Links I Love

Happy Tuesday! Wednesday! It’s raining here and in case you forgot….I heart rain!

Look at what I’ve been pinning lately or sharing, or just find downright amusing lately:

These cute little candy corn trees.  You could make a cone out of cardboard, like a cereal box, and cover that with your yarn.  In case you haven’t priced styro foam trees lately, they are darn spendy!

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Soda.  Do you drink it?  I thought this was interesting.  I used to drink more soda than water.  Now, I’d rather have a brownie than a Cherry Pepsi. Soda isn’t a treat to me.  Brownies?  You bet your bottom dollar!

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Oh and this polka dot scarf?  I must find this!!

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And lastly this little pumpkin?  Do you decorate and or carve pumpkins? 

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I’m thinking of gold, glitter, and pumpkins this year along with a monogram.  Funny story.  The monogram toppers for wedding cakes?  I’m kicking myself we didn’t do this as a joke.  Our fancy monogram would have read s. S. a.  Put my name in the front?  Hilariousness for DAYYYSSSSS!  What am I thinking, YEAARRRSS as I’m still laughing at the thought.

The easiest hard decision I’ve ever had to make this week

I have a confession to make.  My last long run? Oh, umm, it was back in August on the 17th.  Fourteen miles…split between two days. It was rough.  The week before, I busted out 18 miles.  And by “busted” I mean, I ran on the treadmill.  Treadmill running is still legit but 18 miles on a treadmill is a WHOLE different world than on pavement or trails.  Ya know?   Then the week after the rough/split 14 miles, we went to San Francisco to celebrate our 5 year anniversary. After that, I kind of face planted into a mess of not wanting to get up in the morning to run, right as the teens started ramping up their daily doubles and the rest of the back to school events ensued.  And by events, I kind of just mean, back to school shopping and soaking up the rest of the summer in a kick backed manner.

Basically, I just painted you a messy picture of why I decided yesterday that I’m not going to run the Portland, Oregon marathon for my 4th year in a row.  (See I had to tell you I’ve already run it three times so you wouldn’t think I’m a slacker….but we all know the truth. Shhh….)

I’m ok with it.  I had been dreading it and already looking past it to future races.  I’d love to focus on some shorter races and stay in running shape for a half marathon being my longest distance.  I know there will be more full marathons, but for now, I’m really pleased with my decision. There have been some shorter races in the spring and summer that I would like to do and a trail running series that sounds fun, but I’ve either been too tired from marathon training or I didn’t want to risk getting injured. My hubs and I have already planned on running a local 5k here on October 5th and we’re going out for a test run next Sunday.  That’s progress!  We haven’t run together since October of last year.  Having a treadmill handy, I guess I kind of turned into an agoraphobic or one of these phobias:

Chionophobia

This is the fear of snow. Which if you're a winter sports fan sounds pretty unusual but it often centers around a fear of snow flakes, making it an awkward phobia to have in certain climates.

Gephyrophobia

Another awkward worry to have: the fear of crossing bridges. If you're unfortunate enough to suffer from this then your journeys could get a lot longer. Modern architecture helps prevent disasters like the Tacoma Narrows Bridge that collapsed spectacularly in 1940, just a few months after it was first opened to the public.

Fear of cracks in the pavement

Another one I couldn't find an official name for. This is the phobia of stepping on cracks in the pavement and is normally coupled with the worry that the cracks will open up and maybe swallow you up or - in one of the more extreme examples I found - suck you into another dimension entirely.

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Oh and in other news?  Two of the peeps at my office have some sort of yucky cold/flu.

 

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Not that I want to get sick but it’s not like I’m on Outbreak Watch like I have been in past years.  Well, I did disinfect my phone this morning after a client used it, so never mind.

 

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Friday Favorites

 

1. Collages!  Most of my pics are snapped with my smartphone.  I’m lazy.  I’m not very sorry about that.  It’s not like the pictures I take with my point and shoot are that much better.  I haven’t felt the need to go fancy yet with an SLR.  I guess I’m fancy enough on my own. *snort  Back to my point, photo collages, in my little pea brain opinion, mask the poor quality of my pictures to a certain degree.  Now that I just pointed that out, well, shoot.

2. My new journal from Poppin.  I found this at Staples and I’m instantly in love.  It has kind of a leather feel. I added the tabs myself.  I’m a list maker.  I know.  I have issues. I went with white even though I was instantly drawn to the hot pink.  I figured it would be a nice background to all my other colorful office supplies I hoard use.  I followed them on Instagram and Pinterest and they sent me a $5 off coupon.  Time to go shopping?

3. CeCe my raccoon mug.  Or as I like to call her, Brown Cece.  My girls named my mug after naming their mugs Schmidt (the Squirrel mug) and Winston (the Hedgehog).  Ten brownie points if you can tell me which hit TV show we are obsessed with!

4. These husky faces.  OH MY GOODNESS!  I know this is old but every time I stumble upon it on my Pinterest board I seriously laugh out loud. And did you know that looking at cute animal pictures makes you smarter??!!

5. Bianca.  This little lady has been getting braver (she’s a rescue kitty that I’ve had for 7 years) and she usually hides under my bed and most definitely does not leave our bedroom “suite”.  She is very friendly with me and my hubs but she still skitters under the bed if I come in to the room too quickly and startle her.  Well, Miss Biancerdonkershmonker, as I call her for short, has been wondering downstairs lately.  The house has to be completely quiet with no kid or hub commotion.  She will wander down and usually find me on my ipad with a cup of coffee early on a Saturday morning.  Who knows how brave she’ll be in another 7 years?!

It’s Raining…AND I CAN WEAR BOOTS!

It finally feels like Fall!!  This morning, the weather was just what I ordered.  Time to break out the boots!  I’m nuts for Fall.  I just love it all!  (And nope, didn’t mean to make that rhyme.)  I even took a picture of the rain pouring down on the street.  I live in a place called the City of Sunshine.  I like rain.  I’m a moody type of gal.  Give me a candle, a pillow, a cup of tea and a movie marathon…wait…maybe I’m just lazy?  SOUP WEATHER TOO!  OK, I’m done.

Friday the 13th Friday Favorites

My first baby was born on the 13th day of February and ever since, the number 13 has been my favorite number.  I also like to take something with a bad rap and squeeze it hard enough until nothing but cuteness and sugar oozes out.  I really have no idea what that means but we’ll just go with it.

Things that I have been loving lately?  I thought I would share with ya!  And you should do the same.  We’ll be best friends if you happen to share my love of squirrels, bunnies, or hedgehogs.

1. This new “happy” mug.  (I have a different coffee mug that I like to pull out for each season and I’ve been adding to my collection a little bit at a time.)

2. My new kitchen towels.  They are so cute you just want to vomit, huh?!!

3. This gorgeous new color of shellac…that you’ll just have to trust me…it’s awesome.  It’s a grey/purple called Jet Set.  Perfect for Fall.

4. This cake in a mug.  SO TO DIE. FOR. Seriously!  Thank you Paleomg.

5. One thing that has perplexed me lately?  You’re stopped at a red light and the car in front of you has left one to two car lengths of space between them and the car in front of them.  Why?  I really need to be given a good reason as to why this happens. I’ve been noticing this a lot.  I’d understand if we were on a hill, or if there was snow and ice on the roads.  But dry pavement?  I don’t get it.

6. Playing croquet in the back yard.  I guess I will miss this when the weather turns but the directions do say to try Snow Croquet.

So there you have it!  I’m getting really jazzed about the cooler weather that is in our forecast.  Get me past Saturday which is supposed to be in the 90s and then I think the Fall sailing will be smooth.  I’m just about as desperate for Fall weather as everyone else is in the blogging sphere.  I’m not stupid though and know that once we take that dip, that the snow is not too far away. Just give me some dang soup weather already! 

What have I been doing since I last posted?

 

• Working my new job (We just moved into a beautifully new and decorated space)
• Wearing my taxi cab driver hat (Taking two freshman teens to volleyball and football practice.  Sometimes twice a day for both of them!)
• Cooking up a storm
• Kicking butt with my Whole30/Whole9/Paleo-ish diet

• Running (Some but not a lot.  It SHOULD be a LOT but I lost my motivation and my October marathon is going to murder me.)
• Traveling to exotic cities, like umm, San Francisco?   (That counts as exotic, right?)

• Celebrating 5 years of marriage!
• Playing croquet like an old person

• Crafting and sewing when I should be doing other stuff.
• And laundry.  I’ve been doing lots of laundry.  And dishes.
• Lots. Of. Dishes

I think I owe you a bigger explanation of my whole 30 day journey with Whole30 and how that all went down, but uh, I slacked in keeping track of what all I was eating.  I will share with you that I lost 14 pounds total…ayynnnnddd, I gained three pounds back with my trip to San Fran.  I actually did a 33 day stretch there of no dairy, sugar, legumes, grains nor alcohol and on Friday night on our drive to see the Golden Gate Bridge, I overdosed on frozen yogurt.  It was worth it!  Weight loss aside, I loved how I felt without sugar being in control of my life.  I went to bed with a flat stomach and woke up not looking like I was 6 months preggo.  My blood sugar levels felt the most stable they’ve been in over 20 years.  I went up to five hours between a meal once without feeling like I was close to slipping into a coma or kill anyone.  So am I going to keep this up?  You betcha!  It won’t be perfect and I will indulge when it’s worth it…but it’s got to be worth it.  I’m talking to you fro-yo.

What I Ate Whole30 - Week 1

 

Prepping for starting my Whole30 Challenge

Sunday, the day I started the Whole30 Challenge, I did a lot of prep work for the week ahead.  I made things easy and prepped a week’s worth of breakfasts and lunches.  Well, I don’t do math so goodly, amongst other subjects, and ran out of food, mid week.  Here’s a few things you might be interested to know: When I sauté my veggies, I’m using a tablespoon per serving of either coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil. I’m drinking only plain, wet water throughout the day and two cups of black coffee in the morning, with a meal.  Well, the second cup is in a thermal mug and I sip on it at work, but it’s gone by 10am.

Day 1 – Rest Day and the beginning of something great?

Breakfast – Scrambled eggs with onion, avocado and spinach and 1/2 a cup of frozen/fresh blueberries.

Lunch – Spaghetti squash with a sautéed medley of bell peppers, onion, spinach, and one garlic chicken sausage that I had pan fried. (This was batch cooked and portioned for three more days of easy lunches at work.)

Dinner – Pork chops in the crockpot with seasonings. (Came out SUPER dry!  I was trying to go for a pulled pork taco effect.)  FAIL!  I served the pork pucks over a bed of sautéed kale with some onions and mushrooms thrown in.  I quickly followed this meal with a 1/2 cup of frozen/fresh blueberries and watermelon.

Thoughts, emotions, energy level:

There were only two times during the day that I felt hunger.  The first time was on my way to the store and I was worried that I didn’t have enough time to shop, get back, and prepare lunch without getting lightheaded and cranky and reach for whatever packaged carb I could find.  I told myself that I wouldn’t die, that there would be food, and then my brain got distracted and my hunger pains went away.  That evening, even after a dessert of watermelon and blueberries, I was getting ready for bed and felt a slight hunger, but again, I told myself it was because I was so used to have sweet treats at bedtime…even in bed.  A lime bar, a Kashi Chocolate baked square, or some nights, even both!  I felt those treats were deserved, in the past, since I had gotten both of my workouts in and my calories were so that I could afford to eat them.  I managed to fall asleep without much trouble.

Day 2 – Split Workout Day

Pre Workout – one hardboiled egg and a small handful of roasted/salted cashews followed by a three mile run.

Post Workout – half of a sweet potato, with a 1/4 cup browned grilled turkey, and a dollop of coconut spread.

Breakfast – Egg Muffins (Batch cooked up for the week) Three egg muffins are about 2 whole eggs, 6 TBSP of browned, grilled turkey, some chopped spinach, and a mixture of red and yellow bell peppers.  I heat them up and top it off with some Cholula sauce and a half of an avocado.  SOOO delicious!

Lunch – Same as Day 1

Pre Workout – Cherry Lara Bar.  I had purchased some Lara bars in flavors that are Whole30 Compliant to have on hand for emergencies.  I was feeling particularly sluggish, so I really wanted one to try and then see how my workout would go.

Dinner – Birthday Celebration Burgers!  I had my hubs make a patty with no BBQ sauce and he seasoned the meat with “compliant” seasonings and tamed jalapenos.  The burger was topped with half of a roasted red bell pepper and sandwiched between two big leaves of red leaf lettuce.  SO GOOD!  I was worried I would feel left out. I had a side salad with a DRESSING and a half of a sweet potato.  No fruit for dessert.  I was just not hungry.  <----- Who is that girl?!

Thoughts, emotions, energy level:

I didn’t sleep too well, but I don’t know if that could be blamed on the detox my body is going through or that my hubs wasn’t home, and the heat…oh the heat!  (We do not have AC and that makes 90+ degree days not too pleasant at home.)  I still managed to wake up, eat a hardboiled egg and a small handful of cashews and got my run in, 3 miles! 

Day 3 – Split Workout Day

I ate most all of the same food on Day 2, except for dinner and had similar workouts and workout meals as well.

Pre Workout - HB Egg and cashews followed by 30 minutes of Jillian Michael’s Body Revolution HIIT Weights

Dinner – Browned, ground beef with seasonings, served with grilled onions, mushrooms, green and yellow zucchini and spinach.  My 14teen ate this and said she liked it much more than she thought she would.  She even sent a picture of her dinner to a friend to show her how healthy she was eating! ha!

Thoughts, emotions, energy level:

Nothing much to report.  I’m happy that I’m not starving and hungry all the time.  With as much veggies and protein that I’m eating, I’m just not sure how I could be hungry.

Day 4 – Unintentional Rest Day

Breakfast and lunch were the same as days 2 & 3 but with no workout meals.

Snack – This is the first day that I’ve had a snack that wasn’t considered a workout pre/post meal.  However….I had a very well needed hair appointment at 4:30pm so I knew dinner was going to be a long ways away.

Dinner – Dinner didn’t happen until 9pm.  My hair appointment took super long because it was super needed. lol!  I was hungry and tired, but I wasn’t in a rage or a sugar crashing spiral of headache and crankiness either.  AGAIN…<----- Who is that girl?!

Thoughts, emotions, energy level:

I woke up pretty tired due to not sleeping well, so I decided to skip my easy run this morning. I guess not sleeping well those first few nights might be a side effect?

Day 5 – Split Workout Day

Pre/Post Workout Meal and breakfast, same as on Day 3.

Lunch – I ran out of my spaghetti squash and chicken sausage sauté so I snagged three of my egg muffins and took my breakfast meal with me to work for lunch.

Pre Workout Meal – Hard Boiled Egg and a small handful of cashews.

I made a trip to the grocery store to pick up ingredients to make more egg muffins and spaghetti squash…with a mexi twist!

Dinner – Ground beef, browned, with kale, bell peppers, green and yellow zucchini, onions and mushrooms.

Thoughts, emotions, energy level:

No hunger or cravings at bedtime….no fruit even.

Day 6 - Split Workout Day

Pre Workout – one hardboiled egg and a small handful of roasted/salted cashews followed by a three mile run.

Post Workout – half of a sweet potato, with a 1/4 cup browned grilled turkey, and a dollop of coconut spread.

Breakfast – My new egg muffins, three of them, with chopped up shallots included.  I felt fancy and had never cooked with a shallot before!  One of the fun things with this challenge is trying some new stuff!

Lunch – Mexican Spaghetti Squash with Ground Turkey – I batched up four servings the night before and I’m realizing that I didn’t get the all white meat turkey breast and I don’t care for it as much. (I found out later it was ground chicken that I purchased before.  It was much lighter tasting than the turkey.)  I should have drained it and also not used a full cup of meat.  Way too much!  Ugh…three more meals of it to go.  Use more jalapenos in the sauté the next time too.

Thoughts, emotions, energy level:

Feeling pretty strong and in control.  Day 6 was Friday for me and usually I would have some sort of treat on Friday night after eating some sort of fast food or dining out type of meal.

Day 7 – Long Run Day Eeeps!

Pre Long Run – 1 hard boiled egg and a handful of cashews.  I ran 5 miles and felt pretty good, but definitely hungry.  I ate half of a Lara bar and started running again. 1.5 miles in, felt really dizzy.  I made it to mile 7 and ate the other half of the Lara bar.  At mile 10, I ate a full Lara bar and used my dehydrated coconut water and made 16oz to sip the remainder of the run.  Mile 12…still struggling and I ate a half of a Lara Bar, and finally to mile 14 and finished the run.  Guess what?  I ate the last half of the Lara bar.  14 Miles and three Lara bars later….geesh.  I need to come up with some different fueling options.  Compared to past long runs and marathons though, a whole lot healthier than GU and Gatorade, right?!

Breakfast of sorts - Immediately after the 14 miles and the last half of the Lara Bar, I ate half of a sweet potato with some coconut spread and an egg fried in coconut oil.  That was the best egg I had ever tasted!  I stretched and showered and then I scrambled up three more eggs with all sorts of leftover veggies I had lying around.  That was around 12 o’clock.

Lunch-ish - Around 4pm, I started feeling a headache coming on and was low on energy.  I’m still hesitant about snacking between meals but with the long run? I just tried to listen to my body.  I ate another half of a sweet potato and finished up with some projects, housework, errands, prepping for our day at the waterslides the next day, and then getting ready for our date night!

Dinner - So this is the first time eating out while on Whole30.  We chose a Thai restaurant and I had a mushroom appetizer, chicken skewers, and a veggie/chicken sauté.  I’m pretty certain there was some sugar and not sure what kind of oil they used.  I definitely noticed some bloating that night.  We went to the movies afterwards and I didn’t get my usual white cherry slushy.  Nor did we get popcorn.  That’s usually the norm when we see a movie.  Date night was a great success as far as my Whole30 went, and a much bigger success in getting to spend the evening with my best friend.

Thoughts, emotions, energy level:

I was a little frustrated with myself that I had eaten those three Lara bars as they are a packaged product and to be used for emergencies.  Buuuuutt, the prep work I had done, including research on what to eat for a long run, didn’t really line it out and make it easy on me.  I forgave myself because I ran 14 miles and not too many people do that within their first week of the challenge.  The challenge actually suggests that you take it easy during the first couple of weeks with exercise.  So phhhhttt! I was also a little annoyed at the eating out dinner options we have here as I’m sure it wasn’t perfect, and completely compliant with what I ate, but I sure as heck wasn’t going to give up, nor was I going to start over.

August 1st - Whole30 Challenge Day 12

I thought I’d start the new month off on the right blogging foot by posting a little update. Come to think of it, I don’t think that I even blogged about something pretty big.  I mentioned it on Facebook and I have a lot of drafts I haven’t posted yet…I digress.

*I updated the post by adding in a link to the website where I found this crazy awesome challenge. Also, I stumbled upon this girl's blog somehow, and she was starting the challenge, so something she wrote made me even more curious. I blame credit her.

I started the Whole30 Challenge!  Today is day 12 for me of no sugar, no grains, no dairy, no legumes, and no alcohol. I thought it would be hard but to be perfectly honest, it hasn’t been.  Sure it’s been a little tricky here and there making sure I’m prepped for lunch.  I’ve made quite a few trips to the grocery store for more produce and I’ve been spending a lot more time in the kitchen prepping, cooking, grilling, and washing dishes, but overall….eliminating the junk from my diet?  I have never felt so in control of my food and at peace with what I’m doing.  I have no doubt whatsoever about finishing this program and I’m getting excited for the end results and moving forward with my new eating habits.
I have more to share like some meals I’ve been eating, some recipes I’ve tried, but in the meantime, let me set up this picture below.  All was quiet in the house, and as I walked through the kitchen, I heard a noise, like a mouse or some sort of critter rustling around.  I stopped walking to investigate but I was pretty sure the critter heard me and was crouched in fear, I started to move again and there was the noise!!  Now I’m not extremely stupid, but I am pretty dumb at times.  I realized that the mouse sounds were matching my movements after a few passes through the kitchen.  I looked down to investigate, and the mouse actually turned out to be the tag in my shirt.  I’m such a terd.

Frog and Quinoa

I know you think I’m serious about the title of the blog and there’s going to be a recipe with quinoa and tastes like chicken frog as the protein, but ok, I’m just teasing.  Sorry I’m not sorry.

The frog that I speak of, we’ll call him Burt since that seems like a froggy kind of name (Count on me to not think of Kermit, straight off the bat.)  I found Burt by accident when I was watering my basil plant.  He was just chilling with the herbs.  I called my 14teen to come see and she decided that he needed to be kissed caught.  After much screaming and chasing a small frog around our back deck, we now have a prince living with us.  Again, just teasing. Sigh.  I love it when I’m the only one that thinks I’m funny.

After our frog shenanigans, we placed Burt safely back in the basil.  I’m excited to see if he’s there again tonight.  Oh I hope so!

(A side note, Burt was awol.  I hope we didn’t traumatize him with our smooches.  I mean, look at that smile!  How could we help ourselves.)

Speaking of basil, I tried Giada’s recipe for Herbed Quinoa on the 4th for our BBQ.  Speaking of smiles, I think Burt’s is bigger that Giada’s.  Yes?

I tweaked it and added asparagus and lightly sautéed mushrooms. I didn’t even use all of the lemon juice and it was still too strong of lemon.  It was good, but I wanted it to be amazing so I’m hoping that someone will read this and have the perfect recipe to send me.  Or better yet, invite me over to try it.  You make it and I’ll even watch you do the dishes!  No one else touched it except for my husband and only because I badgered him in to trying it.  I’m a good cook…just a bit of a lone wolf in the healthy eating around this household.  Must be why I put on 25 pounds since we married? He said it was good but he was too focused on the jalapeno and beer, cheese dip I had made.  I had the salad the next day with a leftover smoked sausage cut up to top it off.  I bet chicken sausage would have been a healthier option but I didn’t have any on hand.

I finally tried a green monster!

With the heat wave we’ve been experiencing here, the protein smoothie I’ve been whipping up for breakfast lately is definitely hitting the spot.  I know this has been all over every form of social media, but in case you live under a rock like me, or I mean, in case you are stubborn, listen up!  If you add spinach to your smoothie, it will only turn it green.  It will not taste all spinach-y.  I swar!  If you can taste the spinach, then you’re some freak of nature.  Or you just have really super duper taste buds.

I haven’t experimented much beyond the recipe below because when I find a good thing, I stick with it until I’m sick of it.  Sometimes that’s a week later and sometimes it’s a year.  I swear, I went for over a YEAR with having oatmeal everyday for breakfast.  I am not kidding you!

My Green Vanilla Sun Butter Smoothie

1 Cup Unsweetened Almond Milk

4-5 ice cubes

One scoop of vanilla flavored protein powder

1 Tbs of your favorite nut butter (I’ve been using Sun Butter)

And a big handful of spinach leaves – JUST ADD IT!

Blend that all up and you have roughly a 287 calorie breakfast that should keep you full for 3-4 hours.

I just pour that baby in a shaker cup and tootle on down the road to work in the morning.  Much easier than the bowl of oatmeal I typically consume while driving to work.

You must have your eyes crossed.  The photo isn’t blurry.  It’s yur eyes.  Fo real.

Have you added any other dark leafies to a smoothie?  I’m curious about adding kale.

Weekend highlights

I thought I’d share with you a few highlights of my weekend before it’s the weekend again.  No?  Too bad.

• Busting out 14 miles on the treadmill
• Finishing up some baby gifts
• Date night with my hubby which included a “progressive dinner.”  Hummus, pita bread, crab cakes, steak skewers and salad from two different restaurants.
• Wait!  There was dessert…make that three!
• This lovely Italian Sunset.  Not sure what exactly was in it but they had me at lemoncello.

• And catching up on some much needed sleep.  I love me a Fourth of July holiday, but the late night plus the heat wave we had the week before that=less than 8 hours of sleep a night for me. You think I’m kidding.  I need a solid 8 hours of sleep to function decently.  If I were to get 9 hours of sleep each night?  I’d be ruling the WORLD!

Looking ahead to next weekend….we will be attending a wedding.  I’m trying to figure out how to get my long run in before we go.  Hmmm…and then that has me thinking that I might need a break from the full marathon and maybe switch it up with a few half marathons.  Then that had me thinking and wondering if it was too late to switch to the half for this year.

Am I crazy?  Don’t answer that.

What fun things have you done this summer or will be doing?  I have an upcoming trip to San Francisco that I am over the moon about!

My dainty tootsies.

Yep, I went AWOL again.  It’s getting to be a little like a broken record around here.  I haven’t given up yet so kuddos to me.  It’s like that favorite saying of mine, “If you’re not failing, then you’re not trying hard enough.”  Fascinating tidbit…I just googled the beginning of that quote as I always thought it was something Jillian Michael’s said…and she did say it or I dreamt it…but it looks like it was something Woody Allen should really be credited with.  Must be why he keeps making one strange movie after another?  Woody Allen Movies= Not my cup of tea.

Speaking of movies, the last movie I watched in the theaters was Monster’s University.  I had my two lovely teen daughters as my dates.  Cute movie, but we were a little annoyed with all of the young kids in the theater.  I mean, it’s a monster movie right? Winky-Wink

Running?  Yeah, I’m still doing it.  I went through a rough patch.  Meaning, I have skipped two long runs due to traveling and lack of motivation.  Also, my midweek miles have been suffering to a small extent.  With that said, I was pretty nervous about my long run yesterday.  I was careful and took quite a few walk breaks and I SURVIVED!  Yup!  14 miles!  My last long run was only 6 miles long (which I had cut short as it was supposed to be 12), the longest I had run in this training season was 10 miles.  I am stupid so don’t do as I do.  However, I will say….no injuries, and my legs feel normal today.  I’m not going to pull that crap again and slack though because you just can’t keep that up and expect to run a decent marathon in October.

In other news, check out my new shoes!  I think I must be the only lamo in the running world that doesn’t run in Brooks or Mizunos.  I can’t be the only one wearing Asics can I?  What can I say?  I did what you’re supposed to do and took my size 10s down to the running store and had a “professional” observe my nice smile or my gait when I first started running five years ago.  Lucky me even gets to run in a size up!  I feel so dainty purchasing a pair of size 11 running shoes.  Dainty, I will never be and at 5’10'” tall, staring down 40, I can only hope that I start shrinking.  Maybe I’ll be a dainty 5’9” when my AARP subscription lands in my mailbox that fateful day?

Oh so the shoes!  Yay to Asics for finally keeping up with the cool kids and giving us non pronating, neutral runners that like a platform of 3 inches of cushion some color!!  In all my excitement to show you my very average sized feet for my height shoes, I almost forgot to tell you that they are Asics Gel Nimbus 15…purchased by my sugar daddy of a husband because he was softening me up to tell me he wouldn’t be running the marathon with me this year he loves me.

What size running shoe do you wear?

Anyone else run in Asics??

I love numbers, except when it comes to math

Playing a little catch-up here on this rainy evening. If it would just warm up a skosh so the windows could be open…….that would be perfect.  I love a warm, summer rain.

Last weekend we drove down to the Sacramento area to surprise my brother in law for his 40th birthday celebration.  We were at a lake all day and so I have no pictures to provide for incriminating evidence.  However…..it was my first time to drive a jet ski!  So much fun!  My husband was impressed with my skills of straight out and back.  ha!  I also drove a pontoon boat too while pulling my youngest in an inner tube.  Again, SO FUN!

Father’s Day was celebrated on the go as we needed to travel back home.  My honey was satisfied with his trip to Togo’s whereas, I made out like a bandit in getting Chipotle. YUM!  We made the trip back home safely and took the “back way” which I’m not sure my hubs will ever do again.  He’s so sweet though and actually stopped the car at not one, but TWO fresh fruit stands.  Now I DO have a picture of that!  Yep, I’m the crazy one that will take pictures of fruit and veggies with a suitcase in the background, but actually forget to take pictures of people.  In my defense, I didn’t want my phone to take a swim in the lake. I wish we could have gotten more but I knew I’d be in trouble if any of it went bad.  My husband wished there was a fresh cow stand where you could pick out a fresh steak or two.  Do they have those?

In other news…I am the proud new owner of a fitbit.  I’m still trying to get the hang of it and understand what the numbers are telling me, but so far, it’s very cool.  I’m really interested in the sleep log part of the tracking.  I’m going to see if I can figure that part of it out tonight.  Exciting stuff huh?  I’m a numbers type of girl though….except when it comes to math. ha!

Oh and tomorrow I am starting another round of the Advocare 24 Day challenge.  I’ve still been taking my normal Advocare vitamins and supplements, but the food plan has not been on point so the results have just not been magical.  Just goes to show you that there is no magic pill.  But Advocare can definitely help you get there faster and better!

So, does anyone have a Fitbit and what do you just love about it?  Is there something I’m missing maybe?  A cool thing that it does….like massage your feet?  Do the laundry?

Don’t fall off your chair, in shock that I blogged.

I took a break from blogging.  I took a break from a lot of things.  My brain is just too tiny to handle all of the chaos that was happening.  Let me explain in as little detail as possible.  The company I worked for merged and the conversion process and the final outcome?  I didn’t like it so much.  So I made some changes and now let me explain in a few less details…I have a new job in a similar industry with no stress and less hours.

Now that that’s out of the way….

Let the fitness talk begin.  And by fitness talk, I really mean, let’s talk about how much weight I’ve gained over the last five years and how little running I’ve been doing lately.

I’m in the fourth week of a new marathon training program from “Train Like a Mother” the Finish it Plan.  That sounds a little odd since I’ve finished three marathons now.  However, this “finish it” plan is actually more advanced than the other training programs I’ve used attempted.  While I’m in my fourth week, I did get off to a rather shaky start.  And by shaky, I probably mean normal. And by normal, I mean that it hasn’t been perfect.  I’ve missed a few runs here and there, and I actually didn’t run during the week at all during the last week of my old job.  Just too much stress and my biggest goal for that week was to sleep as much as possible and try to sleep through the night.  (Didn’t happen.)  I haven’t missed a long run though.  That’s good, right?!

I’ve also, once again, restarted a weight training program.  Now that I’m getting home earlier, I have time to not only cook a decent meal, but to do my weight lifting.  With the old job, I wasn’t getting home in time to even put a real effort into dinner.  Plus, I had to get up even earlier to get both a run and weights in…then there’s the energy factor to consider.  Pretty hard to lift intentionally and with good form and enthusiasm when you know you have 3-4 miles to run afterwards.  If I had switched the workouts around, then the weights NEVER would have happened.  I’ve started Jillian Michael’s Body Revolution in case you were wondering.  I’m a recluse.  I don’t go to the gym anymore.  Or outside.  Just kidding.

SO, I’m pretty excited to see how this is going to turn out.  Right now, I’m all about creating that ball of consistency.

Oh AYuuunnnddd….I’m going to do another round of the 24 day Advocare challenge.  I slacked off on taking my vitamins and supplements there for a bit and I really want to start feeling those energy levels back to where they were.  More consistency in the future for me.  Placing my order today so prepare yourself to be jealous of my results!  Har har…and I’m really not kidding.  Oh and total disclaimer here, I am a distributor for Advocare, but I wouldn’t and won’t pressure you.  Just saying so you don’t think I’m trying to trick you into anything.  Unless I was going to trick you into running with me.  Because I would totally do that.

So besides being a total stress case for the last solid 6 months, give or take another 6 months, things are definitely on the bright and happy side of life right now.  Plus, Pinterest exists.  Jesus, thank you for Pinterest.  Amen.

Please tell me you love Pinterest?

Obsessed with breakfast

I haven’t wanted to blog lately.  I think I’m still mad that I killed all my pictures with one stupid push on my smartphone.  If my phone was smarter, it would have warned me that I was the biggest computer turd on the planet.

In other areas of my life, the company that I work with is merging with a larger company.  Let your mind go crazy….stress, personality conflicts, training, meetings, training, meetings, more stress, and more stress….and yet, we put on happy faces and roll with the punches.  What else can you do?  Oh yeah, sometimes I pretend that I’m just working at a coffee stand.  It’s my little defense mechanism so I can go home at night, and sleep, and not want to punch everyone I come in contact with in the throat.

See?!  It’s working great!!

I did promise, all two of you that commented on my facebook picture, a recipe.  Behold………..

Strawberry Coconut Over Night Protein Oats

….or  SCONPO for short, since that just sounds uber appetizing!

So you take a 1/2 cup of old fashioned oats

1/2 Cup of Unsweetened, Vanilla Almond Milk

a teaspoon of chia seeds

and you stir it in a bowl, cover, and refrigerate over night.

Then in the morning, I pop it in the micro for a minute because I prefer it warm.

I then add one scoop of vanilla flavored protein powder and stir until it’s mixed in.  You could add another dash of almond milk here if you like.

I top it off with 4-5 sliced strawberries, a tablespoon of unsweetened coconut and a 1/4 cup of a granola mix (I’ve been using a pumpkin flax seed mix.)

I’ve been stuck on this breakfast combo for the last couple of weeks now, and what I’m finding out is that the bigger breakfast is keeping me fuller throughout the day.  I’m not skipping any meals, but I’m eating less calories, later in the day.

So you’re looking at right around 420 calories and 31 grams of protein.

Enjoy!

Whoop de freakin doo!

I’ve been mad at my blog.  Actually, it’s not my blog’s fault.  It was my own stupidity that deleted the folder on my phone that contained all of the images within my blog.  WHY DOES MY PHONE HAVE ALL THIS POWER!!??!!??!!

I remember thinking, “Nah, there’s no way there’s not a back up on my laptop, this folder has to be just for my phone.  No big whoop.”

Well it was a big whoop.  A big fat whoop-de-doo!  The good news is that I still have my pictures.  The bad news is that I have to go back in and add them one at a time.  Thus, I’ve been avoiding my blog.  I’m not sure I want to go back in and add all my pictures.  There’s not a huge demand to do so.  And another big question is, should I keep my blog with blogger?  Is now the time to move to self hosted?  Or Wordpress?  I have purchased my domain, and I have been toying with self hosting, but I don’t think I have the skills or patience to do it myself.  Ayynnnddd, I don’t have the budget to hire someone to do it.  Any offers of free? lol!

Putting that aside….

My running streak is still going!  Ten Days Strong!  Since my streak started on March 23rd, I’ve run a total of 21 miles.  I’m still telling myself “at least one mile.”  Most all of my runs are at an easy pace and I go based on what my body is telling me.  My long runs have been on Saturdays, and this weekend, I will undertake 6 miles.  This week, I’ve bumped up the rest of my runs from one mile to 1.5 miles and I think I’ll continue to increase each week by a half mile and a full mile increase on Saturdays.  Again, I’m not advising this kind of running plan for anyone.  I’m the weirdo that ran three full marathons before I ever ran my first “official” half marathon.  So don’t turn to me for running advise unless you want to play that game of “Do what I say, not what I do.”

The other “streaks” that I have been working on are decluttering for 15 minutes a day, and doing a leg strength training routine each day.  I feel like my legs, or at least my booty is my biggest problem.  Hello pear!

Decluttering….I did real well until last weekend hit.  This isn’t a streak I want to abandon, I just need to revise the “rules” a little bit.

Legs….Same thing.  I have been getting in some strength training moves each day, just not always legs.  I think I want to find a few full body strength training workouts that are on the shorter side and a more focused for runners.  Any recommendations?

Do you have any streaks going?

Have you ever done any habit streaks?

Is anyone hungry for steaks now?

PS I wrote this post a few days ago.  Still mad at my blog.  That or I’m busy (aren’t we all?) and I haven’t made this blog a priority.  But the running streak is still going….except it turned into a walking streak for the last two day.  I’m ok with that.

To help you ease through the transition though, I give you this.  Don’t hate me.

26 Things you never want to see under a microscope…..blergh….

Test blog with picture

 

 

Just testing this with a new picture to see if Windows live will recreate the folder I deleted on accident.

OOoh no, my pictures are gone!

Whelp…I’m an idiot.  Any help here?  I deleted the pictures from my folders….that were on my phone.  Thinking for sure they were saved on my computer.  But, I guess I was in my dropbox folders?

 

I don’t have time for this.  Or the patience.  Is there a quick fix to this????

 

Oh geez……

What a doozy of a day!

“What a doozy of a day!”  I was saying that by 10 am this morning.  It’s days like these that make me so happy that I’ve already done my workout for the day.  Not that I’m seeing a huge benefit and a greater amount of energy from working out in the morning, but that when I get home tonight, I DON’T HAVE TO WORKOUT!!!!!  I have to believe though, that had I NOT worked out, I wouldn’t be handling things as well as I am today. “Well”, meaning laughing most everything off.  “Laughing”, meaning borderline hysterical giggling. And “hysterical” meaning, you’re not quite sure if you should be crying instead.  Or popping pills.  Or drinking booze.

Speaking of popping pills…..

I remembered to take all my condoms* vitamins today!

If anyone catches me taking my Advocare supplements, they inevitably think I’m tearing in to some birth control.  Uh, yeah people.

*Speaking of vitamins, you might need them after this workout: http://www.fitsugar.com/10-Minute-Buti-Class-Video-28580417

We had a conversation on Facebook this morning that you wouldn’t want anyone watching you do this workout….but THEN….if you CHARGED them….that would make you a … oh let’s not go there.

This morning, for my workout, I continued with my run streak of one mile.  I figure, starting next week, I’ll need to start bumping up my mileage, mid-week.  Along with my leg workout streak, I also did a core workout this morning from the Turbo fire series and I have a model… She definitely needs to work on her core a little bit more.

I don’t think she approves of the girl’s posture.

So did you go watch the Buti Yoga workout video?  And would you be caught dead doing the workout? 

A little refresher course on the basics of me

Would you like to know what I do a lot?  Sure you would!  I start writing a blog post, and then in the evening, when I have internet again, I either get too busy, too lazy, or just plain forget.  It doesn’t go up on the world wide web.  So sad, right?

Then, I come back to it the next day, read it, and wonder what the heck I was trying to say.  I edit it and say, “Oh that’s not relevant now.  That’s just plain boring.  That is…OMG why would you write that!!”  Delete delete delete. ha!

So there my friends is why I don’t blog so regularly.

My current life – refresher course

I work a 40 hour week, outside the home, in banking.  A very popular industry these days!

We have three teens at home, two her’s, one his. Two are out of the house…yipeee!  (Don’t judge.  You will get there.)

• 16teen is mine and just got her driver’s license.  We are in the market for a teen job and a teen car….in that order.
• 14teen is his….a boy…and he would be happy to be a professional gamer/movie watcher.
• 13teen is mine and she is a social butterfly and is addicted to volleyball.

My hubs and I are going on 5 years of wedded chaos bliss and we are starting to get the hang of things.  Give us a couple of more years and we’ll have it down.

For the most part, he cooks and I clean.

He also irons, but I do the laundry and put it all away….which sometimes doesn’t happen super quickly, and then he gets to iron.  Full circle peeps.

We have hobbies, and church, and family, and friends….and in the midst of all of that, I just forget to blog.  Then why do it right?

Because it helps keeps me accountable.  And because I like to.

The end.

PS I’m addicted to neon.  I think it’s amazing! You?

Secret Running

I have a little secret that I have been keeping for a whole four days!  I wouldn’t get too excited since there is no real benefit to you, other than I’ll be motivated to post more and remind you of how awesome I am.

You ready?

I started a running streak.  I’m a perfectionist, so get this…I started it on a Saturday, towards the end of the month.  Who AM I?  I had no rhyme or reason to do so.  I was just looking for a way to motivate myself, cuz uhh, well marathon training starts in May and my base miles are squat. So I just up and started with this running streak where I plan to run at least a mile a day for the rest of March and all of April.  I do plan on being careful, which won’t be hard since I’m probably the most careful runner around.  Three marathons and no real injuries.  (You better believe that I just knocked on wood!)

Since I was on a streak with my streaks, yeah, I know, just shut up…I decided to add two more.  I have a full body, body-weight workout that takes about 10-15 minutes to perform….doing that once a day, and lastly, I’m de-cluttering for 15 minutes a day.  I found my medal from my first marathon that has been missing for two years!! Go me!  If anyone is reading, I do not want to get injured so if there’s the slightest twinge or ache, I will be paying close attention and will modify or stop if needed.

Exciting huh?  Let’s recap!

• Run at least one mile a day
• Strength train with body weight only, once a day
• Declutter for 15 minutes a day.

And just because….check out the beautiful rolls my handsome hub and I shared the other night.

Do you adore sushi? I know, not the healthiest and white rice, yadda yadda yadda…oh and I ate too much wasabi so I was chugging my water and S’s water.   I kept our waitress busy with her pitcher.

Stress Relief–Tips and Tricks

I’m still looking for some tools and ideas to help me not turn to food when I’m stressed, tired, or auditioning for the lead role of Miss Crabby Pants. What are some non related food rewards/activities/techniques that you use as incentives to stay on your clean foods diet?

Some ideas that I have or have tried are:

• Taking a bath (I don’t have a bathtub though and I WILL NOT go use the bathtub in the kids’ bathroom – but when I did have my own tub, this was one of my treats.)
• Make some tea and read a good book
• Download some new tunes/podcasts
• Do some light yoga/stretching while listening to some calming music, better yet, lie down on a foam roller or some tennis balls under tight spots on your back/neck.
• Go for a walk/run with some upbeat music
• Look up funny animal videos on Youtube/Pinterest (I swear by this!)

 

If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, then you’ve probably seen this picture.  It’s blueberry green tea with some vanilla flavored stevia.  SO DELICIOUS!  Definitely doesn’t taste like a milkshake or Oreos, but that stuff isn’t good for you anyway.  I’ve been trying to trick myself with this stuff and I think you should try it too.

I love that the tags on the tea bags have little uplifting sayings or quotes on them.  Again, not quite the same as the quotes inside a Dove chocolate square, but it’s progress, right?  Oooh but the dark chocolate Dove squares would be somewhat ok as long as you didn’t eat the whole bag.

The Yogi brand also makes a stress relief tea that I’m still trying to get myself to like.  I mean, I DO like it but it needs to grow on me a little more.  It tastes a little chocolate-y and a little licorice-y (which I don’t exactly care for anise, or the black licorice taste.)…HOWEVER, there is no caffeine in the tea and I swear that it helps me fall asleep quickly.  So don’t take it during your work day unless you’re ok with your face on your desk in a puddle of drool.

So what do you do when you find yourself about to crack?

The time I went to Dublin, Ireland for St. Patrick’s Day

My life changed a lot in the couple of years after these pictures were taken and for the most part, I tucked them away on their CDs to be ignored.  Sniff sniff.  Then, it turned into one of those projects that I should tackle….one thing after another. So 10 years later, here’s a few snippets of the time I went to Ireland, for the second time.  The first time was the year before, 2002ish?  This trip in 2003 actually had us in Dublin, Ireland, smack dab on St. Patrick’s Day.  Enjoy…this not so great blog post that is written in a hurry, so I can cross this off my to-do list and quit procrastinating. You are welcome for that horrible sentence too!

Blarney Castle

The view of the castle, once you get past my double chin.

Some views from the top. I liked all of the green stuff growing on the broken stuff.

Kissing the Blarney Stone

I wasn’t keen on the idea of getting down on the ground, leaning over backwards and kissing something that had been kissed by a ton of other people.  Once in a lifetime opportunity missed?  Sigh…but I didn’t want everyone to see my hat hair either!  In my defense, no one else in our party kissed the stone either.  Fuddy-duddy!  I would do it in a second now!

St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, Ireland.

We were visiting in conjunction with some musical events that were happening in “town.”  It meant we got special passes and partook in activities that were not your normal touristy fare.  Early on St Patty’s day, we were at the parade in Dublin.  I took tons of pictures, but they were mostly of marching bands (Work related…and there were a bazillion…I’m sparing you.) So the above two are from the cathedral, and other than that, I don’t remember a thing.  Except it was a very cool experience and music inside a cathedral always sounds amazing due to the acoustics.

Random pictures from around Ireland.  Could be Limerick, Dublin, Cork…who knows?  I have a bunch of pictures of different colored doors, doorknobs…oh and Ethan Hawke (didn’t get a picture of him, but I saw him.  Swear.)

I wish we had places like this in Klamath Falls.  Don’t you?!

Glendalough, the Monastic City in the Wicklow Mountains National Park.

The Gateway

The history here is fascinating.  If I could spend the rest of my day, reading up on this place, I would.  I love old broken stuff…and history, and traveling, and I think it’s pretty cool that I got to visit!  St Kevin, 6th Century Stuff, Vikings, no big deal, right?!

The Round Tower

St Kieran’s Church

This was our fun driver that I tried to get him to say any word with the “th” sound in it “Two or tree” times a day.  I tink here he was trying to tell me how everything is two or tree tousand years old.  Or someting like tat.