Allyson, the instructor at my gym who teaches boot camp on Friday mornings, is legit. She clearly takes time to plan out the class beforehand so we’re rushing through various circuits that include bursts of cardio, plyometric movements and strength exercises.
It’s tough and sweaty and I’m in love.
After boot camp, I headed home, took Miss Sadie on a walk, quickly showered and meandered into the kitchen to get crackin’ on breakfast.
Breakfast
Another day, another smoothie.
Clearly I’m addicted, but I’m not sure if I’m addicted to the cold, creamy deliciousness of the smoothies or our freakin’ awesome new blender.
The Vitamix eats ice chips for dinner! Rock-hard frozen fruit is child’s play to this bad boy.
Today’s smoothie included:
- 1 c. frozen strawberries
- 1 c. milk (I used 2 percent)
- 1 tbsp. cocoa powder
- 1 packet (or scoop) cookies ‘n’ cream protein powder
- 2 pinches xanthan gum
- 1 large handful fresh spinach
Drink up, buttercup!
The Future
I sipped on this smoothie while reading through your dreams and goals for a second time in the comments section of last night’s post. I love learning more about you guys and reading about your aspirations for the future made me realize what a neat group of readers stop by Peanut Butter Fingers.
From becoming a doctor, a teacher, a reporter, a nurse and a yoga teacher to raising happy and healthy kids, your ambitions were both inspiring and diverse.
I think having goals and dreaming big is so important. But I also believe that it’s 100 percent okay not to know where it is you want to go with your life. Just knowing that you want to be happy and fulfilled is a goal in itself.
For me, my number one goal will always be a personal one. I want to have a loving family with Ryan and a house that is safe, comfortable and nurturing for children.
Professionally, my goals have jumped around a lot as I’ve grown up. I first remember dreaming of becoming a dolphin trainer.
That goal morphed into my desire to be a news anchor, which was followed by hopes of becoming a high school English teacher, then a hard-working public relations professional and now, most recently, a writer.
In 10 years, I hope to still be blogging while also writing regular freelance articles about wellness, food, fitness and how to live a healthy, active and fulfilling life.
You guys do realize what becoming a full-time blogger would mean, don’t you? You’d be my bosses! Put that one on your resume, my friends! 
For those of you who share similar goals to my own, I think we should secure an office building where we can all meet up to write our hearts out, brainstorm every day and eat inordinate amounts of peanut butter. Join me, please!
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That’d be so fun to have a group office for bloggers who blog full time 🙂
I like this idea. I’m surprised our office hasn’t exploded from our combined awesomeness concentrated in one little space 😉
totally agree! i hope you’ll come join me in my future office of bloggers who sit around and eat peanut butter all day!
Oh can I PLEASE have an office in that building?! That sounds like fun!! Here’s a question for you Julie.. how did you get into freelancing? Was it through an opportunity that opened up via your PR job? I think having goals and aspirations is super important. I set new goals every month that aim to get me closer to my goals overall for the year. If I could be doing a job that incorporates food, fitness AND blogging, I’d be so happy!
i actually haven’t managed to break into the freelancing field yet. that’s my next big goal. i currently work as a full-time content manager writing and editing for a big website.
I LOVE that you put those goals first
I think we all get pretty caught up in our professional goals and forget what we’ll really wish we did at the end of our lives!
I’d be SO down for that. Can we throw baked good lunches every single day??
YES! please kick if off by making some of those fantastic-looking chocolate chip cookies i saw on your blog!
Is it wrong that I just want to squeeze your little smiling cheeks after I spend time catching up on your blog? BECAUSE I DO.
Also, I am down for the office building. We should also have an on site salon and spa. “Oh, can’t make the meeting. Mani/pedi!”
LOL! i think you’d fit right in! love the mani/pedi breaks.
Super cute aqua necklace. If that’s today’s picture, I’ll be expecting a Fashion page update so I know where to get one! 😉
it’ll be up on the fashion page fo’ sho’!
I think it’s so important to DREAM BIG, too. You only live once, right? Go for it!
PS- I have full confidence you could be a full time blogger/ writer. You are so captivating and real and I love reading your blog!
…having a super cute vizsla pup doesn’t hurt either 😉
thank you brittany! sadie thanks you, too! 🙂
ahhhhhh that would be awesome!!!! I am loving the pic of you with the dolphins, I love dolphins!
happy weekend!!! xo
I have no idea where I will be in 10 years professionally. My hope is that Keith and I have a child and have successfully grown my local catering business. 🙂 Oh…and I hope we have a goldendoodle!
i hope you get a goldendoodle, too! i’d stalk your blog for puppy pictures!
Ummm…yes, please! 🙂
Awesome!! I 100% support you in your endeavors 🙂 Right now my focus is on my upcoming ballroom dance competitions – a lot of hard work and time, but I’m determined to do it! And having Suave Slav as my dance partner is the best 🙂
I love your idea of all bloggers just getting together in one office…with lots of peanut butter, of course 😉
And, my dream is really the same as yours- I want to be the best Mom that I can possibly be! I think raising right kids is so important, so many children miss out on that & it’s just so tragic. I totally want to be the soccer Mom that brings all of the goodies to the practices & games:)
No barf bowl this morning? How about a cup o’ ralph? MMMM! 😉
I could SO see you as a dolphin trainer, for real!
Especially if that office building is in HAWAII!!!!!
Or Bora Bora. I’d be fine with either on of those. 😉
It’s fun to look back at where I was 10 ago compared to today… so much is possible in that period of time!
that smoothie looks so delicious that it’s inspired me to go make one myself for breakfast!
group office? sure thing!! though i don’t want to be a full time blogger…i want to be a librarian/researcher. so i can be the tech girl/research aide!
sounds like a plan to me!
When I was younger, I always wanted to be a dolphin trainer too! Then I discovered that you needed biology classes. hehe. Thanks for making me think a little deeper about my personal goals! 🙂 I loved this post.
I think and office full of bloggers would be fun — can you imagine the kitchen? All sorts of peanut butter and there’d be a line of 10 Vitamixes too 🙂
I’m definitely one of the “I don’t know what I want to do” people — I do want to have a family with Jason at some point and I’d love to stay home with them, but other than that I am very unsure!
Count me in!
Optimum whey is my favorite tasting protein powder, but I haven’t tried the cool flavors like the cookies n’ cream and that other one you had the other day (forgot which one it was). How are you liking them? I think I read something about a sample pack you bought for the fancier flavors (I think they have cake batter too?) – I’m definitely going to search around for that!
i like the sampler pack a lot! although there are some funky flavors that i’m not sure i’ll enjoy… like tropical punch and orange creme… ehhhh.
I’d join for sure!!!!! i love your smoothie kick- that vita mix is KRANKIn em out!
I’m with you! That office building full of bloggers sounds like a dream!
And man, I need a better blender. Mine is not a fan of frozen fruit and ice…
Can we see a pic of the Vitamix in action? I’m very curious about this blender!
Just thinking about that type of office building made my rainy day a little bit brighter. Though, I work in the basement…so I can’t actually see the gray, cloudy day!
I am totally enjoying your smoothie kick !
Julie, I hope all of your dreams come true! You deserve it. I also want to have a happy family and be the best mother and wife I can be. As for other things, life changes so much (as you pointed out), that I’m just learning to go with the flow and be flexible with my goals because you never know what tomorrow will bring. 🙂 Btw, I LOVE your blog! ALWAYS makes me smile.
thank you, parita! i love your goals and i think being flexible and accepting of new goals and ideals is great!
…if you can find an office with a kitchen, I’ll be the resident baker for the writing crew!
I definitely want to get more into freelancing when I have kids. It’s a goal of mine as well!
Out of the 30+ blogs I read every day, your blog blows everyone’s out of the water by far. I think you will land a f/t blog gig VERY soon!
🙂 i kind of love you, liz. 🙂
I’m in love with this blogger office building idea. How fun would that be?!
I have been a reader for a while but this is my first time commenting. I really felt compelled to today as we have has the exact same life goals! Like, eerily similar! Even as I finish up school studying to be a writer, I still kind of want to be a dolphin trainer someday 🙂
I love how we virtually have the same goal…makes me excite to think about working with you my dear blogging friend 🙂
I absolutely love your blog! I have been reading it for a few months now!
you have inspired me lately to get an awesome blender so I can make those smoothies! they look good!
I also love peanut butter and my goals are also to have a family with my husband in the future but right now I must finish graduate school.
Interesting note: our wedding anniversaries are really close to one another…I got married 10-9-2010
I love your hair and your outfit! So cute! I can’t wait to see it on your fashion page! Smoothie looks great! A blogger office would be amazing! 🙂
I love your idea! Let’s make it happen ASAP 🙂 My professional goal is very similar to yours (blogging and freelancing). I have no doubt you’ll fulfill your dreams. I hope I can follow in your footsteps!
I love the photo of you with the dolphins! Your future sounds very bright 🙂 I’m sure that if you put your mind and your heart into it that you can make anything happen!
Oh girl I have NO DOUBT this dream of yours will become a reality….!!! And when it does, you, Ryan and Sadie need to move up to good ‘ole North Carolina and open up the bloggy-loving office building in Charlotte NC!!! (Plus, I’m suuuure Ryan could find a job here!) I’d SOOO be a part of it! First order of business? Mandatory retreats to the mountains and/or beach every other month for brainstorms!
When it comes to the consistency of our career goals, my friend, we are soulmates..Honestly, I never thought about my career in high school or my first 2 years in college. I wanted to TRAVEL for a living, and still aspire to do so. More realistically though, when I gave it up to needing money to travel…(in order) I wanted to go into TV production, writing and teaching high school…then I realized I wanted to do something that helped adolecents with THEIR goals and decided to study psychology to become a high school gudance counselor. Soon after, I took a criminal psych class realized that this was ALL wrong…as weird as it may sound, I fell in love with psychopaths and serial killers! Their brains really get me going.
kinda funny.. I totally started out wanting to become a dolphin trainer (after my “baby cow” dreams were squashed as a 5 year old). then, I switched to wanting to become a news anchor going into college. I graduated realizing that I love PR, but my main jam is video editing/writing. 🙂
let’s do it. but only if we can start our day with a different fitness class each day in the office. a different class each day – bod pump/power cut/boot camp/yoga/cardio circuts. sound good? good.
Don’t forget the important details – Hawaii, dog friendly!
I will admit my #1 goal in life was not to become a mom; let alone a stay at home mom. I was career driven, had ‘too much going on’ and I was ok with just being the cool aunt. Fast forward, and I can’t imagine life without our little girl! It is downright the most rewarding, demanding (hehe), fulfilling job I have, and will ever, have.
With that said, I have stumbled across a goal I didn’t know I wanted to have. I currently picked up some freelancing opportunities, and who knew – I’m good at it!!? I write because I’m passionate about my stories/subjects/happenings, but to build on that has been an exciting adventure.
In 10 years, I hope to have a few more kiddos running around, continue blogging/writing, continue to fall more in love with my husband, and of course – running.
WOW, sorry to take over… Again, thanks for an amazing blog!
Any job that allows me to eat exorbidant amounts of peanut butter sounds like the perfect job for me!
LOVE your personal and professional goals, Julie! You have such a good head on your shoulders 🙂
Where do we sign up!? I used to want to be a taste tester for an ice cream company after seeing a commercial a long time ago. Things never change…
That’d be the best office ever! We’d need fashion, fitness, and cooking bloggers to dress us, get us looking amazing, and eating great food every day! What could be better? It’d of course over look a beach for a calming feel all day long. Yup, that’s my dream. Your posts are so position and uplifting, you’ll succeed at this for as long as you’re doing it!
To be a full-time blogger would be absolutely amazing – I just have no idea how one gets to do that! When you find out, please let me know!
I have also jumped around with what I want to do professionally. I wanted to be a marine biologist, a psychologist, a doctor, a physical therapist, a translator, a writer, etc. Current;y I am studying kinesiology and Romance languages in college so hopefully I will get an awesome job.
Oh my gosh, I have jumped around SO many times trying to decide what to do with my life. After 3 changes of my major, 3 different jobs in the past year, and now going back to grad. school, I’m still not quite sure. 😉 That’s what makes life interesting, right?! My one stable goal is a lot like yours- to create a wonderful life and home with my boyfriend/future husband and raise our kids hopefully as well as our parents did. Anything else that comes along the way will be a bonus!
Right now, I’m totally up for a blogger office though! Count me in 🙂
You sound sooo much like me! I remember when I wanted to be a dolphin trainer when I was younger. I also want to become a writer too and write about health and fitness. 🙂 You’re blog is super cute by the way! I’m definitely following you!! 🙂