Relocation

My blog has officially and completely moved.

Happiness Awaits

Hope you come with me!

It is sunny, 70 degrees and Friday

(This entry crossposted between Sweets&Sweats and Happiness Awaits)

I can’t ask for more than that…except for maybe it to be 5 o’clock already.  But a girl can’t have everything now can she?  Last night, Justin and I took full advantage of the sunshine.  It rained on the drive home and then miraculously the sun came out around 6:30.  We headed to the golf course to hit balls. 

SUN!!! FINALLY!!

When we got there, they told us that the driving range was closed.  I don’t think either of us wanted to abandon the chance to enjoy the weather, so we decided to spend the money to play a round of nine holes.  Justin was a bit embarrassed because he only had jeans, not khakis to hit the links.  But they let us play anyway.

It was a semi-lake out on the course

I played pretty well.  And the course was gorgeous and empty (except for some geese and deer)

 

We only got 5 holes in and the last hole I was definitely beginning to fall apart.  But we got to witness a gorgeous sunset out there.

All in all a great night.

 

I should admit that I had a bad day yesterday self esteem-wise.  I just felt down on myself.  I felt that I looked huge and I was worried that all my hard work in the gym is being offset by my eating habits.  What if I am sabotaging all my hard work with my eating habits?  I think I’m eating well but what if I’m eating too much?  I just don’t trust myself.  What if I don’t have the intuition that I think I do.  I just want my body to find the weight it is happy at with the level of activity I do and the food I eat.  I want to be fit, muscular and tone.  I don’t want any flab or looseness on me.  And I get frustrated and angry when I see any.  I even feel like my face has gotten chubby.  How is this possible? 

I am just down on myself and frustrated and worried that my process of eating healthy and only when I’m hungry along with being as active as possible just isn’t working…that I’m doing something wrong.

Today–I am going to go for a run outside over lunch.  It better still be sunny!  I did my lifting yesterday and BOY AM I SORE!  Especially my lower back and my traps/shoulders.  My abs have a little ache in them too.  This workout wasn’t as difficult as some of the others but I still am very sore.

Oh and yesterday’s breakfast:  I don’t know…it kept me full for 4+ hours yesterday morning, so the same as my oats.  But I just never felt satisfied all day yesterday.  I don’t know if it was just my body was off or what.  I think it was because I didn’t get my obligatory oats in the morning.  Which meant I knew I had to have oats today!

No idea what our plans are tonight but tomorrow night we are going camping with a group of friends to celebrate a good friend’s 30th birthday.  Should be fun as long as it stays dry!

Smile, it’s friday.

The weekend is in sight

(This entry crossposted between Sweets&Sweats and Happiness Awaits)

Thank goodness it is Thursday.  Once Thursday hits, I know I can make it until the weekend.  Now if only it would stop raining!  I honestly did not know it could rain this many days straight.  It is exhausting!  But luckily it was sunny for a few hours in the middle of the day yesterday, and I took advantage of that time and went for a run outside.  I ran around near my office building in the house community around here.  I felt like it was uphill the entire way…how is that even possible?

I got lost once, you can see that in the big drop in pace.  I ran for 41 minutes (except for the minute I was lost), and then ran 1 minute/walked 1 minute for the next 10 minutes.

Time: 50:26 at a 9:43 pace.  Total of 5.18 miles.  I was happy with this.  I am slowly getting faster and faster I think.  And I simply love being able to run outside.  I need to take advantage of it while I can do it over lunch.  Pretty soon it’ll be WAY TOO HOT to run around here at noon time.

Today I am going to hit the gym and do the Lean Machine strength training session.  I am still a bit sore from my Tuesday session, which I always think is a fabulous sign that it was a good workout.

Seeing it was Wednesday, and Justin and I have started a new trend of walking down to Brambleton and having a hump day bottle of beer for $1 at the local bar, we headed out for our walk after work last night.  Who cares that it was raining? (And was a DOWNPOUR for the walk home.  Justin was smart enough to grab an umbrella.)

It is about a 3 mile walk roundtrip and we enjoyed our 1 Coors Light bottle each.  Don’t you love my heinous hat?!  Had to wear my only piece of Capitals attire out seeing they were playing game 3 in the playoffs series against the Penguins.

Apparently I am all about switching up the breakfast this week.  This morning I completely skipped the oats!!! I know, I’m a bit worried too.  What if I’m starving in 30 minutes?!?!  Anyway….I went for what I felt was a very well rounded combination.  Some fruit: strawberries, a grain: multigrain bread, a protein: Fage, a nut: PB & Company’s Crunch time.

I added some agave to my fage along with 1T of flax seed.  I actually ended up only eating half of my piece of toast and gave the rest to the hubbie.  I felt very full and satisfied after this meal.  Now it is just how long it keeps me fueled.

Tonight is golf night, as long as the weather holds up to just a mild drizzle.

Enjoy!

I <3 AMEX

(This entry crossposted between Sweets&Sweats and Happiness Awaits)

I wish Crystal over at American Express in India could read my blog today so I could tell her how much I love her.  I have to say, I love AMEX.  Their customer service rocks my socks off….it really is unfortunate all companies don’t function like they do.

So here is the recap.  Yesterday afternoon I got an email from United Airlines saying that my direct flight from Washington DC to Cancun had been canceled.  This flight left at 10AM and arrived in Cancun around Noon.  Instead they had kindly rebooked us on a flight that left Dulles at 6AM, so we would now have to be at the airport at 5AM, which means like a 3:30-4AM wake up.UGH!  And additionally, they decided that we needed to spend many hours in the Chicago airport before we were allowed to enjoy the warm sun and cocktail found in Mexico.  The flight back they had rebooked us on was only worse.  It left in the morning (our previous flight was in the afternoon) and it didn’t get into DC until AFTER MIDNIGHT! 

This just wasn’t going to fly.

I called American Express this morning and explained that this just wasn’t going to work.  It took about 1.5 hours, but lovely Crystal managed to get us back 100% of our airfare, 100% of our hotel and to top things off, she even got back the $55 we had pre-paid for airport/hotel transfer.  I didn’t even ask for the transfer fee back.  She was like a magician. I wish I had power like that when it comes to airlines.  They laugh at me when I ask for an extra bag of peanuts, much less a full refund!

So I just rebooked our vacation.  Screw you United Airlines, my butt will be on American Airlines.  And screw you Mexico and Swine Flu, my bikini clad body will be soaking up rays in Negril, Jamaica.  Woot-woot!

And it isn’t like we are settling.

And I have to admit I was VERY excited to see this:

It is OBVIOUS Justin is MUCH more excited about going to this resort than the one in Mexico.  We’ve been to Mexico quite a few times.  Time to change things up and this place does seem quite nice and all the reviews on Trip Advisor were excellent.

Okay back to reality.  That trip isn’t happening for another 3 weeks.  I am still just amazed that AMEX let me cancel and reschedule this close to the trip without any penalties.

Yesterday was one of my crap-free days of the week.  I had packed a bag of 100 calorie popcorn, but seeing that is definitely chocked full of chemicals, I went down and got a snack from the cafe here.

I ate about a 3rd of that bad boy.  Pretty good and so sweet that I wouldn’t want any more than what I had.  Hit the spot.  Then I met Missy for dinner around 8PM last night.  We were going to the World of Wings (WOW!) but we got there and it was closed, so we settled for Ruby Tuesday’s instead.  We both got the chicken chili soup and the salad bar.  I opted for a 100% natural lemonade with pomegranate juice.  a.) This tasted fabulous and felt like such a treat.  I maybe had 3/4 of the glass. b.) I NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER would have ordered a drink with calories in the past.  Only liquid alcohol calories were allowed.  But this was tasty and I didn’t even finish the 1 I had.  If you think about it, I assume it had less calories in it than the potential 2 glasses of wine I could have had.  Anyway, it felt like a splurge and it was something I did enjoy.

I had a GREAT time with Missy.  I absolutely love our conversations.  It is crazy how similar we are in both our life experiences and just our morals/expectations of others/life.  We can just sit and talk for hours and hours.  I think we are going to start adding a pre-dinner run on Tuesday nights.  That way we can run, chat and then eat.  Some of our favorite things all mixed together!

So on blogs lately I have seen a ton of green monster smoothies and I REALLY want to make one.  But I don’t have any spinach (no idea how I forgot to buy some this week!) or kale.  So I can’t make one until next week. (I do all my grocery shopping in one trip and unless it is an emergency, I don’t go back to the grocery store.)  But I figured I would try have some veggies with my breakfast. 

I came up with this concoction because I know carrots and zucchini taste good in sweet breakfast breads, so why not try baking some oats with them.  Warning: This recipe definitely needs to be improved upon!

1/2 cup of oats, 1/4 cup of egg beaters, 3/4 cup of water, pinch of salt, 6 baby carrots, shredded, 1/3 zucchini, shredded, 1 packet of Truvia.

I mixed all that up and but it into a Pyrex dish and baked at 300 degrees for about 25 minutes.  I was very warm when it came out but wasn’t quite the texture that I wanted.  I wanted it less wet and more crunchy.  So I assume I need less water and maybe a higher temperature.

Here is a close up

It was…okay.  Very sweet.  I added some almond milk, cinnamon and a bit of granola to it.  It still wasn’t quite right.  Not sure what else I could do to this to make it better.  Ideas?

Okay, well time to focus.  I am going to go run over lunch and I REALLY want to run outside because it is sunny, so I may head to the gym, change and head outside for my run.  I wish I knew all the neighborhoods around here better so I could get a better run out of it.  Mapmyrun.com, here I come!  Then I will head back to the gym and rinse.

Have a fabulous hump day!

Happy Cinco de Mayo

(This entry crossposted between Sweets&Sweats and Happiness Awaits)

I say that like I’m going to celebrate or something.  I’ve gotten too old to go celebrate mid-week pseudo-holidays.  I do have dinner plans tonight with Missy, so that sort of counts like I’m going out!   I may or may not drink.  I am leaning towards not drink.  I have really been trying to only drink on weekends but I do enjoy having a cocktail with my girlfriends when I see them, which isn’t as often as I would like.  Ahhh, decisions.

I don’t think I have a single picture to add to this post today.  My camera stayed firmly placed in my bag all day yesterday.  Don’t know what I was thinking.  I guess my day was just pretty boring.  Which it was.  I worked, went to the gym, worked, went home, made dinner, fought some ants, watched the Caps game, went to bed and read for a bit.  And that was it.

My workout yesterday was a 50 minute run. I am slightly annoyed.  Apparently Nike+ won’t upload 2 different runs in the same day.

My workout was a 10 minute run, then I did intervals for 35 minutes.  These consisted of 3 minute run, 1 minute sprint, 1 minute walk: repeat 7 times.  Here is the first part of my run.  45 minutes, 4.54 miles at an average of 9:54.  I told my IPOD to stop and started it over for my 5 minute cool down walk, so that it wouldn’t kill my per mile average pace.  But for some reason I can’t upload the information.  Anyway, I walked for 5 minutes at 13:56 pace and covered 0.36 miles.

Total: 50 minutes, 4.9 miles

Today I am going to do some strength training.  I have started a new set of workouts from Women’s Health.  Today will be “No-Gear Here“.  I am hoping that it will leave me as sore and spent as the last few strength sessions I have been doing from this magazine.

Here is where we are standing with the 10 Week Challenge.  We are starting week 6 this week, so we are already half way there!!

Half way point, the standings are:

Brooke: Lose weight every week except 1!
Justin: Done abs at least 3 times every week
Holly:Averaged strength training 3 times a week and abs 2 a week
Running Duff: No update since after 1st week
Sweet & Fit: You have a lot going on, want to change your goal for the next 5 weeks?

And I have changed my goal because as you all know, I am not weighing myself.  I figured I would aim to eat crap-free for at least 4 days a week.

Here is what I am avoiding with my crap-free days:

White bread, artificial sweetener, alcohol, no soda, deli meat, processed foods, avoid refined carbs, no mindless snacking, avoid high fructose corn syrup

And if you want to join us for the last 5 weeks, let me know!