Sadie and I were awfully sneaky this morning. We decorated my parents’ place in preparation for my mom’s arrival back in town!
For the past month, my dad, sister and I have been planning a surprise celebration for my mom to honor a big milestone in her life. As I previously mentioned, my this month marks five years since my mom’s double mastectomy which is a HUGE deal because the chance of recurrence is highest within the first three to five years after initial breast cancer treatment. Reaching the five year mark feels like a giant milestone and one our family has been praying for ever since my mom was diagnosed.
It’s definitely cause for celebration!
Sadie helped me hang streamers outside…
Until she got bored and decided it was time for a break… in my lap.
I am sure many of you out there with big dogs who think they’re lap dogs can relate!
We initially planned to make Saturday a full-day celebration and follow up our morning at the North Florida Race for the Cure with a nice dinner to honor my mom, but since she ended up staying in Pennsylvania with my grandma to help her after some health issues, we switched things up and plan to take her out to a nice dinner this evening.
Workout
This morning I woke up around 6:30 a.m. and worked on my morning blog post before heading off to the gym to try a new-to-me Les Mills class. My sister is a big fan of BodyAttack and encouraged me to try it while I am in town, so I drove to the gym and took the 8:30 a.m. class, unsure of what to expect.
The class was fast-paced and very energetic. It incorporated lots of plyometric movements including jumping lunges, 180-degree jump squats and burpees. My heart was pounding! It was a great workout and one I’d regularly incorporate into my fitness routine if it was offered at my gym. The instructor was fantastic and I was seriously impressed with her ability to talk and give feedback while she did squat jumps and burpees. It took everything I had just to breathe!
Breakfast
On my way home from the gym, I used the Yelp app on my phone to help me find a local coffee shop and swung by to pick up a hot drink for me and my dad.
I really enjoy discovering new local coffee shops and the reviews for Sippers Coffeehouse were very positive. I ordered a pumpkin cappuccino for me and a chai latte for my dad since he doesn’t like coffee and we both agreed that our drinks were fabulous. I have a feeling popping into Sippers after I work out at the gym in Jacksonville may become part of my routine.
When I arrived back at my parents’ place, I quickly assembled a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast.
I topped the oats with pecans, macadamia nuts and Justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter. It was a winning combination!
And now it’s lunchtime. See ya later!
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CONGRATULATIONS to your mom! That must be a relief to know that 5 years have come and gone. She must be such a strong woman. My friend has a Bernese Mountain dog that thinks it’s a lap dog :S
Thanks so much, Christine!! 🙂
Congrats to your mom on her 5 cancer free years! A fantastic milestone to reach!
Those oats look fantastic!!
That is so awesome! 5 years–YAY! Way to go Julie’s mom 🙂
I think BodyAttack is so fun too. It is def super energetic! And those LM instructors are just a special breed…. hehe 😉 You get used to it tho–learning to cue & teach & do the workout all at once, while breathing somehow. hah –I can’t wait for you to hopefully hop on the train, you’d rock as an LM instructor! xo
I just completed my BA training this weekend!! Needless to say, I can barely move today, but at least I passed! I’m so excited to teach!
Congrats to your Mom! Sadie is a great decorator 😉
HUGE milestone! So glad you get to celebrate this special day with her!
Congrats to your mom!! My mom has been in remission from breast cancer for 12yrs now!! Fingers crossed it never comes back. For my own sake I have been considering getting a genetics test done, but I go back and forth about whether or not I want to know.
I know what you mean about the wavering feelings with regard to the gene test. My mom actually ended up getting it done and didn’t have it, so it was a big relief, bit it was definitely a big decision that we weighed heavily.
Congrats to your mom, that is a huge milestone and one for her to be very proud of. My sister has been cancer free for four years and next year will be the big milestone for us 🙂
That oatmeal breakfast looks awesome, I’m going to have to try that combination
So happy for you and your sister!!! 🙂
I said this on Twitter and I’ll say it again: Congrats to your mom for being cancer-free for five years now! I know first-hand how it feels to find a lump in your breast. I only imagined what it would have been like if that lump turned out to be cancer.
I admire all cancer survivors for their strength and courage to keep living normally when their whole world is turned upside down.
I’m sure your mother is a strong, wonderful woman.
Thank you so much for having the courage to share your journey on your blog, Rebecca!
That is so amazing for your mom, tell her congratulations from all of us! And I’ve never tried Body Attack but it sounds pretty intense!
Oh I bet your family is so happy for your mom to have reached the 5 year point! Happy celebrating 🙂
Yay for your mama (and your family). That’s wonderful news and gives me a new perspective for my Monday.
Aw, I used to live right by Sippers – great place! Loved to sit and work on that blue couch by the front door. And I’m pretty the gym you were at was one where I helped create a nutrition program for a stroke wellness program. I love being back in Sarasota, but Jacksonville will always have a place in my heart!
More importantly – congratulations to your mom (and your family) for reaching this big milestone! So glad you guys can all celebrate and enjoy the day together.
What a great accomplishment! Congrats to your mom, you and your family! I think celebrating is such an excellent way to honor your mom. She is very lucky to have such a supportive, loving family!
Congrats to your mom!! Mine has been cancer free for 2 years (? somewhere around there) and it’s been so great for her to see her hair growing back. She has reconstruction next month and I’m so SO proud of her!
Sending so much love and happy vibes your family’s way. What an amazing thing to celebrate. 5 years is SUCH a milestone — your mom is one strong and inspirational lady!
This is such an exciting day! What a blessing to have your mom beat this awful disease for 5 whole years- amazing!
So happy for your mom and the rest of the family! I can’t imagine going through something like that. Also what a brilliant idea.. nutella in oatmeal.. GENIUS.
I just moved to Jacksonville to because I am a freshman at UNF this year and I found Sippers while exploring the area one day! It’s so cool to see one of my favorite coffee shops show up on one of my favorite blogs. It’s a great area!
How amazing that your mom has reached 5 years cancer-free! May many more blessed years follow!
BodyAttack sounds awesome. I love plyometrics and getting my heart rate up, so if I ever get the chance to try a class, I will! That oatmeal looks fantastic too.
Congrats to you and your family! What an amazing anniversary & special time for you all to celebrate together.
Wow BIG congrats to your Mom! I am glad you got to try Body Attack – such a fun yet intense class. Have a great week!
Congratulations to you, your mom and whole family on health and inspiration. I am so happy for all of you. I have a 9 pound cavalier/poodle mix who, when she sees a squirrel, goes ballistic and thinks she’s Zorro.
So happy for your mom! Five years is such a milestone. And my chocolate lab is 72 pounds… but I am pretty sure he thinks he’s five pounds. He takes up all the room in the bed and will literally sit on me all the time. Wouldn’t change it for the world! 😉
Body attack sounds great! Love trying new classes! Hope your mums dinner goes well! Really is cause for celebration! We’ve lost three local ladies in there 40’s in the past week here in the small town…horrible so every woman that battles through is victory for human kind!
Congrats to your mom, that’s amazing! And Body Attack is my FAVORITE Les Mills class! I love how high-intensity it is, such an awesome workout! 🙂
BIG BIG BIG congrats to your mom! So happy she is healthy! My big chocolate lab thinks she’s a lap dog too! Always wanting to be in my lap and lay on my chest haha. PS: I love the girl in with the laptop in your first picture of Sippers. Looks like she’s a biiiiit stressed haha.
I thought I was the only one who noticed her! I feel like I look that every morning at work after seeing my emails, lol
Congrats to your mom, that is so wonderful! And our Golden thinks she is a lap dog too, it’s ridiculous…
congrats to your mom! 5 years is DEFINITELY a cause for celebration! =)
your morning bowl of oatmeal looks delicious. i love adding cashews into my oats!
So many congratulations to your mom!!!! What an awesome milestone for her and your family.
Congrats to your mom on her 5 cancer free years! I am so happy for your family!
Congrats to Mom!!
This beginning of this post had me tearing up. What a big day for your family. Your mom is an amazing woman!
I’m right there with your sister on loving Body Attack! It is my all time favorite class with Body Pump close behind.
I am also amazed at how some instructors are able to breathe while teaching that class. I’ve had a few instructors that really struggled with it and it made it less enjoyable. I love it enough to want to teach it but I’m afraid all the class would hear is my loud breath in the microphone, haha!
Congratulations to your mom! Long may it continue!
I love that you added macadamia nuts to your oatmeal! I definitely need to try adding them to my overnight oats…it sounds tasty! 🙂
Congratulations to your mother! I am so happy for your family and pray you have many more celebrations to come!
That is so awesome, congratulations to your mum on her recovery and what a lovely surprise for her to have come home to.
Like your dad I don’t drink coffee and also drink Chai Lattes, not because I dislike coffee but because I used to like it WAY too much and then cut it out completely and now I just can’t drink it. I tried it again a year ago and the caffeine was too much and made me really jittery.
Love the idea of adding all those nuts to your oatmeal, I’m going to have to give that a go. Usually I pile on the seeds but for some reason never thought of adding nuts.
I am so happy to hear that your mom is doing so great! And I love how you celebrate and never take it for granted!
My mom had breast cancer too and she was well for over 10 years and unfortunately she now has Breast Cancer Metastasis, which isn’t curable. It’s been six years and she is still here… But its in several places including her brain so its beginning to be much more apparent.
I really hope your mom never have to deal with cancer again 🙂
That is so amazing! Definitely a huge cause for celebration! Congratulations to your whole family!
Awww that is so sweet of you all! What a huge milestone and congrats to your mother!! I hope she enjoyed every minute 🙂
congrats to your mom and your whole family. 5 years is HUGE!
Thank you Jesus! He is such a good Healer.
Oh, and BodyAttack is amazing, sweaty, killer fun. I used to go when I was a Y member before college, really before I had a real “fitness routine”. It was the one of the first things I really got excited about working out.
Wooohoo! Congrats to your Mom – and cheers to your family for being the great team of support for her!!
Congrats to your mom–I know it was exciting when my mom reached that milestone! Here’s to many more celebrations! 🙂
I love Macadamia nuts! I can make myself sick on them!
Plyometric workouts kill me like nothing else. They will definitely sky rocket your heart rate in no time at all!
Congrats to your mom, that is wonderful news. Cheers to many more years of celebrations!
Congrats to your mom!! What a blessing! Sadie is so funny and cute as usual…big dogs are the best!
Love body attack!! So happy for your family, this truly is something to celebrate! Congrats!
Congratulations to your mom on her 5 year accomplishment!
Congrats to your mom & your family!
If you look on the left side of the first picture you posted in the coffeehouse, you can see that poor kid is over working on his laptop (i.e. hands on head lol).
You are a wonderful daughter! 🙂