This video captures our final visit of the Check Your Choice tour at Keheley Elementary School perfectly.
Even though we’re home from the Check Your Choice tour, we still have more memories to share. And we can’t help but smile looking back on our visit to Holladay Elementary School in Henrico, VA.
Dream, Lead, and Inspire!
That’s the motto for Holladay Elementary School in Henrico, VA. It was something we didn’t find out until the end of Austin’s presentation, but somehow it seemed like the stars aligned. Thank you to everyone who helped make our visit to Holladay so wonderful today!
Also, for anyone in Raleigh, NC- Austin will be on your local NBC morning show at 6:20 a.m. ET on Wednesday, September 21st, so keep your eyes peeled!
Following his segment, we’ll be headed to South Smithfield Elementary School in Smithfield, NC. Don’t forget to give us a shout if you see the GuacMobile along the way!
For now, enjoy a few snapshots from our time at Holladay…
Watch this amazing recap video from our visit to the Madison Square Boys & Girls Club at the Day for Kids event in the Bronx. We’re so lucky to have have been a part of this special day.
Some of our favorite moments were being reminded of a simple, but impactful message: to “be great.” We went to Day for Kids to offer a little inspiration and it was us that walked away with so much more.
Austin on today’s visit to Rolling Ridge Elementary in Loudoun County, VA…
Sterling Virginia. Redskins Territory. Close to Virginia Tech. This is where Rolling Ridge Elementary, our next school, and our next adventure, takes place.
We drive into the school motor-pool. The huge diesel truck chugs into place till our driver, Ernesto, kills the engine. I see a few people outside, all wearing green, several cameras in hand- I can see the awe and excitement in their faces. Teachers pop into view, not because they come outside to greet us, but because they are all glued to their windows.
I love riding into each stop in the GuacMobile.
We entered the school and we were greeted by Sheila, the Supervisor for Health, PE, and Driver’s Ed for Loudoun County Public Schools. She begins to explain to me the schools programs as far as PE is concerned. This school is a beneficiary of a grant towards the revamp of the nutrition and physical educational classes for the school. This school was primed for our message of Check Your Choice.
I walk into the room where we would do the presentation, and I see huge posters! Each poster had awesome writing on it, but all of the writing was welcoming! We received such an amazing entrance from everyone! Suddenly Sheila walks up to me and gives me a Virginia Tech baseball cap.
Then enters all of the kids, and we had a blast. Today, because the new PE the students receive, they were primed for our message, and they had such a great time! It felt so great to see the students respond so generously participate so readily in the presentation.
I had Principal Davis come back up and lo and behold, he had two surprises for me. One, they brought me a redskins T-shirt, given that I was in skins territory, and two- every student had taken the time to write, draw, and color a note to me.
I was blown away!
Today truly is one of the coolest days I have had in visiting a school! We have 4 more schools left on the Check Your Choice tour, I wonder whats in store for those!
-Austin
Facebok.com/brownteamaustin
Twitter.com/bl11austin
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Austin reflects on our visit to the Baltimore Farmers Market & Bazaar on Sunday
The GuacMobile was poised and ready to serve its constituency. Baltimore was about to be hit, avocado style, at their Farmers Market; they wouldn’t know what hit them.
The day was an amazing one, we gave away free samples and showed people a tasty side to life. We met all sorts of people, and we had some awesome questions asked, including “does guacamole have meat in it?” I think the Guac Squad has gotten all of the questions over the years and it doesn’t even phase them, they just politely describe the ingredients and help people understand how delicious the green goo is the best they can!
I love the big events like these because I get to meet people. I love people, I love to talk, I love to share so big events like this Farmers market are perfect! I get to share with people about what I’m doing, about where I have been, what I get to speak on and help audiences learn.
A lady came up to me, and we talked a little bit about the show and I told her about my experience and how hard the work is to lose the weight and how everyday is a struggle. We talked about the first steps, 1. keeping a food log, 2. starting to move, 3. to be consistent with both even when we are down. She hugged me as she walked away and I was encouraged to see her smiling and I felt it was a good moment.
Later I was walking around the Farmers Market, just seeing all of the different stations there were and all of the kinds of fresh produce that were offered, and the very same lady found me. She walked up to me, gave me a hug, and when she released from the hug, she had tears in both eyes. She had made the decision many times to have a “Day 1” but she never followed through. Her living situation is complicated and it’s hard to shift a household towards health when it’s resistant. She started to tell me about her journey and I got to reflecting.
The date of the Farmers Market stop of our Check Your Choice tour was September 18th, 2011. My first day away from home for the Biggest Loser Season 11 Couples was September 16th, 2010. One year, and three days ago, I weighed in the 390’s. How different is my life. How different can one year make our lives.
As I shared this thought with the lady in the Bazaar, I wanted to share it with everyone. How big a difference can one single year make? If today really is your day 1, and you start the change in your life that you need, where can you be in 1 year?
It can be cigarettes, drugs, alcohol, beating your loved ones, cutting yourself, starving yourself, screaming horrible things at the ones you love- the list could go on for days, but what matters is: These are behaviors, just like eating, and we have the power to change how we behave. We can change our lives.
1st- make the choice that you want to change.
2nd- make a plan as to how that change needs to happen (ask professionals if you don’t know what that path should look like.)
3rd- know when you slip up during your change, cause your human and you will slip, its okay.
Just get back on the plan you created to your better self, and know that in a year, your life could be completely different. Remember to Check your Choice. Is this choice beneficial to me, my family, my future?
Now make the right Choice.
-Austin
Check out the video recap of our first school visit in New York for the #checkyourchoice tour!
Today, we’ll be visiting Rolling Ridge Elementary School in Sterling, VA and we can’t wait!
Baltimore Bloggers Rock!
We are thrilled to have connected with so many bloggers in Baltimore during our visit to the Farmers Market & Bazaar, thank you to everyone who came out!
Heather of (cool) progeny stopped by first and had a great conversation with Austin - and also got to try some Guac! She’s doing some amazing things in Baltimore to encourage families to get out and explore new events, people and places! Definitely connect with her if you haven’t: @coolprogeny.
We also wanted to send a big thank you to Jillian of Jillian’s Kitchen, who has already blogged about her experience meeting Austin and learning about the Check Your Choice tour!
Also, in the spirit of getting creative with finding new ways to be healthy in one’s daily life, Jillian also shared some healthy recipe ideas with us like Chicken Taco Casserole, Chicken Taco Pizza and Classic Chicken Tacos - try any of these with Wholly Guacamole!
It’s no wonder that Jillian recently won the CBS Baltimore Most Valuable Blogger 2011 Award! Congrats, Jillian!
[Photo from Jillian’s Kitchen recent post]
Lindsey of the Morningstar Project also stopped by. Lindsey is so nice and so enthusiastic about empowering kids to make healthier choices.
Definitely check out her blog if you already haven’t and follow her on Twitter: @LindseyMstar!
We also got to meet Erin Branham of Better than Doing Laundry! Erin happens to be the Promotions Director for 95.1 SHINE FM and she graciously invited Austin onto the show on Friday, so it was great for them to connect in person too!
You can follow Erin @i_M_erinbranham. Thanks again, Erin!
We also got to meet Rachel of Happy Green Babies and her family - who are adorable! It’s so great to meet people that have the same passion for not only making healthy choices, but in choosing fresh, natural ingredients. Follow Rachel @GreenBabiesBlog.
We also wanted to give a shout out to Debi of Fit & Healthy Mommy and Liza of (a) Musing Foodie, who couldn’t make it today, but were both incredibly generous in helping us spread the word.
Follow Debi @FitHealthyMommy and Liza @aMusingFoodie on Twitter!
We’re beaming with excitement from today’s event and now we’re approaching Virginia! Remember, if you happen to see the GuacMobile from the road, be sure to snap a photo and share it here! As you can see, we LOVE meeting new people!
We’re in New York!
The Wholly Guacamole team and Austin Andrews have made it to New York! We’ve got some exciting things planned over the next few days and we’ll be sharing updates.
Also, on Friday - National Guacamole Day - be sure to check us out on Fox & Friends at 7:30 a.m. ET, and catch a glimpse of the GuacMobile!
Speaking of the GuacMobile, if you happen to spot it en route during the #CheckYourChoice tour, let us know! And if you can, snap a photo and share it with us here.
Not sure if we’ll be in your area? Well, take a look at our route…
View Check Your Choice Tour in a larger map
