Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Amen



Pinterest: Making you want great abs AND whip cream filled strawberries with a side of stuffed grilled cheese.
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Monday, February 27, 2012

Weekend Musings

Musings. I don't think that word means what I think it does, but I don't want to think of another one so I'm leaving it. There are no rules here. Words don't need to be used in proper context, they don't even need to be spelled right for that matter.

Freedom of improper speech.

Last night we had an amazing family supper at my parent’s house. The star of the supper was definitely my Mom’s Faux Fried Chicken made from Janet and Greta’s “The Loneyspoons Collection” cookbook. Best supporting role goes to my Sister’s Banana Cream Pie (also from that cookbook) and lurking in the background were my Butternut Squash Fries.

I’ve been terrible at taking pictures since I started blogging again, but here’s a picture of the chicken straight from the cookbook. And you can find the recipe here.



You should definitely try making this chicken, and when you do make sure and invite a large number of people over so they can all tell you how great it is and what a wonderful cook you are. Don't just make if for your boyfriend or husband. That's a waste. Invite them both over.

JUST kidding.

Saturday morning I started the day off right with a BREAKFAST Cookie..



I polished that off and a few cups of black coffee before doing a Condo Castle workout. I did a version of one of the many "hundreds" workouts I do with the trainer. You'd be surprised by the level of intensity you can get in your own living room. Well maybe YOU wouldn't be surprise, but I am. I am surprised that I'm doing mountain climbers beside the couch when I could be sitting on it.

Once I finished up my workout and before heading to my parents house to swim (stand in the shallow end) with my Sister and nephew, I made my Man Banana Chocolate Chip pancakes!





Such a good almost-wife I am.

I didn’t snap any pictures of Tyson swimming, but I DID paparazzi him when we got out..





What a handsome little man.

I spent the rest of the day laying in bed and catching up on PVR'd shows. My view the entire afternoon looked a little something like this..



Aren't those cords hanging down the wall attractive? I was thinking about adding a blue one, but thought that might be too much with the grey, white and black.

Once the evening rolled around Lex and I went to the Vow..



I LOVED it. I still loved it even though I spent most the movie mad and annoyed at Rachel McAdams character. I sat in the theater calmly watching on the outside but on the inside I was throwing popcorn at the screen yelling, "REMEMBER HIM DAMN IT!!! You're NOT TRYING!! Go back to the Notebook."

Welp, that pretty much sums up my weekend. Happy Monday!!
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Friday, February 24, 2012

Home Parties

It’s FRIDAY!!!

So where was I. Wednesday night’s leg workout ended up being fifties just as I was hoping. I’ll welcome anything with open arms that doesn’t involve 100 reps. After the gym I cleaned the condo castle just like I’d planned in anticipation of last nights Tupperware/Epicure party. I got the toilets SO clean that I actually broke the toilet brush in half. I like to think it broke because my arms have gotten so strong that plastic just snaps when I touch it, not because the toilet was so dirty I was thrusting my entire body weight into each brush stroke. Before calling it a night I listened to a Jillian Michael’s Podcast on my ipad. I just discovered her podcasts and can’t get enough of them. It will be a sad day when I’ve listened to them all and gotten caught up to date.

Yesterday, I worked as usual and had my workout at noon. It was a cardio day, which meant 30 minutes of steady state cardio with a few 7 second bursts of intense speed to get the heart rate up. There was nothing fun about it because I really hate cardio. I love lifting weights, but cardio is always a chore.

Here are some of yesterdays food pictures..

Breakfast Cookie and Coffee



Green Drink (Spinach, Almond Milk, Stevia and Cinnamon)



Protein Shake (I'm not sure why I didn't combine this with the green drink)



Lunch (Butternut Squash Fries and Egg Whites/Spinach/Mushrooms)



Supper was this again... (Brown Rice, Eggwhites, Veggies, Olive Oil, Epicure spices and Salt)



Before bed I had a Larabar, which was planned, and then things really went downhill. A wrap with butter, some (a lot) PB straight out of the jar, then I had some (a lot) almond butter right out of the jar. Wedding Dress, Wedding Dress, Wedding Dress. How many times can I remind myself? A million. That's how many.

Anyway, the Tupperware/Epicure party was really fun. It was fun because the guest list was so exclusive and high class. A few of my close girlfriends, my Mom, Grandma, my Sister and my nephew Tyson. Tyson might have actually liked the Tupperware more than anyone. Although.. none of us tried eating it so that might not be a fair assumption.

He has a very distinguished palate, it doesn't just stop at Tupperware. He's been known to like a good dishcloth from time to time as well.



I took some pictures of the clean condo castle, but unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the actual party. My Man and I bought some new curtains a couple of weekends ago. Aren't they nice? My Man jokes that all the people backing on to our kitchen windows will now have to rely on the videos they've been making since i've finally shut them out. He thinks he's so funny.









Not in attendance at the Tupperware/Epicure party...

Crazy.



Happy Friday!!
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Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Quotes & Stuff

So last night was my Splurge night. If you don’t know what a splurge group is, it’s where you and 12 of your girlfriends get together once a month, pitch in 20 bucks to an imaginary pot and draw a winner. You can only win once and when you win the pot you’re supposed to SPLURGE on yourself. Since I was the first girl to win, it feels less like a splurge group and more like I'm being charged by my friends to hang out with them. You want to come to dinner with us? That’ll be 20 bucks. A movie? 20 bucks. And buy your ticket too.

Last night we went for dinner to the Fainting Goat and the experience was quite a bit different than the last time we were there when this was taking place in the parking lot...





As for my workout yesterday, it involved running stairs and burpees. There aren’t many things worse than burpees. Except for maybe falling down the stairs I was running up. That would suck. Especially sober.

Tonight is legs and abs and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't dreading it. I'd also be lying if I said I'd rather go to legs and abs than clean the women's and men's bathrooms here at work. Have you ever done a 100 lunges, squats, fire hydrants, step-ups, sumo squats, low walks, kick backs, romanian dead lifts and leg abductors? You would choose cleaning dirty toilets too. I'm hoping tonight isn't hundreds. I THINK it might be a circuit or fifties. Please. Be. Fifties.

After the gym tonight I'll be cleaning the condo castle and preparing for my Tupperware/Epicure party tomorrow night. That's right, I'm having a Tupperware party. I attended one of my girlfriend's parties a few weeks back and got sucked into hosting while playing an innocent game of Deal or No Deal. Okay, it wasn’t innocent. It was actually quite straight forward. If you said “deal” you got to open your envelope and take home your prize, but NOT before committing to hosting a party. And if you said “no deal”, you didn’t have to host, BUT you didn’t get a prize. Greediness always wins. When I opened my envelope and immediately saw "Spaghetti Holder" I felt duped and outraged. That Tupperware Lady mislead me, this is NOT a prize. Obviously my feelings must have registered on my face since she made an exception and said I could choose my own prize. Either that or she clued in when I yelled out, "I don't even eat spaghetti!!"

SO tomorrow night I earn my Cereal Set. I suppose I probably could have just taken the containers and never answered the woman’s phone calls, but that wouldn’t have been very nice. Plus after hearing her stories about Tupperware ladies driving trucks over FridgeSmart Containers in Florida I decided I didn’t really want to take my chances.

ANYWAY, I decided to make it an Epicure party too because most my friends already have enough Tupperware and well, because I need more Epicure. The Tupperware lady wasn’t very receptive to this, but she didn’t say NO. Instead she used scare tactics like, “neither parties will do well” and “that’s not typically allowed.” Since I don't care about earning Tupperware or Epicure I decided to go ahead with it. It should be interesting when she shows up and see’s the Epicure girl. I should have tossed in a Scentsy consultant in there too and really created some fireworks.

Let the BATTLE begin. At least this party should be nothing short of entertaining. Perhaps i'll invest in a ring or boxing gloves..

Before I go I wanted to share some of my favorite quotes off of pinterest. Some are unusually small and some are unusually big, but hey, I'm lazy.



























Happy Wednesday!!
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Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Body for Life

SO I’ve been all over the map lately with diet and exercise. In October my Man and I went to Phoenix and while I was there I decided to buy the Body for Life book. Why? Because I got it in my head that I really really really wanted muscles and that I really really really wanted them by my wedding. If you’re not familiar with the Body for Life book, it’s because it was popular in the 90’s and no one does it anymore. No really though. One night when we were out for supper in December my Man told his dad that I was on a diet and it was called Body for Life. His Dad's reaction was, “Ohhh I did that diet back in my 30’s. That's a good one.” I never thought the first and only thing that my Man’s Dad and I would have in common was a body building diet. For a number of reasons..

Anyway, it’s a 12 week diet and exercise program that promises fat loss and muscle gain and I did it for about 9 or 10 weeks before deciding I didn’t like my results or lack there of and enlisting the help of my now trainer. I definitely gained muscle while following the program, but I didn’t feel like it was changing my body in the way that I hoped it would or wanted, which may have had something to do with the fact that I wasn’t your typical “before” when I started and really had no where to go but UP. Basically I chose the wrong plan for the look I’m after. BASICALLY I was accidentally bodybuilding when I really just wanted to add a little lean muscle.

In January I started with my new trainer (the one who had informed me i'd been bodybuilding for 9 weeks) and from January until now I was following a new nutritional plan I’d made up myself by combining all the information I’d been reading in Oxygen magazine, online fitness websites, etc.. I was using protein shakes as snacks and eating protein in every meal while making sure I was eating every couple hours. I also became focused on whether or not I was eating enough calories to “grow muscles”. Still obviously reading more bodybuilding based information. Clearly confused.

In a recent conversation with my trainer she told me that I was eating more protein than I needed (double to be exact). Someone of my weight and height only needs 60 grams of protein a day and that excess protein is hard on your kidneys. Nothing resonates with me more than when you relate something to my health. For the first time since I got on this muscle building kick I realized that what I was doing wasn’t super healthy. Since I’m really NOT looking for a diet, but a lifestyle I decided to re-evaluate what I was doing. Because really, if the results I’m after are only maintainable by doing something unhealthy than they’re not the results I want. I also have to mention that I LOVE my trainers body and if she’s not downing protein like it’s going out of style, then maybe I don’t need to do it in order to get the arms I want.

Needless to say, I’ve come full circle. I’m going to go back to eating clean, eating for health and nutrients and eating whenever I’m hungry. All that being said, I wouldn’t change a THING about any of the stuff I've done because I’ve learned SO much. I’ve also sped up my metabolism and since January have also made some changes that I love. My trainer has changed the way I work out and I’ve pushed myself harder than I’ve ever pushed myself and I'm starting to see results.

SO now I just have to relax my diet, stop trying to eat as much protein as I can and have faith that I’ll still have muscular arms by my wedding and look like THIS.



A girl can dream.

So, you wanna see some recent eats? Here are some of the things I ate yesterday minus a protein shake, scoop of PB and a glass of homemade chocolate milk. Everything should look familiar...

A Breakfast Cookie..



Butternut Squash Fries and Egg Whites & Mushrooms..



Larabar...



My FAVORITE supper EVER..


Brown Rice, Egg Whites, Mushrooms, Zucchini, Butter Olive Oil and Red Pepper Spices.

Lately, I've been OBSESSED with rice bowls. This week I think i'll try a Quinoa bowl too.

Happy Tuesday!!
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Wednesday, February 15, 2012

UP to DATE

80 days.

80 days until my wedding. Can you believe it? Of course you can because you haven't thought about it.

In 83 days I will be a WIFE. And I will have a husband. To me, there are very few things that sound stranger than this. Like, dead whales can spontaneously explode and that a toothpick is the object most often choked on by Americans. Quit eating toothpicks America.

Instead, do something useful with them. Build SHIPS.



So on the wedding front.. The invites have slowly been trickling out. Slowly because finding 300 addresses is not an easy task. It’s also hard to find an address for people listed as Craig, Craig’s Wife, Craig’s Mom and Craig’s Dad. This is how my Man’s invite list looks. Craig doesn’t seem to have a last name and it would appear as though his family is even less fortunate and don’t have first names.

What else. So far I haven’t found wedding planning to be stressful and I feel so lucky to have such an amazing family, group of friends and almost husband. With their help and the help of some really good vendors, the wedding we’ll be everything I want right down to a room full of bright colored lights and a reeses peanut butter cup cake! All that and I don't have to make one thing or set anything up, which is for the best since a DIY wedding by me might look more like a frat party. Chips? Beer? Is my CD player loud enough?

My dress is also here and currently residing in my parent’s closet. To say it fits like a glove would be an inaccurate statement since I’ve never had a pair gloves cut off my circulation and forbid me to move. Either the dress needs to grow an inch in the bodice or I need to lose an inch. Since it doesn’t seem very receptive to favors I’d say I’m going to have to lose an inch. That’s the trouble with measuring and ordering your “perfect” size. My measurements didn’t account for sitting, drinking a glass of water, and although not extremely important, breathing. Let’s be real though, I’m just going to have it let out. Let that bodice OUT.

In other news, 3 weeks from now my girlfriends and I are going to AZ for 1 of my 2 stagettes (told you I was lucky). It’ll be like the Bachelor house only smaller and we won’t be fighting over floppy haired Ben from Sonoma.


source

And if one of my friends start acting like Courtney she'll have to sleep outside. At someone else's house.

Lastly, for our honeymoon my Man and I are going to HAWAII. I can’t wait. We even decided that we’re going to try surfing. We came to that decision today after my Man made me google, “shark attacks in Hawaii”. I’m not sure what number would have been too many, but 115 since 1882 seems to be alright with him.

Source: google.com via Lori on Pinterest



Now I think i've brought you up to date on the wedding stuff. Tomorrow we'll talk fitness? Okay? Okay.

Is anyone even reading this? No? Okay.
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Friday, February 10, 2012

Hello?

How many times have I disappeared and then come back on this blog? Stopped calling, stopped writing, stopped visiting; Leave without saying goodbye or giving so much as a reason.

So. Many. Times.

I think it’s safe to say that if this blog were a male, he’d have left me by now. Perhaps I’d still receive the occasional drunk dial, but sober? Not a chance.
Good thing this is just a blog.

I’m back.

I decided mid-afternoon today that I missed blogging. So I logged on and here I am.




Sorry had I known I was going to come back today I would have done something with myself.

THINK of all the fun I can have now that pinterest has made it so easy to upload pictures legally. According to pinterest that little guy is Baby Enrique. I just love him. And if you don't, what's wrong with you?

If pinterest were a dating site I would be misleading you. That's right. In a I'm-70-years-old-but-posted-my-20-year-old-photo-of-myself-on-plentyoffish.com kind of way.

You would be under the impression that my home looks like this..



My hair looks like this..



I serve nightly meals like this..



Have a banging body like this..



And tuck my imaginary kids into this every night..



Good thing i've already tricked my Man into being with me. Let's be honest though, that last room is nothing more than disappointment and slivers.
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