesome piñata filling is what you ingest into your mind throughout the day.

Now...we know what happens to all healthy piñatas......they get the junk hit out of them. They get rammed and beaten and tossed around untillllllll.............all the innerds fall out.

What's going to fall out of your piñata?

Praise? Thanksgiving? Scripture? Positivity?

Or a load of crap.

Now, I'm not saying you should live a life ignorant of all things negative. And I'm also not saying that facebook is the only source of negativity out there (obviously.) But things that are negative+critical+POINTLESS (that is, they serve NO purpose other than to create noise and drama) are the things I'm talking about.

I am NOT talking about posting news and other relevant real world issues (although I do have a pretty low tolerance for this, too, but that's a personal matter.) Maybe you have a magic piñata shell with an advanced filtration system and you can easily sort out the bad from the good so that when you get hit with the bat of life, if you will, you spill out things that are wonderous. I applaud you. I have no such ability.

If I do get back onto that mess of a social media site..I will have to force myself to delete the ones who consistently junk it up with pointless chaotic banter.

Hear me when I say this: I am SO thankful for sites like FB when it comes to gathering prayer troops..we had hundreds and hundreds of people praying for Ellie thanks to it. And I know others have similar stories. But..you get my point.

That is all.

[stepping off my soap box]

I've been on a stinking ROLL in the exercise world and let me tell you why: Chris and I do SO MUCH MORE when we live in a place surrounded by sidewalks. Sounds ridiculous. We could easily get in the car and drive to places that are conducive to running and biking and playing..but when it's all around you it's just plain easier. We've lived in 5 places in the last 2.5 years (HA. Crazy.) But only 2 out of 5 of them had access to sidewalks right outside the door. The rest were all off of busy highways that nobody would really dare run or bike on except out of necessity.

It's super bike/running friendly down here and there are literally sidewalks that take you to anywhere and everywhere. We biked for 12 miles a bit ago all across town and never had to leave a stretch of sidewalk.

Point:  sidewalks+bike lanes=the coolest.

Lastly-have we told you about our New Years Challenge with Bob and Em? It's no ordinary New Years Resolution list. It's a year long, month to month BATTLE TO THE DEATH, kidding, where we get strikes for each "offense" and then at the end of the month whichever couple has the most strikes has to do something awesome for the other couple.

I'm not sure who is winning at this point but here is some of our list, in case you want to strike up a challenge with a friend:
1. No White Wheat (100% Whole Wheat products only) An easy one for us since we've been doing this since forever BUT eating out/with other people makes it more challenging.
2. "Natural Sugars" only. Fruit, honey, etc...those are fine..plus a few more, like technically yogurt and things such as that have added sugars..but you get the point. We're talking chocolates and sweets and sugar in your coffee (or anything), etc.
3. Four STRENUOUS workouts a week.
......and so on.

Don't worry, we have one cheat meal a week.
Don't worry, we're going to win. Muahahahahahahahhaha.

;) Love those crazy Funciks.

To end, stealing this from Lizzy

“I have learned to kiss the wave that drives me against the Rock of Ages.” -Charles Spurgeon