Friday, July 31, 2009

Happy Friday!

This Friday is extra happy, our temperatures have finally cooled off. Yesterday was a busy day for me at work and then I met my mom after work to see Jewel at Zoo Tunes. Zoo Tunes was a lot of fun, plus it benefits the Zoo...what is not to love? I would definitely go again, even if it wasn't someone I was super interested in seeing. It's a small venue, all general admission lawn seating. I was afraid that we weren't going to get any shade so it would be super hot (it was 93 when we got out of the car). Fortunately the entire West side of the lawn area has trees so we weren't in the sun for long (maybe 5 minutes).

Here is a picture of Cooper trying to stay cool! So he really only stayed like this for a few minutes before he got up. One thing I found about him is that he doesn't mind water (or maybe he was so hot he didn't care?). I would wring a towel out on him and wet him down. He also liked me putting a frozen bottle of water (wrapped in a towel) in his little cat house with him.


I'm currently enjoying a delicious Green Monster.


I have to work super late tonight for our quarterly server updates so I'm going to hit the gym for a long lunch (and take a long dinner break LOL).

Here is the workout I have planned (weights are all estimates):

Cardio: 10 minutes on treadmill
Bicep curl 3x10 @ 20lb dbs
Lat pulldown 3x10 @ 75lbs
Cable hammer curl with rope attachment 3x10 @ 40lbs
Two arm dumbbell row 3x10 @ 15 or 20lbs
Stability ball back extension
Cardio: Run on treadmill probably 2.5 miles (20 minutes) plus 5 minute cool down.

Okay, time to get to work!!!

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

More Hotness

I've been a bad blogger, actually I've just been straight up lazy. It is so hot outside and Seattle just isn't equipped for this shiz. Today was the hottest day EVER in Seattle. We did eventually hit 103 at my house...in the shade. I really wasn't wanting to workout at all today, the 'skid' and I got our portable AC (usually lives in our bedroom) downstairs to try to keep the living room cool. Fortunately the temp stayed steady down here all day, so it worked. However my work laptop has a steaming pile of ish for a wireless network card so I kept getting dumped offline all day and got next to nothing accomplished. I finally found a solution around 1:30pm and got an old USB wireless card I had working on it and just disabled my crappy POS internal card. Whew.

I was frustrated with it all so I went to the gym at lunch. I was trying to be super quick so my workout was much abbreviated (I figured something is better than nothing). Here are my stats:

Cardio: 20 minute run (2.61 miles). Plus five minute cooldown.

Box Step Ups with dumbbells 3x10 @ 17.5lb dbs


Calf raises on the step with dbs 3x15 @ 17.5lb dbs (superset)


Seated Oblique Twists w/ medicine ball 3x15 @ 10lb ball


Wall squat with stability ball 3x15


Stability ball crunches 3x25


Hamstring curls 3x10 @ 60lbs


I had a Green Monster for lunch as my appetite was finally a little off from the hotness. It also turns out that Cooper doesn't mind water, he let me wet him down to cool off. I even placed a frozen towel over him and he didn't mind. My sweet boy.
The 'skid' and I went to Starbucks when I finished work just to enjoy some AC (and iced drinks). I had a venti iced americano with caramel and the 'skid' had the strawberry banana smoothie. He said it was really good, and the nutritionals weren't horrible (although I'm sure there is added sugar in the strawberry puree they add).
For dinner we all went to a new Mongolian Grill tonight. It was so delicious! They had a great selection of veggies, I went with mushrooms, spinach, zucchini, broccoli, onions, celery, tofu, chicken, and brown rice with their mongolian sauce. I had tons leftover (I did the one bowl option while the 'skid' and DH did the all you can eat option). So I got to bring my leftovers home. :) They also gave us a sample of their tart frozen yogurt...I loved it but DH wasn't a fan (I ate both of ours lol).
Hopefully the pic I posted works...I'm using a different computer than usual (and IE 6) and it's not showing up in my Compose screen...I added it via HTML code so hopefully it will work. Note: yeah it didn't work and I don't have the patience to deal with it...so I'll post it tomorrow from my other computer.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

It's getting hot in here...

Le sigh! At 10:00 last night when I went to bed it was 85 degrees in my living room....this morning when I got up at 5:45am it was still 79. I'm just thankful we have AC in our bedroom so we can sleep at night...I actually moved my work laptop in there yesterday afternoon and worked on documentation from bed. LOL.

Last night I made a delicious dinner though I was breaking a sweat the whole time. I really wanted sweet potato fries but really didn't want to turn on the oven. No SP fries for me. :(

Super Sloppy Joe's
Adapted from Rachael Ray 30 Minute Meals

Ingredients:
  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
  • 1 1/4 pounds ground turkey breast
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon steak seasoning blend, such as McCormick brand Montreal Seasoning
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 small red bell pepper, chopped
  • 1/2c chopped carrots
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 cups tomato sauce
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • Trader Joe's multi grain hamburger buns
Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil and meat to the pan. Spread the meat around the pan and begin to break it up.

Add sugar and Montreal Steak seasoning to the skillet and combine. When the meat has browned, add onion and red peppers to the skillet. Reduce heat to medium and cook onions, peppers, red wine vinegar and Worcestershire sauce with meat for 5 minutes.

Add tomato sauce and paste to pan. Stir to combine. Cover and reduce heat to simmer and cook Sloppy Joe mixture 5 minutes longer. Using a large spoon or ice cream scoop, pile sloppy meat onto bun bottoms and cover with bun tops. I personally eat mine open faced so I can fit more meat/veggies.

This recipe is a fave of ours, and it appeared the 'skid' liked it a lot as well (he went back for a 2nd sandwich). The hubs wasn't hungry when he got home from his 2nd job, when it gets hot he doesn't eat as much. I hear a lot of people say that, I am so envious...my appetite is not deterred by anything (except for stomach viruses). I swear I am a bottomless pit.

We also went for froyo before DH had to go to his 2nd job yesterday...which hit the spot.

Last night when I went to bed I asked the 'skid' if he wanted me to wake him up this morning for a run. He said yes...I figured he'd just roll over and go back to sleep at 5:45 when I woke him up but he got up and was ready to run. Here are the stats from our run, I think the ascent/descent numbers are a little high but I could be wrong I suppose. Our first mile was all uphill and we were still waking up. I'm very happy with miles 2 and 3. I woke up with a raging headache this morning (despite drinking a gallon of water yesterday easily), so I wasn't into more than 3 miles.

We came back and made protein shakes, mine was a Green Monster with the following:
1 cup ff cow's milk
1 scoop Optimum Nutrition chocolate whey
1/3 frozen banana
5 strawberries
1 TB Natural Peanut butter
4c baby spinach

The 'skid' had
1 cup Simply Orange Orange Mango juice
1 scoop Optimum Nutrition vanilla whey
2/3 frozen banana
5 strawberries

Definitely hits the spot after a sweaty morning run (it was pretty humid).

I think we'll either hole up in the bedroom with laptops or maybe make a trek to Starbucks for awhile to keep cool. Our house has zero shade and has east/west facing windows so we just get hammered, oh and crappy insulation. I'm bitter, can you tell? Oh well, I guess at least our house is still worth more than the mortgage so I should be thankful for that!

Monday, July 27, 2009

We're Jammin'

I can't think of a better way to start a sunny Summer day than a little Bob Marley, so that's what I listened to on my way home from the gym this morning. It's going to be mucho hot here all week so early morning workouts are in my cards for the week. I find that I entirely lack motivation by about 2pm on days when it is HOT in my house, so even a gym workout is going to be in the morning.

I got up at 5am with the hubs, ate a slice of Faux-zekial cinnamon raisin toast with some blackberry preserves and headed out to the gym.

Here is my workout:

Cardio warmup: Treadmill, 7 minutes - .9 miles.

Dumbbell lateral raise 3x10 @ 15lbs
Standing Dumbbell Triceps extension 3x10 @ 20lb db

Cardio burst: 5 minutes (1 minute @ 6.0mph, 30 seconds at 10mph for 5 minutes alternating) 2 min cooldown

Dumbbell chest fly 3x10 @ 15lb dbs
Dumbbell upright row 3x10 @ 15lb dbs

Cardio burst: 5 minutes + 2minute cooldown
0:00 - 1:00 6.5mph
1:00 - 2:00 7.0mph
2:00 - 3:00 7.5mph
3:00 - 4:00 8.0mph
4:00 - 5:00 8.5mph

Dumbbell bench press 3x10 @ 30lb dbs
Pushups 3x10
Crunches 3x25

Cardio: 10 minutes on the treadmill average 7:50 pace I think. 5 minutes cooldown.

I came home and made a big bowl of yum, 1/2c Fage, 1/2c Kashi Heart 2 Heart, 1/2c Kashi Go Lean crunch, and a bunch of sliced strawberries. Sooo good.

Megan @ MegaNerdRuns is having a sweet Chobani giveaway! Check it out now. :)

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Lazy Sunday

So I had the intention of running this morning but decided to take the day off. LOL. I got up and had a delicious berry green monster and read blogs. I finished the new Jennifer Weiner book today, Best Friends Forever. I'm a fan of most of her books, but I was a little hesitant on this one. I took my book and headed down to the local Starbucks this morning for an iced, venti americano with caramel drizzle and settled down to read for awhile. I ended up finishing the book this afternoon and really enjoyed it, the book definitely did not end the way that I thought it would (in a good way). It had a little bit of a mystery to it, but basically told the story of two girls that were best friends growing up but drifted apart during high school. I highly recommend this book.

I went to Trader Joe's after a little reading to get my Fage and Morningstar pizza burger fix. I came home and made myself a big bowl of Fage, kashi go lean crunch, and some strawberries.

For lunch I had leftovers from last night's dinner, dinner tonight is flank steak, chicken satay, roasted zucchini/squash/mushrooms, and some whole wheat sourdough from TJ's.

It's so freaking hot in my house, it's supposed to be very hot here all week so I'll be getting up early this week for my workouts. I find that by this time of the day I have ZERO energy when it's hot, so even a gym workout is out of the question.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Happy Saturday!

So my morning was super busy and I didn't have time to blog, hopefully I can remember my workout.

Last night I went to Happy Hour with two of my oldest friends (from Middle School) and a couple of newer friends. :) What I thought was going to be a fairly early evening ended up being 6 hours of happy hour. No complaints, and I kept myself in check by only having 3 Corona Lights. But even that was enough to make me retain water all day long, alcohol has that effect on me. I knew at the gym this morning before I stepped on the scale that the number would be up. My engagement ring is pretty loose most of the time and it took a few pulls to get it off. So when I hopped on the scale and the number was UP 4lbs this week, no biggie. No way did I consume enough calories this week to actually gain 4lbs LOL.

Here's my workout from today:

8 minute treadmill warmup (avg 8:45 mile).

DB bicep curls 3x10 @ 17.5lbs
DB pullover on stability ball 3x10 @ 15lbs
Hammer curl with rope attachment 3x10 @ 40lbs
Triceps pushdown with rope attachment 3x10 @ 50lbs
Lying dumbbell triceps extensions 3x10 @ 12.5lb dbs

HIIT cardio session 23 minutes.
5 minute warmup (6.5mph)
3 sets (1:00 @ 8.0 mph/1:00 @ 6.0mph)
4 sets (:45s @ 9.0mph/ 1:00 @ 6.0mph)
4 sets (:30s @ 10.0mph/ 1:00 @ 6.0mph)
5 minute cooldown

I then rushed home for a green monster and shower.

Then off to meet the BFF for an early matinee. We saw The Ugly Truth which I actually really enjoyed, I laughed out loud a lot and was entertained. I was naughty and snuck in a big bottle of water and some of the peanut buttery bars I made the other night for us to share. I also bought a small popcorn because quite frankly I have a hard time watching a movie without it in the theater. I could probably eat a whole large size by myself (and then feel like warmed over ass after the movie, I lack the filter that tells me I am full).

I went into mall because I wanted to get some new running socks, all of mine are losing their elasticity. With the Nordstorm Anniversary Sale going on I thought they might have some socks on sale and they did! I got 2 packs of new socks to try.

Nike no-show Shox cushioned socks Normally $16 for 2 pair, on sale for $10.00
Nike Drifit no-show sports socks Normally $15 for 2 pair, on sale for $9.

I'm thinking I'll try out the cushioned socks tomorrow since I'm planning a 6.5 mile run when I get up.

I also may have stopped for froyo on the way home. I stopped at Coldstone first but they only have some berry froyo and I'm a plain girl. So I got back in the car and went to my usual place. Mmmmmm.....plain froyo with coconut. I sat outside and caught up on some blog reading while I ate. :)

Okay, my Netflix of Entourage season 1 arrived today so I'm vegging out to that tonight and cooking dinner at home (quinoa, veggies, marinara).

Friday, July 24, 2009

TGIF!

Busy, busy Friday. I've been on the phone all day it seems. :)

Quick update for the middle of my day, and a few fun links.

Breakfast this morning was the last of my container of Fage (I used the tub for a bowl LOL). 1/2c Kashi Go Lean Crunch (Honey Almond Flax) and 1/2 Multi-grain Cheerios, and 6 sliced strawberries.

Morning snack was a Key Lime Pie Larabar. This was my first time with a Larabar and it will NOT be my last. This was so delicious, the texture was great and I love the short ingredients list of whole foods that I recognize.
I managed to sneak away for a lunch break run, the 'skid' wanted to go with so off the two of us went. I don't know if he was going easy on me, or if I'm not as old and slow as I think but there was never any separation in our running. At the end he was going fast and I kept up (though his legs are WAY longer) and even pulled ahead! Here are the stats from our run, I am going to really like running with him while he's here and quite honestly it is nice to have something that just him and I can do WITHOUT the hubs.

After our run I made a quick Green Monster and got back to work. I made my choco PB cup flavor one, the 'skid' had a sip and I could tell he was surprised it didn't taste like spinach (I could see him watching me add the spinach). Maybe we'll get another convert to the GM Movement?

Without further adieu, here are some fun links if you need some Friday/Weekend reading material.

First off some EYE candy for the ladies.... Becks courtesy of Twirlit.
Yummy Tummy courtesy of Twirlit, I'd like to give the cami a try!
Electronic Cigarettes? WTF! Courtesy of Fit Sugar.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

My laptop can suck it

I had this great post planned out that I wanted to write....about 4 hours ago. I finally have my laptop up and running again, from a July 7th restore point. Go me. I have gotten through 4 episodes of Entourage. I'm officially HOOKED. I was watching last season on HBO On Demand. I need to get my hands on the first 5 seasons ASAP.

Anyways, I also made some of Tina's Peanut Buttery Bars too. This time I used honey in place of agave nectar, I think I like the honey better.

Okay, I'm tired and want to read. I took today off from working out, my body needed it.

P.S. I also wanted to thank everyone for their kind words yesterday, I think it was a lot of PMS and stress from being the 'go-to' support person for a week that just drained my sanity. I was much better today, it's hard when everyone is testing for new deployment and I just want to help out (and the only thing I can really do is to take support analysis off their shoulders).

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Colossal Meltdown

Okay, I admit it. I had a freaking meltdown this afternoon. I don't know if it's the heat (and lack of AC in my office) getting to me, or the fact that I've been doing email support for work for like a week straight now due to vacations...or some PMS. I think it's likely a combination of all three. To be honest, I don't know what I want to do with my life. I wish I did. I like to think something to do with fitness and nutrition would fit me, but maybe I'd get sick of that too. In an ideal world I'd of course be independently wealthy, travel a lot, and of course sit by a pool with handsome pool boys to fan me with huge leaves. But we all know it isn't an ideal world. So I sucked it up and finished my work just in time to sign off and head to the gym.

I did the following workout (variation of Gina's Summer Shape up)

Warmup: 10 minutes on the treadmill plus 5 minute cooldown (worked out to about 1.7 miles).

-Leg extension machine 1x10 @ 100lbs, 2x10 @ 80lbs
-Calf raises on a step 3x10
-Squat jumps (as many as you can for 1 minute total)
-Lunges
(twisting with medicine ball) 3x10 @ 10lb ball
-Jumping jacks (as many as you can for 1 minute)
-Stability ball hamstring curl 3x10
-Wall squats (Hold for 30 seconds with 30 seconds rest in between; 3 times)
-Dolphin plank (hold 30 seconds) then do a side plank for 30 seconds, other side 30 seconds, then back to dolphin plank for 30 seconds) - I did 3 of these.

Cardio: 10 minutes on the treadmill plus 5 minute cooldown (worked out to about 1.7 miles).

After that I went to Costco because I needed spinach (fortunately Costco is right around the corner from the gym).

So I made a new recipe for dinner tonight. It was VERY easy and VERY delicious. I was nervous, I admit....but it was delicious. I made the following recipe (from recipezaar.com) for pulled chicken sandwiches in the Crock Pot.

http://www.recipezaar.com/Pulled-Chicken-Sandwiches-Crock-Pot-242547

Ingredients

Sauce

Directions

  1. Cut the onion in half and slice into thin half rings. Line the bottom of the crock pot with the onions.
  2. Trim the chicken breasts and place on top of the bed of onions.
  3. Mix all of the sauce ingredients together and pour on top of the chicken covering completely.
  4. Cook for 6 hours on low setting. The sauce thickens and turns into a dark rich brown during cooking. At the same time the onions dissolve into the sauce.
  5. When the chicken is falling apart tender, take two forks and shred the chicken.

I actually had mine in a bowl since I didn't feel like a sandwich roll.

I also had a sweet potato (wanted fries but didn't want to turn on oven) and some sauteed zucchini, summer squash, and 'shrooms.

Jada has been busy tonight sleeping in her saucer bed. We call it the Little Grey Bed. For a little grey cat, obviously!
Cooper is lounging on the couch with me.

Make sure to get in your last minute votes for Danica!!!!!! Danica's Nectarine Raspberry Sorbet

Super Busy!

Today is one of those days were I just can't seem to eat enough. It's weird because it has been hot here, and I know the heat lessens the appetite of a lot of people. I wish it would reduce my appetite! I seem to eat as much as ever. Last night we ended up just going out to Thai food for dinner because we wanted to sit in the air conditioning. The hubs and I shared some chicken pad thai and chicken pad see ew. I was craving pad thai (which is rare for me...lol). It was really good though.

I came back home and chatted with my friend Brian online while the hubs went somewhere with his son. I was so tired last night from my lack of sleep the night before. I took a melatonin too, I don't know if it was just being tired but about 20 minutes later we were watching tv and I just passed out. I slept until DH's alarm without even a potty break. I usually wake up at least once to pee, I drink a lot of water and it's just par for the course. Even if I don't drink any for a few hours before bed I still wake up at some point and have to go.

I'm planning to hit the gym and Costco (need spinach) after work. It's a pretty light legs workout (okay a lot of legs, not much cardio which I'm cool with).

I had oats for b-fast this morning (1/2c oats, 3/4c water, 1/4c ff cow's milk, 1/2 mashed banana, 1 big TB natural chunky PB, and a sprinkle of Kashi Go Lean Crunch). I also had a small bowl of cold watermelon.

I had a pb cup Green Monster mid-morning. But only had about 3 cups of spinach left.

Lunch was a leftover bb burger, some pepperjack cheese, avocado, and tomato on a toasted Orowheat sandwich thin with 1 wedge of Laughing Cow Light Swiss smeared on. It was soooo good. I also ate a Kashi Trail Mix bar...I really want to eat more.

Janetha is having a sweet 100th post giveaway you should checkout!

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Labor of Love

This morning was TUFF (yes, I meant to misspell tough...inside joke). I knew I had to be up at 5:30 for my run, to start work at 6:30 since I have to leave at 8:30 to pickup the 'skid' from the aeropuerto. I tried to go to sleep at 10, but of course I had another bout of insomnia (mental note: pickup melatonin tonight). I don't think I fell asleep until 11:30 or closer to midnight. The hubs overslept this morning (his alarm goes off at 4:45, which he turned OFF. I told him at 5 that it was 5 and he bit my head off....so of course I was gloating when he freaked out at 5:15 about the time). I couldn't fall back asleep so I just got up (if you can't beat 'em, join 'em).

I choked down a Kashi TLC bar because my tummy was about to eat itself. Leaving the house at 5:30am is as close to a sunrise run as you'll get in Seattle in the Summer. It was already very light out, but the sun was just starting to rise. I didn't take my running sunglasses 'cause it wasn't super bright, thankfully I didn't regret that decision.

I started off super slow, as you can see by my Garmin stats:

I think it takes a few miles for my legs to wake up. I did my fave 4.2 mile loop (with the monster hill). Some dude was hanging out the window of his truck waving at me, I seriously wonder about people sometimes. I ran to the top of our hill, and wanted to run a little more so I ran around our little neighborhood a few times. Came in the house to this:


His tummy was also eating itself...you can see their catnip banana in the background. The hubs laughed at me when I brought it home for them, but the love it. What can I say, my cats like fruit? They also LOVE their catnip cherry (they've gone through two of them, one had the stuffing coming out).

Fed the beasts, took a shower, then made a green monster. I'm a nice kitty mommy and don't turn on the blender while they are eating since they hate loud noises.

By request...a pic of my haircut. The cut looks the same, I just got color done. I should have taken a pic on Saturday, I have ZERO patience for doing my own hair, so it never looks as good.
Pardon my messy kitchen.

I have my Starbizzle FREE PASTRY coupon printed out. For those on the West Coast you have until 10:30 to get your free pastry. :) I'm going to stop and get mine on the way to the airport. :)

ALSO! Make sure to vote for Danica's Nectarine Raspberry Sorbet over fresh fruit! She's in the top 5 for the myrecipes.net best summer dessert contest! The contest ends on THURSDAY!

Monday, July 20, 2009

Enjoy the Silence!

Tomorrow morning my stepson is arriving in town to stay with us for three weeks. So tonight I enjoy my freedom LOL (kidding, kinda). It's funny but it does change a lot in our household when he's here. The little things really. He's 16 so it's not like he's a little kid, but I still like to make sure he eats while the hubs is at work. LOL. I'm trying to plan dinners for the week, tomorrow night is kind of up in the air but I am thinking about making shrimp and goat cheese risotto. Wednesday night is pulled bbq chicken sammiches (easy because I can dump it all in the crock pot on Weds morning). Thursday I'm thinking about making the Shrimp po' boys in this month's Cooking Light that Jenna was raving about a few weeks ago.

Not much went on this afternoon, just work and then I ran to the library to pick up the new Jennifer Weiner book (I was lucky enough to get on the hold list as soon as they opened it up, so I got a "first" copy).

My bestie is in town this weekend from Spokane so I've got plans with her Friday and Saturday. YAY!

My afternoon snack was the usual...1/2c 0% Fage, sliced strawberries, 1/4c of Kashi Go Lean Crunch - Honey Almond Flax.

Dinner tonight was chopped veggies and chicken in TJ's Thai red curry sauce with quinoa. I chopped up 1 zucchini, 1 red bell pepper, 1 can of bamboo shoots, 1/2 Walla Walla sweet onion, and a bunch of mushrooms. Quick and easy. :)

At the request of the hubs I made Choc. Chip cookies for his co-workers. I did not eat a single one, yet it is the only food I took a pic of today. LOL. I did lick the Kitchen Aid paddle though (hellooooo Salmonella). He already picked up the cookies to take to them, so no chance of eating one.

This recipe is delicious and I like how 'pretty' the cookies come out looking. I use this recipe from allrecipes.net.

Amanda @ Run To The Finish has a great tofu giveaway going on make sure to check it out!

Manic Monday!

Okay not really. But the weekend was pretty busy. My eating choices weren't always the best but I did manage to abstain from alcohol, which is something that is a huge trigger point for poor eating decisions for me. It's like a double whammy, not only do you get all the added calories from the alcohol (plus the water retention) but then Taco Bell sounds gourmet and you want to eat about 10 dang quesadillas. Who else is with me on this?

Work is busy today, I have a co-worker out on vacay for a few weeks. But I like being busy. I took a little extra time and did my workout at lunch today, tomorrow is super busy so I have to have a run EARLY in the morning.

Today's workout:

Cardio warmup: 7 minutes (.92 miles I think). Plus 3 minutes cooldown.

Lat pulldowns: 3x10 @ 75lbs
DB Chest press: 3x10 @ 35lb dbs (my arms were shaking)
DB Shoulder press: 3x8 @ 20lb dbs (my arms were too tired to go for 10 reps)

Cardio: 7 minutes (.95 miles) Plus 3 minutes cooldown

Standing barbell Upright Row: 3x10 @ 40lb
Cross body shoulder raises: 3x10 @ 8lb dbs (I can't actually find a pic of this, it's like a snatch motion with a lateral raise). I'll keep looking and update if I find one. LOL

Cardio: 17 minutes (2.2 miles approx). 5 minutes cooldown

I slept a lot last night, I only got 6 hours of crappy sleep on Saturday night. Last night I seriously was dosing off between 7:30 - 9:00 and finally fell asleep at 9 for good. Woke up at 6:00 feeling great.

Eats:

2 cups of coffee

Oatmeal (1/2c oats, 3/4 c water, 1/2 mashed banana, 1/2TB natural PB, and a couple of melted chocolate chips + 2TB ff cow's milk).

Mid morning snack was a PB cup Green Monster.

Lunch was a leftover Black Bean burger from last week (with a little pepperjack cheese melted on top to hold it together) with guac, spinach, and tomato on a Orowheat whole wheat sandwich thin. A bunch of grapes and a handful of pistachios.

This post officially sucks because there is no picture...so I shall pick something random out of the My Pictures folder to entertain all 7.75 readers.

First two images are of course courtesy of LOLCats.



I have NO idea where I got the pic of Mark Mangino and Obie (the Syracuse Orange mascot). Maybe here?

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Taking it Easy yo!

Last night the husband and I cooked up a delicious dinner! He manned the grill, we had 3 small steaks we needed to use up (two little pieces of filet mignon and one small top sirloin). I sauteed up some shrimp in a little olive oil and canola margarine with some garlic and cajun seasoning. I also sauteed some zucchini and mushrooms in olive oil and cayenne pepper for some zip. Dinner was delicious. We also went for froyo after dinner, I had my usual a plain yogurt with coconut on top. Sooo good, I just love the texture.

This morning the hubs had to go into work for awhile, I more or less woke up with him at 5:45. I got a solid 8 hours of sleep last night and felt great this morning. I laid in bed and petted Cooper and Jada. I got up and fed them (and myself). I had a slice of spelt flour cinnamon raisin toast with a touch of almond butter and headed out to the gym.

I knew I needed to take it easy on the legs so I started with 12 minutes on the elliptical at a moderate pace.

I then did bits and pieces of Gina's Summer Shape up.
Dumbbell hammer curl 3x10 @ 20lb dbs
reverse plank (hold 30-45 seconds) 3 x held for 45 seconds each

I then did a cardio burst on the tread. I did 4 x of 1:00 @ 6.5mph and 1:00 @ 9.0mph. Then did a 4 minute gradual cooldown.

Triceps dip assist 3x8 @ 24lbs assist.
Straight bar cable bicep curl 3x10 @ 50lbs
standing triceps extension 3x10 @ 20lbs
long arm crunch 3x20

I skipped the rest of the cardio to rest my legs, came home and made a huge Green Monster.

There are a few sweet giveaways going on!

Erica is giving away some Mix1!
Ruby is giving away a copy of Jillian Michaels' book Making The Cut.

I'm about to shower and head out to get my hairs did. Enjoy your Saturday everyone. :)

Friday, July 17, 2009

Friday's run stats

Here they are:

Friday Almuerzo

I got up at 5:45 for my mile repeats this morning, my legs felt like bricks to be honest. I didn't get 8 hours of sleep last night, whether that played into it or not I don't know. What I do know is that I felt like I weighed 400lbs, but my times were less than last week so I obviously pushed through it but I never felt great during my run. I have the stats on my Garmin but they are upstairs, will upload a pic in a bit. I did 3 mile repeats and then a cooldown of a slow 1.5 miles (I just kinda kept going, it was a beautiful morning and there was a beautiful hawk sitting on the fence by the track, so I was intrigued by him/her when it left, I left LOL).

I came home, gave the cats breakfast. Once they were done eating I made a Green Monster (Chocolate PB cup style, soooo good).

Morning snack was 1/2c 0% Fage, 1/2c Kashi go lean crunch, last of my strawberries all sliced up.

Lunch was leftover chicken/beans/corn from last night into a flat out with some hummus and pepperjack cheese like a dang quesadilla. And the last of my riceworks Sweet Chili brown rice chips (it's mostly crumbs though, sadness). I'm sure I'll have some grapes after for dessert.

Never mind our crappy coffee table, I'm watching some fine tv (Real World: Cancun) on the DVR.

Freebie alert: Print this out for a free pastry (with beverage purchase) from their new line on 7/21! Starbucks is debuting their newly remastered pastries, I'm excited about the changes they've made. :)

Changes include: no trans fat, no artificial ingredient and no high fructose/corn syrup. I'll be stopping by for sure. :)

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Happy Friday Eve!

It's a beautiful, warm evening here in the Seattle area. I was so happy I got my run in early, and I'm going to do the same tomorrow (mile repeats at the track) since I know it's going to be warm again tomorrow. Saturday morning I'll hit the gym for my bicep/tricep workout.

I was feeling lazy after work today so I did some basic strength workout. I did 4x10 sets of scorpion push ups. I also did some bicycle crunches.

I'm sitting here watching the KFC World Cup of Softball. I admit, I am super in love with Jennie Finch's hamstrings, I know weird fascination right? I seriously cannot stop staring at them. Sadly I cannot find a good pic of her hamstrings (surprising some dude hasn't put up a picture to gawk at her butt). But this pic shows just how strong her legs are, love 'em seriously.

So for lunch today I had leftover quinoa, chicken, and veggies from last night. Seriously so good, I'm obsessed with this meal.

My snack was 1/2c 0% Fage, 1/3c Kashi Go Lean Crunch - Honey Almond Flax, and some sliced strawberries.

Dinner tonight was a Hugh Jass taco salad. It had: romaine, chicken, corn, black beans, red bell pepper, tomato, guac, and a lot of salsa. I also added a few riceworks red chili chips for crunch. It was delicious!

And now some cute kitty pix!

Cooper stretched out on the floor, you can see the tip of Jada's ear along the bottom, she was trying to get all up in my bidness. :)


I guess what goes around comes around, Cooper stuck his tail in Jada's pic.

I can't think of anything better...

Nice title, right? I don't think anyone reads them anyways.

So I actually woke up before my alarm went off this morning (only 4 minutes early). Which is surprising because it was far less than my usual 8 hours. I strapped up with my gear and took off for a run. My intention was to take it super slow this morning, which is good because my body didn't want to go any faster. I didn't think about it, but I did my leg workout yesterday afternoon and I finished at 5:15pm. I left for my run at 5:50am, yeah barely more than 12 hours of rest.

I also didn't eat anything before I left, but I really don't think they played into it. One thing I've noticed is that when I workout first thing I don't drink as much coffee (if any). I did drink one cup this morning after my delicious Green Monster (chocolate peanut butter cup style).

I have to leave at 9:30 for a 10:30am meeting, I'll probably be home at 1:30pm. I have a quick Costco stop I'll make on the way home because I need more spinach, and I will drive right by a Costco. I'm trying to figure out what food to take with me to eat during my meeting. Probably a wrap and some grapes. I'm already the weird food person and I rarely go into the office. The last lunch time meeting we had there was pizza, I took a bar of some sort to eat while everyone else had pizza. I made a deal with myself that if it was GOOD pizza I would eat some (like Pagliacci, for the Seattle locals). But if it was crap like Domino's I would eat the bar. Yeah, it didn't look good so I ate the bar.

I don't think I look overly skinny (I hate that word btw) because I do carry a lot of muscle mass (especially around my shoulders) but I got some comments like "you need to eat some pizza, put some meat on your bones". Ahh, typical "Lazy B" culture...

I digress, I suppose I should do some work before I leave. ;)

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Over the Hump

I'm really looking forward to this weekend, I'm getting my hair done Saturday morning and hopefully meeting the lovely Debra for lunch after. :)

I was a busy bee again this afternoon, I like being busy at work though it keeps me out of trouble. Tomorrow will be super busy so I will probably only do an evening post. I have support duties again tomorrow, and have to drive into the office for a meeting in the middle of the day (in Renton, at least it is after the morning rush hour(s) and before the afternoon rush). I'm going to try to wake up early to get in a run BEFORE work hours. LOL. Famous last words (although I'm usually very good about it when I know that is the only time I have during the day).

I had a pre-workout snack before I headed out to the gym (a Kashi TLC trail mix bar and a couple of dried apricots). I'm trying to decide if I should buy a foot pod for my Garmin so that I can use it at the gym on the treadmill, the husband rolled his eyes at me when I suggested it (okay so we were on the phone, but I KNOW he was rolling them). What do y'all think?

My workout was A-MAZING (like I predicted HA).

It was based off of Gina's Summer Shape up Leg day, but I didn't like some of the exercises so I mixed and matched.

Warmup:
10 minutes on the tread (2.25 miles) plus 3 minute gradual cooldown.

Stability ball back extension
- 3x15
reverse lunge 3x10 @ 15lb db
captain's chair leg raise 3x15

Treadmill hill run: 9 minutes alternating incline between 1.0 and 6.0 @ 7.0mph. 3 minute gradual cooldown.

booty booster (slide 5) 3x15
dumbbell squat 2x12 @ 22.5lb dbs
dumbbell front squat 2x12 @ 15lb dbs
Stability ball Ab crunch 3x15 done very slow with a pause on both passes (abs were on FIRE)

Cardio: 17 minutes on elliptical, varying incline, resistence between 7 and 12.

I came home and fed Cooper & Jada, took a quick shower, and made dinner. I was so hungry I forgot to take a pic. I cut up 1 whole Walla Walla sweet onion (love), 1.5 red pepper, 1 zucchini, and a bunch of big mushrooms (stuffing size), and 1 chicken boobie. Sauteed in a little extra virgin olive oil (1 turn of the pan). Added 1 cup of marinara and simmered while I cooked up 1/2c quinoa. This was two HUGE servings (and I was HANGRY).

Gonna kick back and rot my brain with some Bejeweled Blitz.

Oh, I almost forgot. Danica @ Danica's Daily has an AMAZING Annie's giveaway, you'd be CRAZY not to enter.

The Best Laid Plans...

So I had actually planned to lunch/relax during my lunch break today. Unfortunately for me it didn't happen. :( I decided to spend my time chopping veggies for tonight's dinner, I'm heading to the gym after work and it's nice to be able to just throw dinner on the stove after I get home and shower. By then my stomach is usually about to start eating itself. While chopping veggies, the DH called and needed computer help so I was multi tasking. UGH...but here is the cute kitty pic of Cooper and Jada yesterday. We have this ugly as sin old Ikea chair that they love to sleep on (they also have a heated cat bed that detects their weight and activates, but I unplugged it for the Summer). Spoiled little beasts!

Breakfast was what I call the GI Jane Green Monster. It came out Army Green today. Lots of spinach, blueberries, and strawberries. LOL. It tasted amazing though!

Morning snack was 1/2c 0% Fage, 1/2c Kashi Go Lean Crunch (Honey Almond Flax), and some sliced strawberries.

For lunch I heated up one of my leftover black bean burgers for a wrap. A wrap is much better because they are super fragile.


Leftover roasted sweet potato wedges

And a bunch of camera shy grapes that I am currently munching on as I type this (and listen to a conference call). I cannot wait for my workout this afternoon, I have a feeling it's going to be a good one.

There are some fantastic giveaways right now!

Some compression shorts and amazing running socks @ Run To The Finish.

Kelly from Every Gym's Nightmare has an amazing Artisana nut butter giveaway.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Busy Worker Bee

So I've been meaning to post since before lunch but I've been too busy with work, every time I clear something off my plate something else comes up. Tuesdays are always busy for me at my job, it's the day I have to answer all support queries for our project so it's a lot of email all day long. I was happy that I got my run in at lunch (I pretty much cleared my plate and marked myself away for lunch as fast as possible LOL). I'm happy that I shaved about 5 seconds off my time for the hilly mile. But otherwise my times are almost identical to the times I ran this route at a few weeks ago.


So I was going to post last night after I made the black bean burgers...but I was really just too pissy and wanted to wallow in self pity. First I blended the peppers and onions together, which resulted in an epic failure because I blended too much and it was liquefied. A food processor is really necessary for this. Next time I'd just saute the peppers and onions and call it good. So to try to save my mixture I added ANOTHER can of beans and another scoop of oatmeal. It helped but they were still a little soft.

Well to add insult to injury I was slicing a sweet potato for oven fries, and a couple of baby reds for DH and I freaking cut my finger with the sharp knife. Right around the finger nail bed. BRILLIANT! Stupid thing wouldn't freaking stop bleeding, it didn't hurt but was just an annoyance. So yeah, all I wanted to do was feel sorry for myself. I had my burger on an Orowheat sandwich thin (my first time with one), some TJ's guacamole and tomato. The flavor of the burgers was outstanding (I used cumin, chili powder, and Tapatio hot sauce). I can't wait to make them again and recitfy the issues I had.

I had a delicious Green Monster for breakfast (along with my java). Morning snack was pre-run fuel (Rainier Organic bakery cinnamon raisin toast with TB of Almond butter).

Lunch was a wrap (morningstar farms, hummus, tomato, avocado, cucumber, and spinach), some rice works sweet chili chips, and a bunch of grapes.

I have a cute cat picture but I don't have time to upload it now (have to use my other computer), but I will post it later. :) Work beckons.....the things we do for a paycheck!

Monday, July 13, 2009

Sleep!

Yeah last night I slept like crap, I took a long nap yesterday afternoon so I know that factored in. There was also a cop that pulled someone over right in front of our house flashing his lights in the window. I went to bed at like 9:30 and finally feel asleep around midnight I'd guess, got up a few times and used the computer to try to make my eyes tired. This rarely happens to me anymore, and it is usually when DH is gone (which he wasn't last night). As a kid I had a lot of sleep issues, horrible insomnia all the way through high school. College wasn't an issue because I rarely went to bed before 3am, and was always exhausted when my head hit the pillow. Usually I don't have an issue with sleep now but when I do I get so frustrated, and it only makes it worse because I want to sleep so badly. Sometimes I think that I might try melatonin but I don't know if it is worth it since it's usually only when DH is gone.

So I got up this morning and thought I had a doctor's appointment in Seattle with my cardiologist. I had a couple of cups of coffee and a most delicious GM. It was ugly looking!

1 cup of nonfat cow's milk
1 scoop ON vanilla whey
4 cups of spinach
1TB almond butter
4 strawberries
1/4 cup of frozen blueberries
1/4 cup of frozen raspberries
1/2 frozen banana
1.5c of crushed ice

This one was a total winner!

My appointment ended up getting rescheduled because my cardiologist had an emergency patient. I already had the time scheduled off so I decided to just take the afternoon off. :)

Ate a slice of Rainier Organic Bakery cinnamon raisin toast with some almond butter for a pre-workout snack. This toast is tasty, mostly the same as Ezekial but was a lot cheaper at TJ's and is also a local bakery! SCORE!

I had an insane workout today and I freaking loved it. I used Gina's Summer Shape up Week 9.

Warmup: 2 miles @ 15:34. 5 minute cooldown

Assisted pull up 1x10 @ 30lbs assist. 1x10 @ 35lbs assist. 1x10 @ 54lbs assist focusing on negatives to really build my back.
Unilateral shoulder press 3x10 each side w/ 15lb db. Love these, and my shoulders feel so much better this week after a full week on the new mattress. Next week I'm going to bump back up to what I was lifting before.
Walk out push up 3x10 (I hate these...really, HATE...)
Cardio blast- mountain climbers (1 minute)
double-arm dumbbell raise 3x10 @ 20lb db
incline fly press-out combo (can do on the floor instead) 3x10 @ 15lb dbs on an incline bench
medicine ball pullover 3x10 w/ 15 lb medicine ball.

3x25 stability ball crunches

Cardio: 20 minutes on treadmill. Roughly 2.6 miles. 5 minute cooldown.

I threw some lunch together when I got home (was famished). Spinach salad with hummus, cucumber, and tomato. And a crack wrap (flat out, hummus, a little jalepeno cheese).

I LOVE LOVE LOVE these new Nike dri fit tanks I picked up, I hate wearing shirts with sleeves when I work out. These are cut perfect, are nice and long in length (helps a lot when doing pushups and such). Sports Authority near me had them on sale for $15.99 through 7/18 (normally $20.99). I might have to go pick up a few more in some other colors.

I'm looking forward to dinner tonight. Both Danica and Megan have made black bean burgers lately, so I'm going to make some tonight! Yum!

Whit is a fan of giving, so make sure to go enter her birthday giveaway. So much good stuff!

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Quick Weekend check in

This is going to be a quick one, this weekend has been so busy and I'm trying to clean the house. I thought I'd post really quick while a load of laundry finishes. :)

Yesterday I did my mile repeats (3 miles, plus one super slow mile cooldown). My legs wanted to give up, I ended up taking today off of all physical activity (sans cleaning). I screwed up my timing with the Garmin so my first lap around the track was a total wash time wise. Oh get this, I went to the local high school at like 6:15 yesterday morning to get this workout in since I knew the rest of the day would be busy.

There was a group of guys doing landscaping and no one else using the facilities. Since I have all these random irrational fears, I figured better safe than sorry. As I went to get in my car and leave they were mowing the field in that area so I'm walking with the key to my car (Volkswagen switchblade key) out thinking if they try to kidnap me I'll be all tough and stab them with my key. Yeah, I'm genius.


Went home, showered and got dressed and hit Starbucks with the hubby. I was so happy! They had the venti cold cups there, so I got one. These are so great (and BPA free), I find that I drink a lot more water when I have a straw. LOL. They had about ten there, of course after that we find out they are super hard to find, so we went back this morning to buy the rest and of course they were sold out. C'est la vie!

Quick run down of eats...

Friday dinner: Indian. DH and I split an order of lamb tikka masala and baigan burtha with some roti. We were stuffed but went for froyo. I got a small plain with coconut and white choco chips. DH got a kids size (lol) plain with peanut butter cup pieces. We both ate about three bites and got lids to take it home.

Saturday: pre-workout fuel was a Kashi honey almond flax bar. After workout recovery was a green monster with protein. Lunch was a grilled chicken sandwich and a small salad. Dinner was naughty...we went to the local bar and shared an order of boneless buffalo wings (extra hot) and a chicken fajita wrap.

Today: Worst...Green...Monster.... EVER. Seriously. It was so gross I plugged my nose to drink. Here's the combo to never do...

1 cup cow's milk
4 cups spinach
1/2c frozen blueberries
1/2c frozen raspberries
1/2 frozen banana
1TB almond butter

I think it was the blueberries and raspberries together, but it was freaking gross.

DH and I went to Sports Authority to get some gear, I found some Nike tanks for cheap! Then we did Pho for lunch since it's grey and gross today.

Ok, laundry done. Lates!

Friday, July 10, 2009

TGIF!

Ahhh happy Friday all! I was looking out my office window this morning and saw the following:

Very low, I hope everything was okay with it though there is a park on the other side of the trees so maybe they were just putting it down there. We see a lot of balloons here in the summer, they are so pretty. :)

I had one of my most delicious Green Monsters this morning. I think it was the fresh spinach I bought last night...it was my regular PB cup but it just tasted perfect.

I had a boring snack a few hours later, oats sounded good. I made a bowl that consisted of: 1/2c of quick oats, 1/2 mashed banana, drizzle of unsweetened vanilla almond breeze. It was tasty, though boring looking. :)

After that I hit the gym for an early lunch. I did day 6 of Gina's Summer shape up. I had to make it fast so I did very little rest between sets.

Warmup: 1 mile @ 7:53. 3 minutes of gradual cooldown.

rope pressdown - 3x10 @ 50lbs
Cross chest dumbbell curl - 3x10 @ 17.5lb dumbbells (each arm)
Prestretch triceps extension - 3x10 @ 10lb dbs

Cardio blast: 8 minutes on treadmill variety hill program @ 7.0 mph. 3 minute cooldown.

Tricep pushups - 3x10 full push ups, not on the knees like in the vid.
Dumbbell hammer curl - 3x10 @ 15lb dbs.

Cardio: 13 minutes at around an 8 minute mile. 5 minute cooldown.

I was super hungry when I got home....I made another quesadilla with the crappy fake chicken (it smells really bad cooking, can you tell I am not a fan?)

And a delicious spinach salad with mushrooms, cucumber, tomatoes, and hummus.

And a unpictured bowl of red grapes that I'm eating right now.

I can't wait for the weekend! Though I have to get up early tomorrow morning to do mile repeats (ugh).

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Friday Eve!

Yay tomorrow is Friday! I'm excited because I get to go out to dinner with DH (we rarely get to eat together because he works two jobs Monday, Wednesday, Thursday...so I usually make dinner and he re-heats). Everything sounds good, top picks right now are Indian or Chipotle (hey random). Although a new Vietnamese restaurant just opened by our house that I want to try. But DH isn't as into Vietnamese food as I am, so I'll probably try it on my own and if it's good I'll make him go. :)

Afternoon snack was about 1/2c of 0% Fage (last of the tub) and the last of my strawberries. Sadness!

I also took a nap after work, I laid down with DH (before he left) and I fell asleep to the Food network. When he left for 2nd job I went to Costco for spinach (and grapes, mushrooms, Sabra's and more Flat outs...).

I came back and made dinner, I thought I had more Thai red curry sauce (TJ's) than I thought but nope...so our dinner wasn't overly saucy. I was also too hungry to wait for brown rice to cook, so I made quinoa instead. I love that it cooks up in 10 minutes, and honestly I think it keeps me full longer than brown rice (must be the protein).


I just had a little bit of Dreyer's light slow churned Neapolitan ice cream.

And I took a cute pic of Cooper because it's so easy. :)

Blah

So I set the alarm to get up at 5:45 this morning to run before work....THAT didn't happen. I got up and re-set alarm for 6:30 and went back to bed with Cooper. Had the two cups of coffee like usual, and a PURPLE monster. I had to throw away a few cups of spinach because it went bad (I just bought it on Sunday...grrr). So I only had like 3 cups for my monster, and I forgot to put nut butter in. Doh.


Contents included:
  • 1 scoop vanilla whey protein
  • 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
  • 4 sliced strawberries
  • 1/2 frozen banana
  • 3 cups of spinach
  • 1/2c of frozen blueberries
  • 1.5c of crushed ice
It definitely didn't have the sticking power without the fat from the nut butter. :( I really want to get some macadamia nut butter for smoothies, to try to replicate a white chocolate mac nut smoothie. How freakin good would THAT be?

I had a snack around 10:30 of a Kashi trail mix bar and some pistachios (to make up the fat I was missing).

I headed out for a run around 11:30 when my meetings were finished. I'm such a dumbass, I forgot to start my Garmin so I'm missing about a quarter of a mile of time/distance. :( I was really feeling my leg workout from yesterday, I felt exhausted, and wanted to quit...but I was on a loop that takes me far from home so quitting wasn't an option (muahahahaha).


I took a quick shower when I got back, and made some lunch. NOTHING sounded good today, but I was starving. I tried out the MorningStar grillers chicken burger (not the one that is breaded). It looks like it is new since I can't find it on their website. It's not super good, I put it in a flat out with some hummus, shredded pepper jack cheese, black beans, and corn like a dang quesadilla.


To be honest the breaded style "chicken" burger is leaps and bounds better, I don't think I'll buy these again. Fortunately the hummus hid most of the weird taste. I was so hungry I forgot to take a pic. :(

Off to finish the rest of my work day and go to Costco for more spinach.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Wednesday

I'd like to say I was too busy to post today, but really just too lazy. I more or less eat the same stuff every day until dinner time, I'd like to say I mix it up but really I find stuff I like and eat it until I get tired of it. Fortunately since I started blogging I noticed that a lot of people are the same way. I think it is the convenience factor. Anyways...I started my day off with two cups of coffee and then made a sludge monster.

  • 1 scoop of ON vanilla whey protein powder
  • 1 cup of vanilla unsweetened Almond Breeze
  • 4 sliced strawberries
  • 4 cups of spinach (the spinach I bought at Costco is going bad FAST this week)
  • 1/2c of frozen blueberries
  • 1 TB almond butter
  • 1/2 frozen banana
  • 1.5c crushed ice

My morning snack was 1/2c 0% Fage, 6 sliced strawberries.

LUNCH, I was really craving sweet potato fries but we are out of sweet potatoes (cry). Fortunately I had bought a bag of organic red potatoes for DH so I sliced one of those up and baked it with some cayenne pepper. Pretty good, but still not a sweet potato. I also made a wrap today: 1 morningstar burger, hummus, spinach (gotta use it fast), 1/4 'cado, 1/4 tomato. I even grilled it today. Fancy pants!

Hopefully you all have noticed that the quality of my pictures is improving, I started to use my digital camera instead of my craptastic cell camera. Of course this also contributes to the laziness of my posts, see my desktop computer that I use most of the day has no reader for the memory card...so I'm posting now with my laptop since it has the little reader built in. Yeah, I'm lazy.

I grazed a bit for my afternoon snack, I had 6 cubes of fresh pineapple, a few TJ's chocolatey cats (whatever was left in the tub, like 6). Right as I left for the gym I had a Kashi trail mix bar (no pic).

Here is my workout today. I did Gina's summer shape up day 2.

Warmup: 1 mile @ 8:02 + 3 minutes cooldown.

split squats 1x10 @ 20lb dumbbells. 2x10 @ 15lb dbs.
Pilates side leg lift 1x30 each side
Pike up with the ball 3x10 - these are HARD
Seated calf raise 3x12 @ 100lbs

Cardio: Hill intervals
0-1:00 7.0mph 0.0 incline
1:00-2:00 7mph 3.0 incline
2:00 - 3:00 7.0mph 0.0 incline
3:00 - 4:00 7mph 4.0 incline
4:00 - 5:00 7.0mph 0.0 incline
5:00 - 6:00 6.5mph 6.0 incline
6:00 - 7:00 7.0mph 0.0 incline
7:00 - 8:00 7.0mph 6.0 incline
3 minute cooldown

leg extension 3x10 @ 75lbs (legs were TIIIRED after hills)
stability ball hamstring curl 3x12 (I love doing these, I hold for a few seconds at the top)
Weighted plie with calf raise 3x12 with a 30lb db

Cardio: 14 minutes on the elliptical at varying resistence (7-13) and varying crossramp (between 6-13). 5 minute cooldown and stretch.

After that I made dinner. I was totally wanting a big ol taco salad. I poached a few chix breasts early in the day so that all I had to do was shred and cook in seasonings at dinner time.


In my salad: 1 shredded chix breast, 2 cups of mixed greens, 1/2 tomato, handful of corn, a lot of salsa, a little plain yogurt, a little shredded pepper jack cheese, and 1/2 c of black beans...oh and a handful of riceworks sweet chili chips for a little crunch.

And with this I leave you with some random pics that I found on my camera!
Jada!

Cooper! This picture was actually on the local news, they have a morning "pet walk" forecast, and I submitted this picture for Apple Cup petwalk last year. I still have the clip saved on our DVR, such a proud kitty mommy.

And a pic from our last trip to Maui (February 2009), this is at the Ho'okipa Lookout on the North shore of Maui. This is a big windsurfing spot, though none where there the day we stopped in.

Aloha!

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Multi-tasking....

Ahh, I slept sooo good last night! New mattress (and all new pillows) for the win.

I got up and had my requisite two cups of coffee this morning (both with vanilla creamer). Then I felt like a Chocolate PB cup Green Monster this morning. In went the following
  • 1 Scoop ON Chocolate whey protein powder
  • 1 cup unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze
  • 4 cups baby spinach
  • 1 frozen banana
  • 1 big TB Adam's crunchy peanut butter
  • 1.5 cups of crushed ice
It was actually GREEN today!

I did some benchmarking tests for work and then dug into a pre-run snack around 9:30. A few cubes of pineapple and this:
My run today was just so-so, I didn't feel good about it and I don't know why. Times seem a little slow, but the first mile is mostly up hill (there's a slight descent only to climb another hill). I also kind of got lost (I went down a side road that wasn't marked DEAD END but was a dead end).
I did 100 crunches (standard and crossover).

Okay, I'm on a conference call so time to devote my full attention to this!

Monday, July 6, 2009

Once Upon a Mattress...

Okay so it was a really odd musical, one I played in the band in high school...but I digress. Our new mattress was delivered today and I caught the tail end of DH's nap this afternoon. It is pretty amazing, I can't wait to sleep tonight!

Onto my eats for today, I made something somewhat new for dinner tonight and it came out pretty well.

Lunch:

Hugh Jass salad (baby spinach, 1/4 red bell pepper, 1/4 cucumber, tomato, 1 MorningStar tomato basil pizza burger, 1 TB Sabra's sun dried tomato hummus)
Crack Wrap (total Sarah lunch apparently) 1 FlatOut wrap, 1TB hummus, 1 slice 2% Swiss cheese

Afternoon snack was kinda all over the place because the guys came to deliver the mattress...1/2c pineapple, 1 serving of riceworks Sweet Chili "chips"

I got the idea of Turkey and Spinach meatballs from Jess' creation.

Estimated recipe, Serves 4

  • 1 cup quinoa
  • 1.25 lbs ground turkey breast
  • 1 package of frozen, chopped spinach
  • 1/4 cup of quick oats
  • 1 jar marinara sauce of choice
  • 2 zucchini, quartered and diced
  • 1 red pepper, diced
  • 1/4 sweet onion VERY fine dice
  • 1 sweet onion, diced
  • 7 mushrooms, sliced
  • 10 spicy kalamata olives, diced
Thaw spinach according to directions, make sure to place the spinach in a CLEAN kitchen towel and wring all of the water out, you want it dry. Combine with turkey, oats, finely diced onion, and seasoning (I used crushed red pepper, oregano, poultry seasoning, and some black pepper). I was able to form 22 golf ball sized meatballs out of this.

Sautee zucchini, red pepper, onion, and mushrooms in a little bit of extra virgin olive oil (1 turn of pan). Set aside.

I put half the meatballs in my large skillet and browned them in two batches, I'm ADHD in the kitchen and get side tracked easily, so working in smaller groups is good so I don't burn them. Once the second set of balls (lol, I'm also 13) is browned put all of the veggies back in and the rest of the balls. Top with the marinara sauce of choice (I used a roasted tomato and garlic one). Simmer.

At this point I start the quinoa, I think the time it takes to cook a batch of quinoa is perfect to simmer the 'balls in the sauce and veggies. Since I wanted this to also feed us tomorrow night (Tuesdays are DH softball night) I only made quinoa to serve two (I'll make the quinoa for tomorrow night when it's time to eat). Place 1/2c quinoa in a pot with 1 cup of water (or broth), bring to boil and cover. It usually takes 10 minutes for my quinoa to be done (you know it's done when the liquid is done and the quinoa gets that 'ring' around the outside).

Place 1/2 quinoa on a plate, 5 meatballs and some sauce/veggies on top, and some of the olives. I also topped mine with shredded cheese, since there is very little fat in this meal I knew it needed some more.

And a Cooper & Jada pic to end the evening....I think it is funny that her tail is wrapped around his shoulders. Please ignore the ugly futon they are sleeping on...it needs to be burned.


Peace out!