Questions for YOU!

Sorry for the absence yesterday, it was a long day at school and I had to choose getting reading done over blogging! Haha - School first!

So the past couple days it's started to get chilly, and last night when I was heading home from school, this had to happen:

The gloves have officially come out! It's just too cold!!!

For yesterday's workout, I took a break from running and headed to the gym! I did a lower body strength training workout, with cardio switched in. This is where I do 10 minutes on the elliptical, 15-20 min strength, 10 min elliptical 15-20 min strength, and then end with 10 minutes of cardio. I love these workouts because it makes the time pass quickly and jumping back and forth keeps my heart rate going!

When I'm doing the weight machines, I usually pick two machines that work different parts of my legs and switch back and forth with no break in between, doing 3 sets on each machine, 15 reps each set. For example, I would switch back and forth between hamstring curls and leg extensions.

When I got back it was time for a shower and then a smoothie! It was a little cold for a smoothie - but I was DYING for one! I guess I want to fit them in before it gets too cold! So I made a delicious Berry Protein Smoothie!

This morning I was awake pretty early... Ok so I was laying there since about 3am. So finally at 5:15 I got up and decided to do my run before yoga (I had planned on doing it after since I was going to a 6:30 class rather than an 8:00 class). However, my garmin foiled my plans! I had intended to run 3 miles but I had to stand there waiting for it to "find" a satellite and it took over 8 minutes! It was ridiculous! I could only fit in 2.41 miles and that was running straight back to my front door!

It was about 50 degrees when I headed out and I sure wish I brought gloves. At least I had the good sense not to head down to the lake front - it was pretty windy! I couldn't read my garmin well when I was running since it was so dark, but I felt like I was flying! Perhaps because I was so numb I couldn't feel a thing! However, I was pretty disappointed and confused to get back and see that my pace was 9.02 min/mile. I was pretty confused because I felt like I'd been really moving!

However, I then plugged in my time and my mileage online, and it told me my pace was 8:45 min/mile! I think I must have done something weird with my Garmin because I looked at it again and it told me I had taken 27 minutes... which I know isn't true because I would have been really late then! Frustrating morning!

But I made it to yoga, and back home, and now it's time for breakfast! I decided I wanted a smoothie, but I was out of bananas, so I came up with a new concoction: Creamy Strawberry Milkshake Smoothie! (lol, I already have a strawberry milkshake smoothie - but this one is better!)

Ingredients
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 cup fat free cottage cheese
approx 1 and 1/2 cups frozen strawberries
1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder (I have a big scooper...)
1 tbsp Chia seeds
1/4 tsp xantham gum
1 packet truvia

It really was like a strawberry milkshake! I think the cottage cheese helped with that - and I didn't add spinach so it had such a pretty pink color!

Okay everyone. Brace yourselves. Now I have some questions for you! Clearly I had a somewhat confusing and frustrating morning, so I would LOVE your comments to help me out!

1. Has anyone else had trouble sleeping in the past? I fall asleep fine but then wake up practically every hour and by about 4 - that's it. I'm awake for good! I've been like this for a week and it's getting exhausting! Suggestions? I tried Melatonin one night but it didn't help at all! 


2. Have any of you had trouble getting your Garmin's GPS to work? Is this a city thing? I bought it because my iPhone's GPS wasn't working and now I'm frustrated that it's just as bad! 


3. How do you feel about blogger? I've been wanting to switch to wordpress because someone told me it's easier for people to comment. Any thoughts from other bloggers (or commenters) out there? Also, I tried switching with instructions to keep my permalinks - but couldn't figure it out! Help! 


4. What exciting plans do you all have for the weekend?!? I'm lucky enough to not have classes Friday, so mine starts tomorrow! 

Please leave comments - I would really appreciate your feedback!

This Week's Food!

Happy Monday! Okay, okay, that's a bit of an oxymoron. I hope you all are having a good start to the week! 


This morning, according to my weekly workout schedule, I had a 3 mile run plus strength training! I jogged to the gym and got going on the treadmill! I switched back and forth between 7.0 and 8.0 every half mile and ended up running 3 miles in 24:38, which is an 8:12 min/mile pace. Again, always faster on the treadmill! After running, I spent another 30 minutes doing some ab work and then upper body weights. I finished off with 10 minutes on the elliptical.


Once I got back from my workout, I showered and headed to the kitchen, because I was starving! While I thought over my options, I ate a fig with a bit of Greek yogurt... And then I decided to make myself a Berry Protein Smoothie! The smoothie's sweetness hit the spot, and it was perfect for one of our last hot days of the year! 

Since I eat at least 3 lunches and 2 dinners at school every week, I have to plan ahead and make them all on Sunday! For lunch this week, I decided to try Kath's Tuna Salad Recipe from Kath Eats Real Food!


I tripled her ingredients so it would work for three lunches, and used low fat Greek yogurt:


Mix together:

• 9 oz of pink salmon (or tuna)
• 3 tsp curry powder
• 3 tbsp low fat plain Greek yogurt
• 3 tsp dijon mustard
• 3 large celery stalks, diced
• 3 large carrots, diced

In addition to the "Tuna" (aka salmon) Salad, I made Smoke Salmon Omelet Muffins, also by Kath! I made these true to the recipe, except I didn't have any parmesan cheese so I didn't add that in... obviously.

I also used chia seeds instead of flax since I didn't have any flax... winning. 

  

They smelled so good!!!

So here's my lunch for Monday, and an example of what I'll also bring Wednesday and Thursday:

For Monday, I have to stay at school until 7:30 and then I don't get home until 8:30, so I bring "dinner" to eat during my last class. Last week, my teacher called on me while I was eating my Wheatberry Navy Salad, and said he was so sorry to interrupt my dinner. Got it, Professor. Less obvious food. 

So for dinner this week, I packed a PB&J sandwich (with blackberry jam!), sliced apples, and some multi-grain Trader Joe's O's. I also planned to buy a small salad and some yogurt for an afternoon snack from the cafeteria. I like having a little bit of flexibility when I'm bringing an entire day of food - I hate eating only what I pack if I'm not in the mood for it. 

How do you deal with packing meals for the day? Does anyone have to pack two meals, or just lunch? Any good ideas for what to bring? Remember, I've got to be sure to incorporate proteins, carbs and healthy fats! 


Update on the Hermit Crabs: molting crab is still alive! I saw him moving this morning. He immediately hid in his shell when I walked past... I don't think they like me. Names to come soon - keep the Harry Potter name suggestions coming! P.S. whoever named their cat Luna - I laughed out loud at that one. Great name. 

Funny "Foto" Friday

So for today's Funny Foto Friday, I have quite a gem for you, straight from the IL State Fair! You didn't think I showed you everything, did you? 

Well, if anyone here is in the market for a buggy (yes a buggy, like one that you would pull with a horse), then I have a treat for you! 

No, it does not come with the horse. But, there is a lovely caution sign on the back. Here's a nice close-up:

My favorite part of the poster? The description: "Very Nice". Now, who wouldn't jump at this opportunity?!?

After my workout with my trainer, I came home and made up a smoothie with 1/2 frozen banana, 1 cup frozen berries, 1/2 cup almond milk, 1.5 cups spinach, 1 scoop vanilla protein powder, 1/2 T flax and 1 packet of Truvia. 

I topped it off with some of Julie's granola! I found the recipe on her blog, Peanut Butter Fingers! I love her blog, she's so personable, has great recipes and it doesn't hurt that she's also a Kappa Delta! 

To make the granola, I combined all the wet ingredients in a bowl, and then added the oatmeal and mixed it together. The End. Wasn't that easy? I actually only used 1 T of Honey and Since I used PB2 powder, I think it ended up being a lot less PB too... So mine was probably more dry than the recipe should be, which is fine by me because I made it to put on top of my smoothie! 

After mixing, I spread it out onto a cookie sheet and then baked it in the oven. My oven is pretty old-school so I ended up leaving my granola in there for about 14 minutes. It turned out great! 

Going to my brother's tonight to watch the Chiefs game! Last year I decided that I would become a better football fan, which meant I knew when the games were and if they won... This year I'm learning players! 

Is anyone else excited for football season?

Happy Birthday Mom!

This morning I got up a little early to write this blog post, and then head to the gym for a quick cardio workout before meeting my friend, Bailey for brunch!

Here's a re-cap of my day yesterday!

My Mom and I at my brother's wedding in June 2011!

Yesterday was travel day, but it was also my Mom's Birthday!!! So happy (belated) birthday, Mom! Isn't it funny, we're both turning 24 this year! (She's been turning 24 for a while now...). Happy Birthday Mom! I love you and thank you for being a supportive and amazing mom!

So I had a very busy day yesterday, good thing I made it my rest day! (My muscles sure thanked me too).

I started my morning with a lot of reading and getting small things done, after a bit I made myself a berry smoothie! In the smoothie I put all my leftover spinach (why it's so full!), 1/2 cup almond milk, 1/2 frozen banana, 1 cup frozen organic mixed berries, 1 tbl flax and 1 scoop vanilla protein powder. I ate it with some of those freeze dried bananas from Trader Joe's and a smidge of raw oats.

After breakfast I ran a bunch of errands, including Neville's Big Adventure walking the 5 blocks to my brother's condo! It was very exciting for him, he rarely gets out... When I got back from my errands I snacked on a little bit of Turkey Jerky from Trader Joe's while I continued reading for my Evidence class. Unfortunately, my books for the other two classes I have reading for haven't come in the mail yet... So I'm going to have a lot to do when I get back.

After packing, showering and getting ready to go it was time for a quick leftovers lunch before I headed to the airport! I had a tiny bit of steamed Kale with a little under a half cup of chickpeas (the rest of the can!) sprinkled with some feta cheese and topped with marinara sauce! Since this wasn't much, I also had a plain non-fat greek yogurt with my last half banana and a bit of honey mixed in. I also finished off those freeze dried banana slices! (Those probably wouldn't have gone bad... haha but they could have!).

For my airplane snacks, I brought a few almonds, two dried figs and a BoBo's Oat Bar! Never heard of them? Well they're made in Boulder, Colorado and I bought a few of them while I was out in CO visiting my friend, Maddie. They are so good! They are vegan and gluten free and come in a bunch of flavors. They do tend to fall apart on you, but they are so good! My favorite so far was Coconut.

The BoBo bar was definitely a good choice and held me over on the flight, since we had to sit at the gate for over an hour! I hate it when they board the plane, and then make us sit there at the gate with the door open! I know it's easier for them, but I could have been up and moving around the airport! Oh well, at least I managed to finish another book, which I'll have to tell you about later.

Once I finally got home it was time to head out for my Mom's birthday Dinner! We went to Oak 63, which is a small local family restaurant. The father owns the restaurant and his son is the head chef!

For starters we (me, my dad, my mom and my LITTLE brother - yes! there's another one!) split the caprese salad and the artichoke paremeasean dip.

The salad was delicious, a thin slice of mozzarella, which I prefer, and the tomatoes were locally grown and delicious!

The dip wasn't my cup of tea, a little too greasy for me. But my dad loved it! It had bits of jalapeno peppers in it, which gave it a kick! I did like that part of the dip. Unfortunately, we had to wait about an hour after that for our main entrees, so by the time I got mine I was so elated that I didn't think to take a picture. Which is too bad because it was delicious! I had halibut with sliced squash, broccolini and wasabi mashed potatoes! That's right, WASABI mashed potatoes! They were absolutely delicious and my fish was cooked perfectly. I loved it so much I made everyone try it!

After dinner we headed to my mom's favorite ice cream place, Baskin Robbins, and grabbed some ice cream to take home and watch a bit of the Chiefs pre-season game that she recorded on our DVR. I got a scoop of their sugar free raspberry chip ice cream and it definitely hit the spot! My mom got her favorite - chocolate chip! I love how when you go home, some things just never change!

In a Funk

Last night’s recap:

Yesterday I had planned on going to Power Sculpt at Core Power Yoga, but I was just not feeling it. I needed a break from the yoga studio so I headed to the gym to do one of my cardio/strength training workouts. What I do is 10 min cardio, 15 min of strength training, 10 min of cardio (to keep my heart rate up), 15 min of strength training, and then end with a final 10 min of cardio. Usually for strength training I'll do all leg or all upper body, but today I decided to mix it up and do both. I also tend to get really into the strength training part, so I usually go over the 15 min... but I try not to! I've got to learn to cut down my workouts for the school year when I don't have enough time!

I finished up my workout with stretching and a couple ab exercises and headed home to have a berry protein smoothie!

1/2 cup almond milk

1/2 frozen banana

1 cup Trader Joe's organic frozen mixed berries

2 cups spinach

1 scoop protein powder

1 tbl flax

and then I topped it off with the last bit of shredded coconut I had and ate it with some Trader Joe's Bran Flake Cereal. Delicious!

So today, according to my schedule from Hal Higdon, I was supposed to run 2.5 miles, however, I decided to just round it out to an even 3 miles. I woke up this morning with ZERO desire to run, but I knew I just had to throw on my shoes and get out there. When I finished my run, I looked at my iPhone app, iMapMyRun, and saw that my pace was 9:12 min/mile and I can’t say I was elated. On Sunday I had run 3 miles at a 8:41 min/mile pace, so today’s run felt like a disappointment. It’s true that I wasn’t feeling it, I took a new route that slowed me down with stop lights and turning a lot of corners, but those all sound like excuses to me.

I should be proud of myself for getting up this morning and running 3 miles in under 28 min when I only started running again ONE WEEK ago! But I’m not! Does anyone else put themselves down like this? I’ve realized it’s definitely a problem that I have. When I do something good, I’m not proud of it, and when I do something not as good, I beat myself up.

I wanted to post about this today because, for one thing, I wanted to show you all that no one is perfect! I may come across as a girl who’s got it all together, but I don’t! We all have things we need to work on in our lives and being proud of myself is something that I need to work on.

I’ve also been in a bit of a funk these past couple days, which isn’t helping. I think it’s the anxiety of everything in my life changing! I ended my internship, I’m going home for a week and then I’m starting a new year of law school. It’s all very overwhelming and leaving me feeling anxious! To turn my morning around, I’ve decided to take a note out of Gretchen Rubin’s book The Happiness Project and “Act the way I want to feel”. If I want to feel proud of myself and excited for what’s to come then I need to ACT that way! It’s similar to the mantra we’ve all heard: “fake it ‘till you make it”.

So now I’m going to pack up my stuff and head off to my Hot Power Fusion yoga class. Wish me luck!!!