Happy Halloween!

I’m not usually a “Halloween” person. It’s not one of the holidays that I look forward to the most…not like Thanksgiving or July 4th! But this year, I was feeling the urge to dress up, go dancing and just have fun. I had no idea what I wanted to dress up as or where I wanted to go, but I know that I wanted to do something.

All of my initial costume ideas involved fruits or vegetables At first I wanted to be mashed potatoes and have Jason be gravy. Then he expressed concerns about looking like a turd, so that went out the window. My next idea? Peas and carrots. Then Jason said “How come everything you want to be has to do with food??”

Ummmm…. ? Because I love it?? I didn’t realise that I was only mentioning food items, so I asked him “What do YOU wanna be?” His answer: Zombies!

And so it was.

Whitney sent me an invite for a Halloween party at a restaurant/lounge in Charlotte that very same day! We now had costumes and somewhere to go! Hooray!

Jason got off of work and we set out to get makeup for our zombie faces…Party City was crazy yo. It was packed with kids and parents all over the place!

After that stressful trip, we headed home to get ready!

Zombie makeup is hard to do I watched two YouTube videos on how to do it, but the makeup kept caking up and drying too fast. I had to start over twice! (We don’t really have any pics before we got ready because we both had makeup all over our hands!) Jason was in charge of making our clothes bloody, so I gave him my white shirt and he took it out into the yard to work his magic on it.

Two hours later, and after a fast dinner (where I ate standing up at the kitchen counter) we were finally done! The end result:

Rawrrr…I wanna eat your flesh. (My makeup is done like I have a black eye, but oh well..maybe that’s how I died and became a zombie? )

Zombie pose:

Leave it to a guy to put blood on a shirt and he will always find the perfect spot (Hence the bloody handprints on my boobs)

Time to go! We made the 45 minute drive into Charlotte for a Halloween party at Andrew Blair’s. I was a little nervous when we got there because the people who were going into and coming out of the place weren’t in costume, but inside it was a different story

After getting through the door, we got a beer and looked around for Whitney. Found her!

Can you guess who she is? I’ll give you a hint:

“Blah, blah blah. Zazazaza talkin’bout.”

She did a pretty great job, no?! Can you believe that it didn’t cost her any money?! Cute, very cute. And I LOVED the braid. As the night went on it sort of became a weapon (she kept slinging it around HAHA)

After my second beer (says the girl who can hardly finish one drink on a normal night) it was time to hit the dance flo’ fo’ sho’.

Jason and I danced for a good hour before taking a break. All of the costumes were amazing! It was fun to try to guess who people were. My two favs:

This guy was a one-night stand, haha! And this next one was just plain hilarious:

Tiger Woods! Oh, and I also liked the Semi-Pro dudes…

Hehe

Jason and I were the only people there that were bloody/creepy looking! All of the girls were dressed sort of sexily (not sure if that’s even a word) and most of the guys picked a character to be. There were a surprising amount of Star Trek people there! I didn’t mind that I was the only bloody girl I had fun doing the make up and ripping up an old shirt!

 There was a girl in the bathroom that said: “I can’t believe you wore blood. Blood is never sexy!”

Hmmmmm..my first reaction: HO-BAG! DID ASK YOU?! You won’t be sexy either once I shove your face in the toilet! But I just kind of let it roll off of me and went back to the dance floor where MY BOYFRIEND (that always thinks I’m sexy) was waiting for me

Jason and I grooved on the dance floor some more, while I had my third beer and a mixed drink…I never ever go out drinking or dancing so instead of feeling guilty about all the calories (or money) that was being consumed, I just went along with it and had fun We danced to “Teenage Dream” and “Push It” by Salt-n-Peppa Have I mentioned how much I love music??

Around 1:30 a.m. we decided it would be smart of us to head back home…because after all, I DID have a 5k to be at at 7 in the morning!! Yikes!

And you guessed it: I was feeling totally unreal when my 6 a.m. alarm clock went off….

My head hurt, my body hurt, my mouth tasted disgusting, but there was no way I was going to miss the race! The director of Girls on the Run paid for my registration so that I could be a running buddy for my old team so I HAD to be there, and I wanted to be too! I couldn’t wait to see them!

I drove back to Charlotte, got stuck in traffic near the race and after 30 minutes of bumper-to-bumper traffic, I was finally told to park in a field. The sun was coming up and it was beautiful

The CLT runway 5k race was held at the Charlotte-Douglas airport. The course was mapped out along the runway and it was really neat because as you were running, you could watch planes land and take off on nearby runways!

But, I’m getting ahead of myself:

I felt like pooh:

No reason in wallowing in agony! I put my best attitude forward and proceeded to the registration pick-up table.

After putting on my number, I started to look around for my school.

Nothing.

I checked with the registration table and the woman said that no one from that school had shown up yet.

Okay, so maybe they are all stuck in traffic? The traffic was pretty bad, I heard that a lot of folks missed the race because they didn’t get to park until it was too late.

I waited and waited. I checked back at the table. Nothing. :/

Pretty soon it was time to line up at the starting line. I stayed toward the back so I could keep watch for my school’s sign, but it never showed. I decided to just run the race so the money wouldn’t go to waste, and as I ran, I encouraged any GOTR members that I thought might need it I’d find someone with GOTR shirts and run up beside them and say “You’re doing great! Keep it up!” or if I found some girls that were struggling, I’d say “You can DO this! You’ve got this!”  I’d like to think I encouraged them at least a little!

When the race was over, I tried to wait around so I could find out my finishing time. As soon as I saw how swarmed the results table was, I decided to leave. I needed a shower and my bed.

I drank some Gatorade and a bran muffin, but everything tasted disgusting! During the race I kept burping and acid would come up in my throat (gross!). There were a couple of times when I thought I’d puke up every drink I had the night before, but I managed to keep it down.

The drive back home was fast. I hopped in the shower, threw on some pj’s and went back to bed for 3 hours. Jason came in and woke me up for lunch. He was nice enough to treat me to a greasy, late breakfast (and much-needed coffee!!!!!) at Waffle House

Then we went to the store for milk and he surprised me with a pint of ice cream He sure knows the way to a girl’s heart

It’s been a fun weekend! I think that I’m off of beer for at least a week though, haha. Today I woke up, did Chemistry homework while sitting in my pj’s and watching Spongebob (no judging!). It’s been a good morning, but I think I want to run! Or strength-train at the gym? Who knows!

I’ll post my results as soon as they are online!

See ya!

Did you see any cool costumes this weekend?? I thought the Tiger Woods one was great! Haha

PS. I did end up getting my pumpkin iced coffee on Friday, in case you were wondering! Coffee and me photo:

Cheeeeseeeeee!

I put on some work out clothes, drove to the grocery store and bought a 24 pack of bottled water. I filled a cooler full of ice and shoved the bottled waters down in there so they would get nice and cold. I then proceeded to drive to the greenway, set up my cooler near the front and hand out waters to everyone that was exercising that morning. It was 8 a.m.

I could have stayed in bed. I had a million other things to do that day, but I wanted to give back in a small way. I wanted people to have a small reward for getting out of bed themselves and making the choice to exercise.

At first I got some really weird looks from runners and walkers. Like: Why is she just giving out water? A few people couldn’t believe it was free and offered to pay me for it! Others called me sweet and said “Thank you” many times over. And that made me happy One older lady was extremely nice and kept telling me what a sweet girl I was and I think she was about to start pinching my cheeks until her husband caught her attention, haha!

It took 45 minutes to give out all of the waters, which was a little shorter than I had planned (I had even brought a snack with me!). Once it was over I packed my cooler back in my car and drove home. With a smile on my face It made me feel so great to give to others. Even if it was only a bottle of water. I felt like, in some small way, that I had encouraged them to get up early and exercise again next weekend.

I got to thinking that day.

About how wonderful our bodies are, and I’m not talking about look-wise. I mean, I have imperfections everywhere. One huge birthmark on my leg, another on my stomach. A few pimples on my face every now and then. Stretch marks on my hips and maybe a little cellulite on my arse (:D). But inside, I think my body is beautiful.

I think I’m sounding pretty hippie-ish right now, but that’s okay

My body carries me day in and day out. It allows me to place my feet on the floor in the morning when getting out of bed. It gives me the strength and flexibility to do a back bend during a yoga session. It allows me to chug uphill on a long run. And sometimes at the end of the day it tells me to relax and soak my muscles in a hot bubble bath.

And so….I try to do things that will make it happy.

Like staying active…

Feeding it ice cream when the craving hits…

or going the other way and loading it up with veggies…

My body loves that first sip of coffee in the morning..

(source)

and it also loves the many cups of water that follow throughout the day!

(source)

My body is happy when we take Trixie for a walk in the park…

or when I take it up the mountain for a hike..

It’s also happy to get the occasional beer or glass of wine

And did I mention dark chocolate? It goes crazy for the stuff!

(source)

It’s happy when we complete 13.1 miles together

My body loves getting hugs from my fur-child…

…and from my not-so-furry boyfriend

It’s happy to stand in the kitchen for long periods of time while I cook up a  nutritious meal to feed it..

..and it’s always happy to get some rest when it can…

I’d like to think my body is pretty happy with me and the way I’ve been treating it It may even stick around for years to come if I keep up the good work!

My Philosophy?

Put good things in so that good things will come out. Challenge your body on a regular basis. Test your strength and go beyond what you think are your limits. Find new boundaries and discover a whole new comfort zone that you never thought could exist. Buy a new vegetable that you have never cooked with once a week. Experiment in the kitchen with healthy baking recipes. Find time to try something that you have always wanted to try. Explore. Discover. Experience.

What have YOU done to make your body happy today?

[I am getting glasses today! A happy body is one that can see where it's going, right?? ]

Next time I go to the grocery store, I’m going to look at a few different kinds, including: Clinical strength and Mitchums.

Moving on: This week has been awesome/amazing for reasons that I will now explain to you

It’s been a sweaty sweaty stinky week! This was me on Tuesday:

The 3rd level of 30 Day Shred still makes me want to cry…tears of pain, of course Annnndddd Wednesday, I went for a run along the greenway. Not my best idea. Upper 90′s and not enough water doesn’t make for a great run to begin with. It was more of a run/walk for 4 miles. At first I was getting upset with myself for not running the whole thing, but Hey! At least I was out there, ya know?

Besides being stinky, I also get red like a tomato. It’s my cross to bear

After Wednesday comes Thursdayyyyyyy! My most favorite day this week so far! As you all know, I am doing my internship for school at the local YMCA, and today I got to spend 5 hours here:

Yeahhhh boi. Fitness room fo sho’.  I got to follow around a personal trainer, and learn how to do fitness assessments on new clients. It was awesome, and I’m pretty sure I wore a huge smile from ear to ear the whole time! The YMCA is starting to feel like my second home. I’ve only been there 2 weeks, but I’ve never felt more comfortable in an environment (besides my own home!) in my life.

Feels like I belong there…and that I’m needed there. And that’s even better

Some of you may be wondering what exactly I will be doing there, so here is my to-do list! (Hopefully it will be completed before December *fingers crossed*)

• Become a member of Wellness Committee
• Help organize and plan 5k in December
• Offer nutrition consultations for clients training for 5k
• Complete 3 “Nutrition 101″ class for members a month (teaching the basics of nutrition)
• Complete 1 “Healthy Cooking” class for members a month
• Learn Wellness Software
• Offer nutrition consultations for members that sign up for personal training sessions
• Develop/Put Together booth for Health Fair “Ask the Diet Tech”
• Plan grocery store walk-thru with members that want it
• Volunteer for community Bbq
• Set up “Ask the Diet Tech” table for community taste-fest

Whew. Seeing all of that put together sort of stresses me out. It’s going to be a challenge, but I know that I can do it. As my preceptor was telling me all of her ideas, I’m sitting there trying to write as fast as I can, and my mind is moving faster than my pen. Once I got home to review everything that we had talked about, feelings of self-doubt started to creep in…but I stopped those buggers then and there. I CAN do this. It’s what I am good at and what I’m meant to do.

So take THAT self-doubt monster!

Anywho, let’s continue on with my Thursday!

After getting out of my internship, my friend Rusty texted me and invited me to a hot vinyasa class for $10! Um, yes I’ll go. I’m all over that like white on rice. The studio was one that I had never been to: Yoga One in Charlotte. His friend Daniel was able to get us in for free! BOOYAH! What’s cooler than that? And he is also a yoga instructor himself…the lovely man had already saved our spots too!

The yoga studio was really funky and hip! The studio is under a little boutique. As you walk down the stairs, there is a ton of graffiti on the walls..or should I say “yogafitti”?

This studio was a tad different from the one I went to last week. There was no soothing music during the class, and it wasn’t as intimate. There were about 30 people there, as compared to about 15 in the other class. Also, it was HOT.    H-O-T.    Like, uncomfortable hot. Almost-suffocating-hot. But I tried to get used to it as the class went on.

Rusty and I sweated our way through the hour class and boy, were we happy to get out of that stuffy room!!!!

Sweeeaa-ttyyyyy. Oh and I realize that I’m wearing all black. Nope, I’m not depressed and I didn’t just come from a funeral. There wasn’t enough time to change clothes after “work” (and the fitness floor wears black-on-black)…but—me being positive here—I think it kinda makes me look like a ninja.

I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be a ninja. 

You know, carry a sword and a tie a belt thingie around your forehead..and have a ninja posse.

Yes, yes. That’s EXACTLY what I would look like as a ninja

Or maybe the black outfit is more like Darth Vader?

Keeehhhh Koohhhhhh…Keeeehhh Kooohhh Luke. I. Am. Your Motherrrrr.

Haha. I digress.

On the way home from yoga, I was euphoric (and sleepy!). There was a beautiful sunset in front of me, which made my feelings of peacefulness and happiness all the better

I phoned Jason and informed him that my mind was too tired to stand in the kitchen and cook, so we decided to go out for pizza and beer!

A toast to our health…and to the fact that we are alive and living life. *Clink*

Then the pizza came! Woot woot!

I’m going to see if you can guess which side of the pizza is mine

I ate all four pizzas and polished off my beer in less than 30 minutes. Girl can eat. Especially after sweating a lake

Okay, on to randomness:

On the way home from dinner, Jason and I were having a discussion about what we think are sexy careers for the opposite sex. For example: I think it is sexy for a man to be a chef or an engineer ;) Jason thinks it’s sexy for a woman to be a personal trainer (and I’m sure that has nothing to do with me *another wink wink*) or a soldier. Now I’m asking you guys! What do you think is a sexy career for the opposite sex to have?

It’s almost midnight, bahhhh! I’ve got Chem in the morning and then an “appointment” in the afternoon <–and if all goes well, you’ll be hearing more about that in the next post!

Now, with the wise words of Cher and Dione in Clueless:

I’m outtie

Actually, that’s a bit more cheerful than I am at the moment. Let’s try it again: Mornin’. <—She says with a grumph.

Sleep has not been kind to me, but I shall not let it ruin my day, or this post for that matter! I still had a majorly exhausting fun day yesterday and I’m gonna tell ya all about it.

Yesterday morning after having some breakfast and two cups of coffee, I decided that even though I only slept for about 3 hours, it would just be great to get outside and breathe some fresh air and get my body moving. I also figured it was the perfect time to try out the toning shoes that New Balance sent me a few weeks ago!

After putting these babies on, I went to the Cramerton baseball fields, behind the rec center, for a little walking.

Ever imagined a camel in high heels?? Well, that’s sort of what it was like to wear these shoes (at least for the first lap). And trust me, it’s not the shoes..it’s clumsy ol’ me. For the record, let me add that I only fell over once They were surprisingly comfortable and pretty stylish too! 

Once there, I did about 3 warm up laps around the field and then decided to do my 30-20-10 push up/bench dip sets on the picnic tables…

It was a bit more challenging than usual, I started to feel my muscles wearing down more quickly and I had to pause several times during the push-ups, but they got done! To cool down, I walked a slow lap around the fields and that’s when I saw these:

Um, hello challenge. You know that I love you and could never pass you up

Well, then I thought of my injury and I told myself “If it starts to hurt, just stop.” I looked back up to the top, sat my water on the bottom step, took a deep breath and then started to climb, or run, up those stairs. Once at the top, my lungs felt alive. I felt alive. The beauty of the day was just seeping through me. The wind was perfect, not a cloud in the sunny sky, no pain in my leg…I wanted to keep going. I ran them up and down 10 times before I had my fill On my last descent down, I counted the stairs and came up with 55!

I probably could not have done it without my ‘stair-climbing’ playlist that I concocted just before going up

• “Shiver”-Coldplay
• “Love Me Two Times’-The Doors
• “Hangin Around”-Counting Crows
• “Daylight”-Matt and Kim
• “Rebel Yell”-Billy Idol
• “Bootylicious”-Destinys Child
• “Everlong”-Foo Fighters
• “Semi-Charmed Life”-Third Eye Blind
• “Basketcase”-Green Day
• “Bookends”-Simon and Garfunkel

HEY! Who put “Bootylicious” on there?! Um, I have no idea how that got on my playlist…must be some glitch on my IPOD

Needless to say, I was totally pooped after this workout. My body was starting to feel the effects of the sleepless night before, and my muscles were getting sore. Time to go home and rest!

And that’s exactly what I did I went home, read some of my book and fell asleep for 2 hours.

Jason came in there and shook me awake around 3:30 saying that it was time to get ready for the Charlotte Criterium! Woo hoo!

I hopped out of bed and started prettying myself up for the night to come Jason and I have gone to the criterium for the past 3 years, so I guess it’s sort of becoming a tradition in its own sort of way

First, we needed to eat dinner. He wanted Big Daddy’s Burger Bar, and that was fine with me.

I ordered a Bud Light to start, and then a black bean burger with cheese, avocado, pepper relish and pickle…along with sweet tater fries (my favorite thing EVER).

I ate all of the sandwich, but hardly made a dent in those fries! There were so many, and I was soooo stuffed. No matter how many I ate, the bowl still seemed to stay full of fries, haha I left them there, no use in leaving them in a hot car for 2-3 hours.

Then it was time to go uptown for the race! We parked about 3 blocks away and took a couple of pics before walking the distance to the start/finish line.

I told Jason that he squints way too much (p.s. doesn’t he look like he’s in some sort of pain?! Hehe)…so this is the next picture I got:

Ha What a smart-a**. Oh well, that’s better than the last one!

Charlotte Criterium is sort of like our Tour De France. Except that it only lasts 2 hours and not 2 weeks. Cyclists come from all over the world to compete in it. Some coming from as far as Norway! To me, that’s amazing. Here they are at the starting line:

…anddddddd they’re off!

Just so ya know, these guys are finishing a mile in about 2 minutes flat. That’s fast. They rock. And I’m pretty sure Jason idolizes them to no extent (he’s a cyclist too!).

To be honest, I wasn’t all there during this race. I was feeling super tired and my body was just plain sore. I kept moving away from the gate and sitting down on the benches, and I felt kind of bad because Jason would come sit with me, and it wasn’t that great of a view from the benches. So I stood back up and watched with him I didn’t want to be a party pooper

My favorite part is the end. That’s when the cyclist give all they’ve got. They’ll whisk by you at top speed and you can see the pain on their faces..and the sweat dripping down their necks..and I’m screaming “Go, go GO! You’re almost there, GO!” I’d like to think it helps them

After the race, we came home…I read a few pages of my book and then it was light’s out.

This morning I woke up with sore leg muscles…so I’m thinking that the shoes work. Actually, after my third lap yesterday, I could feel my calf and my thigh muscles tightening a little bit. Those are now my new walking shoes A big thanks to New Balance for sending them! I love them!

Peanut butter pancakes were the first thing on my mind (after coffee of course)…so I whipped up some batter…

..and when paired with strawberry jam, bananas and syrup…it makes the perfect, yummy and very filling breakfast Why jam and syrup?

Because sometimes having jam with syrup is what life is all about

See ya next time!

I’ve had a week from hell. Exam preparation, rough days at work, and a few sleepless nights…my heart wasn’t into anything I did this week (except for my runs, of course). Friday evening, once I was off work, I took it upon myself to find the loudest, rock-iest (excuse my incorrect grammar) music in my car and just blast it. And sing along, and look like a weirdo to a quite a few people, but I seriously did not care. I needed that.

I’m the type of person that gets annoyed when I can hear other people’s music in their car, but Friday, I was that person. I got a few bad looks from the older folks, but oh well. Sometimes a girl just needs to rock-out without caring about offending someone.

I also went home to a beer and japanese takeout Yum Yum!

Andddd, my sweet boyfriend also surprised me with flowers too! That made my Friday night even better

You like my Bertolli vase?? Fancy, isn’t it? Came all the way from the grocery store shelf Italy…it doubles as a jar for pasta sauce as well

This morning I woke up to get ready for the last 5k with my Girls on the Run! Only 5 members were able to make it to this race, but we still had fun. They did much better than the last 5k and I’m sooooo proud of them.

That’s the closest semi-good picture you are gonna get. Try calming down 5 excited girls that are ready to run their cute little hearts out and see what kind of pic ya get

The race went great! It was very hot and very crowded, so as soon as we were done I got outta there, grabbed myself an iced coffee and took off my sweat-soaked t-shirt, only to drive home in my sports bra…HA. Lately I haven’t really been caring what people think. Perhaps it’ s the rebellious phase that I never went through in my teens that is sneaking up on me??

After arriving home, taking a much needed shower and fixing myself a snack, I began to notice that Trix was practically falling all over herself trying to get my attention. She probably was laying in the position above for a good five minutes before I took the time to notice!

I wanted some time with my pup! I gave her a nice, long belly rub and leashed her up for a walk.

It was just what we both needed. Guess what?!

As of Monday, I will be done with this semester! Only one more until I graduate (woot woot!). Jason and I are rewarding ourselves with a trip to Charleston, SC this coming weekend and I’m so freakin’ excited!! I shall take pics and I shall do a bloggie recap of course. You will see me before then though, now that I will have more free time in my schedule (again, woot woot).

Okay, okay! Let’s get down to the Subway gift card winners!

The winners are:                                                

 True Random Number Generator

Min:1

Max: 19

Result: 5

Min: 1

Max: 19

Result: 16

Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Comment #5 and #16! Congrats Meghan and Lauren! Shoot me an email and I’ll get those giftcards to ya!

Okay ladies (and gents??? nah, probably not) there is a bowl of ice cream and some comfy cotton pj’s calling my name. Better get going!

Oh, and ah hem…little did I know that the half-marathon that I signed up for in June is a trail half-marathon. YIKES! Too late to back out now, only makes me want to train harder

Love ya bloggies <3

Happy Monday not.

Is it terrible to say that I’m already ready for the weekend to get here??

This weekend went pretty well! Of course you know about Saturday…on Sunday, I woke up at 7 A.M. to start on some unfinished dietetic projects. Jason woke up and did the same, and we were diligent in our work until 3 [which was when I felt like I was going to pull my hair out!]. I needed fresh air and sunshine before I went freakin’crazy! Those of you that are in school, do you ever just feel like crying after doing a bunch of homework?! It begins to feel like my brain is short-circuiting and is gonna blow any minute.

For a break, we drove to Cramerton to do a hilly 4 mile run. That helped bunches Running always seems to help!

This morning I woke up and turned in more homework and read the news online before school. Breakfast was a simple wheat cinnamon/raisin english muffin with pb and apricot jam and a naner. (Do I even need to state that I had a coffee with it?? )

Just a smile to start my day

There are only 3 weeks (!!) left of school and it’s getting pretty intense in class. Our breaks are getting shorter because we are trying to get everything we need done before summer break. Mid-morning I broke into my brownie Cliff bar (ate half) and then got right back to work on a Portion Control project.

Today we had 15 minutes for lunch…

That wasn’t enough time for me today! I brought sugar snap peas with hummus, a grapefruit, vegetable flaxseed tortilla chips and pudding cup..I only got through the chips, peas and hummus before having to pack back up

The good thing is, is that we had to be back in time for a celebration! One of the students in the program won an award from the Honor’s Society in Raleigh, NC. She was chosen to respresent our school for her outstanding grades and academic achievement.

 Congrats Susan! She was so surprised when she came in the door! Total shock We threw rose petals at her, they crowned her and gave her a sash and even had a cake too! I love my teachers and my director, they are so great.

There was cake to be had….

..and also some fun to be had with the icing too [I like to find ways to entertain myself]

After the celebration, it was back to class! Then, an hour later, it was off to coach Girls on the Run. Luckily, I had time to eat my grapefruit while they played running games.  One of the girls thought I was eating a lemon!! I can’t believe she didn’t know what a grapefruit was! Hehe.

Once Jason got home later on, we went to the gym for an intense workout that consisted of:

• 50 scissor crunches
• 50 regular crunches
• 50 oblique crunches
• 3 sets of 10- V-pulldowns (55 lbs)
• 3 sets of 12 chest press (55 lbs)
• 3 sets of 8  lat pulldowns (62.5 lbs)
• 15 minutes elliptical (hill setting)
• 15 minutes speed walking with5 lb. weights

Holy moly. I have to admit that I was running on pure adrenaline..and I didn’t feel like I was even doing anything during that workout, but oh boy is it starting to hurt now. But it’s a good sort of pain though, and I’m not feeling the stress of school as bad as I was before walking in there!

Dinner was an easy pick: Beer Italian Potato Torta!

You can find the recipe here. Of course, I used a rectangle pan instead of a circle one because that’s all I had. I don’t think it makes a difference either way.

I may have pictured it coming out of the oven, but I totally forgot to take a picture of my plate! I had to servings, served with mixed greens salad…

…and it seems a beer did make it in there somehow

And that was dinner. Now my sweet tooth is in over-drive…wonder if we have any dark chocolate left???

Okay, time for me to stop rambling and announce the Thriv winner!

The winner is……………..

[Drumroll please]

Emily, who said:

Congrats on the successful GOTR 5K, that’s great.

My funniest race story is when I somehow missed the start (I was still stretching by my car and thought it started 15 minutes later than it did) and had to run from my car all the way to the start and then somehow get to the pack of runners. Hehe, it was a bit embarrassing.

Emily, shoot me an email so I can get that Thriv shirt to ya!

And, for the rest of you, do not get discouraged! Guess what? Just by signing up for the Thriv companys monthly newsletter, you will have a chance at winning a free shirt! They give out 50 free shirts a month!! If you are interested in signing up for their newsletter, click here.

Also, I shall be having yet another giveaway coming up reeeallll soon! So make sure you check back sometime this week (wink wink)

Other great things coming up this week:

Jason’s 25th birthday on Sunday. He has politely asked for a pineapple upside-down cake and my mother says she has never been able to make one successfully. Hopefully those genes weren’t passed down to me. I’ll be blogging the whole thing though!

Have a great week! See ya in a few days bloggies

P.S. If anyone knows of a faster way of blogging, please enlighten me…this post just took wayyyyy too long!

Hey friends!

It has been a busy week for me, as always…but as always it was filled with some fun moments too!

For instance…going out for ice cream after Girls on the Run practice….

…and having a nice, relaxing, river-side dinner with the boyfriend on Thursday night   Caution: Beer, salad and beautiful views may have been involved! (No pic of the salad though! It’s my usual Mediterranean salad that I order from H&M Deli in Cramerton.)

I’ve been sort of “taking it easy” on my body this week because Jas and I had an 11 mile run planned out for Saturday morning. The only exercise I’ve done all week is my usual strength training routine and walking alot. So when Saturday morning came I was ready to satisfy my runner’s itch that had been bugging me all week!

I started my morning out with a whole wheat bagel, Dark Chocolate Dreams, strawberry jam, a naner and some coffee.

Like my smiley??

I also decided, since the weather has been kick-ass lately, that I would try out the shorts and socks that New Balance so graciously supplied us FitBloggers with!

After loading up the car and Jason’s pockets with snacks, drinks, car keys and lip balm, we were out the door! Our running route was the same as this run (ah hem, can you tell I really, reeeaalllly miss Cramerton?!)

The run started out great, but I have to say that I was not mentally prepared for the humidity. It was the type of hot where there is no breeze, it’s just muggy un-moving air Around mile 6, I broke into my raisins and guzzled water from the Camelbak.

Not gonna lie, the last few miles of the run were extremely hard! The sun was just beating down on me and I could feel my skin burning. Jas and I had drank all of the water out of the Camelbak and all I wanted to do was get back to the car where I had another drink waiting for me. Plus, the last few miles have 4 hills that are back-to-back and my brain and legs were screaming at me. But…. I made it

Jason and I did some stretching for about 10 minutes..

After that, I felt as strong as ever! Yay!

And as for the shorts: The biggest deal was that I never felt the inseam in them! My other running shorts have an inseam that rides up *if you know what I mean, wink wink* and sometimes they even give me a bad chaffing But with these shorts, I felt like I was wearing just regular shorts! The pocket is a little small, so I couldn’t hold my car key in there, but it may be perfect for an MP3 player or something

As for the socks: Their probably the best quality socks that my little tootsies have ever had the pleasure of wearing. They are thick and don’t rub against me everytime my feet hit the pavement. What’s even better is that I came out of the run with no blisters on me feet! A+ from me, New Balance!

We finished our run around 1:30 and went back to H&M Deli (second time in one week!) for some lunch. This time I got my other usual Pesto focaccia sandwich with chips that I shared with the boyfriend!

What a cheeseball

After our tummies were satisfied and after I was about to pop a button, errr seam we drove around town looking at homes that were for sale, then we made a shopping trip to Target (yay ) and to the grocery store for ingredients for dinner.

Dinner was based off of a recipe I found on the internet, but once I skimmed over it…I just kinda took it in my own direction to see what I would come up with…and it was totally worth it!

Gnocchi with Sweet Potatos, Mushrooms and Spinach

Ingredients:

• 2 large sweet potatoes
• 1 package of Gnocchi <–can find in pasta aisle at grocery store
• 3 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• salt and pepper
• 2 cups raw spinach
• 1/4 cup chopped yellow onion
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup sliced baby bella mushrooms
• 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspooon dried thyme
• grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup low-fat Ricotta cheese (OPTIONAL)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Peel potatoes and chop them into cubes. Add nutmeg, brown sugar, salt and 1-2 Tablespoons of olive oil to bowl. Mix until all potatoes are covered. Place potatoes on baking sheet that has been lined with cooking spray. Bake in oven for 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat 2 Tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and onions to oil until tender. Add mushrooms and saute until softened and fragrant. Add broth, butter, spinach, salt and pepper into the skillet. Cook until spinach is wilted and the broth has cooked down. (It may take a few minutes for the broth to evaporate, but just be patient!)

Cook gnocchi according to package directions. Add potatoes and gnocchi to skillet mixture. Let cool for about 5 minutes. Serve in a bowl with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

I added 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese to the mixture. But I would recommend tasting the veggie mixture by itself first and then if you want to add the cheese, you can. It tasted good nonetheless, so it’s a winner in my book! It was very filling too, I only had a bowl when usually I go back for seconds on dinner. Or maybe I was just saving room for dessert??

Yep. I guess you could say Mr.Sun taught me a lesson that day. NOT TO FORGET TO EAT DESSERT. Haha, jk I think the lesson may have been to not only apply sunscreen to my face but all over when I’m heading out for a run…especially now that it’s spring and over 80 degrees outside. Duh Stacey. But the popsicle was good!! It has big chunks of fruit in it and only 80 calories a pop <—”a pop” HAHA. Get it??

Okay. Jason is over on the couch sighing and tapping his foot impatiently! I better get going, see ya next time bloggies Have a happy Easter and a safe weekend!

OH…Can you believe my half-marathon is next weekend?! As Hank Hill would say………

“Baaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!”

I’ve had such a fun weekend, so I thought I’d hop on and tell ya bout it.  

My college was hosting a health fair on Saturday and I was in charge of running the metabolic testing room!  

We were extremely slow when the fair first started, but after an hour of standing around, I finally got some takers! And the list kept growing from there on out :) Allow me to demonstrate what exactly metabolic testing is….  

You lie back on a chair in a relaxed, comfy position. You then place a breathing tube in your mouth and seal off your nose with a very uncomfortable nose clamp. At first, your body sort of goes into this “OH NO! I can’t breathe!” -mode but you just have to try and relax and regulate your breathing through your mouth.  

Next, the opposite end of the breathing tube is hooked to the metabolic testing machine (as seen below). The person doing the testing starts the machine, turns on zen-like music, turns off the lights and leaves you in there breathing into the machine for about 10 minutes (for women, that is. It takes a longer amount of time for men!)  

The machine will beep when it is done. The test administrator keys in the persons age, height, weight and gender and then like magic, it prints out a ton of information, including:  

• Whether or not the person has a slow, normal or fast metabolism
• How many calories a day the person burns just sitting and doing nothing (otherwise known as your Resting Energy Expenditure)
• How many calories a day the person can burn with 30 minutes of exercise
• How many calories a day the person can burn with normal daily activities
• What calorie range to stay in if the person wishes to maintain their weight
• What calorie range to stay in if the person wants to lose weight
• What calorie range to stay in if the person wants to gain weight
• BMI
• Factors that can increase the persons metabolism

I’d have to say, it’s freakin’ awesome!  Every person I tested responded with: “I can’t believe my body burns that much when I’m not doing anything!” or “This is so useful!!”. And I probably tested about 12 people, and even 1 man! The first ever to do the metabolic testing   

Men typically have higher metabolisms (and higher calorie expenditure), which is why, I’m assuming,  the machine takes longer to calculate their statistics. If you have a metabolic testing site near you, seriously, GO DO IT. I’ve done the test twice: once last year and then again on Saturday.  

I learned that I have a fast metabolism, I burn around 1900 kcals a day without physical activity or daily activity added in, I have a healthy BMI and that I also need to be consuming over 2,000 calories a day. Compared to last year when I had a slightly above normal metabolism, was burning around 1400 a day and needed to be consuming 1900 kcals a day. I guess all this exercise and training is making a difference!  

After my last “customer” I headed back into my classroom and stole a couple of cookies for a snack before heading home ;)  

 Jas and I ended up at the gym a bit later for an 30 minute strength training session. I was pooped after that! After all, I had gotten up at 6:30 for the health fair and my body was really feeling tired and worn out. I took the rest of the day easy…and spent my Sunday like this: 

Not one of my prettiest moments as you can see. I literally spent all day in my pj’s, vegging out on the couch and mumbling under my breath at the Food Network cooks Sometimes a girl just needs a day like that! There was a run that had been planned but I gave up all hope as soon as I saw the dark, stormy sky. Didn’t try to fight it. It was meant for me to spend all day in my pj’s  

It was up-an-at’em Monday morning for school! I knew I’d be working all morning in the kitchen at the hospital so I cooked up a mean breakfast that would keep me full: 

 Eggs in a basket is that the name?? with hotsauce, and grapes on the side. Along with coffee of course. Then it was off to school for me! I spent the next four hours up to my elbows in meat. We prepared all kinds of meat including meatloaf, pureed chicken, hamburger steaks and fried chicken.

As I was coating the chicken with a crunchy topping, I made a pouty face and said “Poor chicken.”

The cook replied: “What are you? A vegetarian?”

Me: “Yep.”

Him: “Those poor soybeans.” HA. Very funny

After school it was time to go home for a quick lunch before coaching Girls on the Run. I heated leftover chili in the microwave, topped it with cheese and sour cream and dipped a few blue corn tortilla chips in there for a little crunch.

Time to leave again! (I stay busy on Monday and Wednesdays!) Girls on the Run practice went great! I can’t wait to see them accomplish their first 5k

When practice was over, I drove home, gave Trixie a quick walk, worked on some homework and waited on Jas to get home so we could go for a 5 mile run. The sky was kinda dark and thunder-y but we still went. I’m glad we did because my body felt totally re-energized after a weekend of rest!

The run went great! We chit-chatted and once home, I made a quick dinner because there was a math test that needed to be completed before 12 AM and I take forever on a math test.

We feasted on spicy roasted red potatoes, roasted garlic asparagus and black bean burgers. Nom nom nom. There may have been a beer in there at some point too

Like my smileys?? Twas good and filling.

Before testing, I decided to take a few moments to enjoy my latest dessert fetish:  

  PB&Co. the Bee’s Knee’s with dark chocolate for dipping..mmmm…sooo good. It’s just the bee’s knees, I tell ya what <—HAR HAR

Then it was test time! It took me 3.5 hours to take a 30 question test told you that I take forever!! but I made a 95 on it!!! Woot woot! I think it’s funny that Jason was getting impatient with my computer-hogging lol. What a nerd

 Now, seeing as how it is Tuesday..and we’ve gotten through the case of Mondays already..why not do a little daydreaming to get you through today?? The question is: What would you do with a million dollars?

I’ll go first!

If I had a million dollars I would first pay off my car and school expenses.

Then I would donate money to the NC school physical education to help fund them and keep the programs going! I would also donate money to a local treasure, Holy Angels. They are an awesome, awesome establishment in our community.

I’d save a lot of it for a house.

And treat myself (and Jason and Trixie) to a much needed getaway, probably somewhere tropical  That’s what I would do!

What would you do?

I hope everyone’s week is flying by like mine is I finally have a moment to sit down and breathe, so I thought I’d show my blog a little lovin’

Here comes Part 2 of FitBloggin!

Sunday morning I woke up suuuppperrrr early so I could take advantage of all the fitness classes that they had scheduled It’s like a free fitness class, people! <—My gym doesn’t offer any type of classes at all, so I get excited about free ones Though I only had 4.5 hours of sleep, I felt wide awake and ready to start workin out.

First up: Yoga.

Promise I’m not asleep. Or am I?? You can decide

Yoga lasted for an hour, then we jumped right into 30 Minute Bootcamp Solutions with Jessica Smith.

Holy moly. Let me just say: I was not prepared for the intensity of this workout! Within the first 10 minutes, I was a sweaty, mushy pulp. Think Jillian Micheals meets the Army.  Jessica made it fun with music and phrases like “Come on! Give me 10 more! You can do it!” Lurrrrvvveee it

I was planning to leave after bootcamp ended, but then this vibrant, loud Spanish guy came into the room and immediately grabbed my attention. What could this be about?? <–is what I wonder.

Martial Fusion (a.k.a. a mix of martial arts and dancing)!!!!! I’m sold. Just give me a minute to snack on a banana and guzzle a bottle of water

So, another hour of working out passed…but it was sooooo fun!

Maybe it was the fact that I had just worked out for 2.5 hours, or maybe it was the fact that I was delirious from lack of sleep, but I felt freakin’ awesome after the last class ended. My confidence and strength were soaring sky high

With a little pep in my step, I headed back to the room to see if my two sleepy-head roomates were up yet. They were! Katy already had breakfast plans, but Whit was free to go to Starbucks with me. The shower would have to wait cos I was a starvin marvin.

Grande iced coffee with skim milk and….

..Starbucks perfect oatmeal with all the fixins’.  Gone in about 2 minutes flat.

Ha It’s always fun to take pics of other people taking pics!

From there, it was back to the room for the shower that I desperately needed, then out for a day of ‘splorin with the girls! Joining Whit and I were Casey and Julie.

We took a walk along the water and saw a couple of boats:

…an old lighthouse that is now over land…

..and I could probably show you 1,000 different pictures of water..but I’m pretty sure they all look the same We continued to walk along the water and LOOK AT WHAT I FOUND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH my..is..is that a five-story bookstore?? Have I died and gone to heaven?? The answer is: HELL YES! Get me in there A.S.A.P. I have to see this for myself.

Oh gah..I’m in love. There were tunnels that were in the middle of the store that went all the way up to the 5th floor and a winding staircase that made me just want to squeal with excitement!

Forget my flight. I’m already home. After having my small conniption, the girls and I looked around and wouldn’t you know that the first place we browsed was the “Diet” section! I can’t believe some of the crazy diets that are out there today. The future Registered Dietician in me just wants to rip all of them off the wall and use them for a bon fire! (But not in my beloved bookstore )

But I did end up finding this little treasure:

I shall review once I have it finished. Moving on: we were getting a tad bit hungry with all this walking around so we found a cute spot named “Pizzaz” that had outdoor seating…and vegan food!

I ordered a non-vegan salad that had avocado, feta cheese, tomato, cucumber, black olives and red onion. With a side of fries Gotta have my carbs.

My lunch dates:

(Note to self: invest in sunglasses)

Lunch was pretty good, but dessert was da bomb! And it was vegan

Chocolate Mint Cake

…and Peanut Butter Chocolate cake…

YUMMO. Split four ways, it was the perfect amount to satisfy my sweet tooth.

Sadly, after lunch, we had to get back to the hotel so Whit and I could catch a cab to the airport. All of the activities of the day were starting to wear on me. My body was feeling worn down and low on fuel, screaming “Rest me! Rest me!”

We arrived at the airport, made it through security and I proceeded to conk out on a chair beside our terminal.

One turbulent plane ride later and maybe 3 small panic attacks later…I was back in my hometown with the boyfriend. I said my good-byes to Whitney and then talked Jasons head off about the trip during the 40 minute trip home. My body was overly tired now. It felt like my legs weighed 500 pounds, every step I took was a huge effort. My eyes were droopy and I was getting a little grumpy and hungry at that.

On the way home, we stopped by our favorite watering hole for some beer and pizza!

The beer made me feel better

And a few kisses from the guy did too!

Pizzzzaaaaaa! No other words for that. The garden pizza is our usual and it is always de-licious

I was glad to get to bed that night asleep by 9:00. However, I was really sad to leave Baltimore. I love the water, the atmosphere, the bookstore, the food, the people, the bookstore, the walkability of the city, and the bookstore. It was a fun, fun time and I really hope I can make it to next years FitBloggin!

(Can you spot me?? )

Lot’s of stuff going on this weekend! I’m helping out with metabolic testing at our college health fair this Saturday, and then Jason and I have a 12 mile run planned! T minus 3 weeks until my half-marathon! Woot woot. What do you have going on this weekend??

PS. Is it sad to say that my favorite part of the whole trip was going into that bookstore?? <–TOTAL NERD :p

It was so much fun

I think I am officially in lurve with the city of Baltimore and all of the bloggies that I met too. All of the girls were great, all of the sponsors were beyond great and the experience was just amazing. Let’s start with Friday night:

After a successful (<—successful meaning I didn’t manage to puke) airplane ride, Whit and I got our baggage and boarded the shuttle that would take us to the hotel. Guess who was on there?! Ali :D (Just so ya know, Whit let out a loud, girlie scream when she saw Ali that scared the bee-Jesus out of me) We all decided to get checked and in and get some food before we starved to death.

There was a swanky little Mexican eatery around the corner from our hotel called Talara’s. Ali and I ordered Negro Modelo’s to start out with:

Yum. Cold beer makes Stacey a happy girl They ended up splitting the $5 tapas that were on special, I ended up ordering a vegetarian panini with fries It was either that or some sort of rice and bean mixture, so the veggies won!

I ate all of the sandwich and half of the fries…it was pretty yummy, kind of oily though.

After lunch we went back to the hotel to get ready for the night! POM was hosting a cocktail party for everyone upstairs so this was our chance to get all dressed up! Here is the dress:

(Sorry for the bluriness!) Ok. You guys, I am totally not used to wearing a dress. You can find me in workout clothes probably 5 out of the 7 days that are in a week. High heels? Not my thing. Skin tight hooker dresses? Not my thing. Despite the dress being adorable (because it is!), I was so uncomfortable all night!! It only took me an hour and I was back in jeans Oh well, I guess they aren’t meant for everyone.

Upstairs was jam packed with ladies lining up for cocktails, so the girls and I decided to go down into the bar on the first floor for some drink action. I casually ordered a screwdriver:

‘Twas gone in about 3 minutes flat. I spent some time mingling at the party and joined Whit and a few others for a bar crawl. We didn’t really end up staying in one place long enough to have a drink, everywhere was so crowded! I decided to head back to the hotel, get into my jammies and call it a night.

________________

Saturday mornin’ we were up-and-at-it for the FitBloggin 5k! The folks from New Balance were beyond generous in giving us a free pair of shoes to review! 

I figured, why not run in them?? Just to test them out? So I threw on some running clothes, my new shoes and headed out the door with my roomies:

The weather was gorgeous, even at 6:30 AM!! I’m pretty sure I talked Whit and Katy’s heads off about how pretty the scenery was. The run was right by the water and it was fabulous. And guess what?! I even beat a PR time on this 5k!!!!! We finished in 28:20 A little over a minute faster than old PR time! I think it helps to run with friends

As for the shoes, they were very comfy but they didn’t have the high-arch support like the ones that I usually run in. I’m not really sure I would run in these again, but I am definitely going to use them for walking/hiking shoes (ahem, wearing them right now).

Everyone congratulated everyone else on doing an awesome run, then it was shower—>breakfast—>seminar time.

Breakfast was provided by Quaker oats

The only thing that was missing was the peanut butter!

There were several great seminars throughout the day:

….including: Junk Science: How to Critically Evaluate Research….

…From Blog to Book: How to get Published…

…and Using Social Media to Reach Goals. Then it was lunchtime!

Another vegetarian panini (!) with a delicious cup of mushroom soup with pumpernickel croutons…the soup was to die for. So good. Dessert consisted of a fruit plate with a small Jell-O shot, minus the liquor

A bunch of us decided to head out for an after-lunch walk to soak up the atmosphere of Baltimore (and some vitamin D as well )

Picture courtesy of Anne!

We walked for about 30 minutes then it was time to head back for the last 2 seminars and a closing session from David Grotto. I skipped the post conference reception and the book signing. Instead, I went back to the room took my shoes off, lay on the bed and called my mom and boyfriend . A girl starts to miss familiar voices after a while, know what I mean??

After chillaxing for an hour or so, I realized how bad I wanted to be outside!! <—Seriously in love with Baltimore. I decided to venture out to find some take-out for dinner. I came upon a Lebonese place two blocks from our hotel, it held the promise of vegetarian food! I ordered the Vegetarian Mezza, and since I can’t pronounce anything that was in it, I took a pic for you guys  

I sat by the river while I waited for my food:

How beautiful is that sunset?! Very beautiful, I would say As weird as it sounds, sunsets are kind of a spiritual experience for me..especially when I see a sunset over water.

Once I was back at the hotel I eagerly opened up my dinner!

Where to start?! I’ve never had Lebonese food before…but I quickly learned that it is amazing! I ate EVERYTHING off of the plate…and the fried/breaded things were the most delicious of course

Ugh. I was stuffed. Like pop-a-button-on-my-pants stuffed. But not too stuffed for a blondie from the cafe in the hotel lobby

It was the perfect ending to a perfect day

The sun was setting and it was time for me to relax and get myself ready for Day 2 of FitBloggin!

Stay tuned to find out what I did on my favorite day of the whole trip