Long Weekend Wrap Up

Hi everyone!! I’ve decided I really like having long weekends that start on Friday because it’s like getting two Saturdays!! I actually didn’t do much of anything except Saturday (that is when all my pics are from). My weekend didn’t start out on the best note, I have a very frustrating Thursday afternoon which led to a blah Friday, but the end of the weekend got better.

After my last post Friday morning I didn’t do much. I spent the afternoon chillin’ at my apt, reading, relaxing. A little later in the evening I met up with a friend and just hung out watching tv and chatting. Not a very lively 4th celebration, but it was okay.

Saturday morning I woke up and went for a run again. Mid-morning I got a phone call from my friend, Adam, who moved away to Kansas City back in April. When I told him I had been having an extremely crappy weekend (and his wasn’t the best so far either), he decided to come visit!! I was pretty excited since I haven’t seen him in awhile and I needed a little fun in my weekend. I went to the pool to hang out and wait for him to drive up here. Once he arrived it was time to get the party started!

Chillin’ by the pool

After pool time, we decided to go run to the mall and go get some food. We thought about starting our night of fun then as well, but we realized 5pm was WAY too early to start drinking if we wanted to party all night! So we came back to my place and napped for a couple hours. LOL After naptime we got ready to head out for the night.

Trying to make a serious face… doesn’t work for me… the theme of this picture was supposed to be “This is why I’m hot”

We started the night at a local bar that Adam loves, and our friend Mitch met up with us as well.

Adam and Mitch

The group. We called ourselves the MAC Attack. LOL

After about 2 hours there we decided we wanted to go checkout the scene downtown. There is a German bar in downtown Des Moines where you can order a “boot” of beer for your group and play a little drinking game with it. I found out Adam had never done this before, so that was our first stop.

We didn’t know a group of 3 was only allowed to order one boot… we got a second one, and then decided it would be best if we moved on to the next bar…

As we arrived we saw the following sign in the entryway for the bar. Please see rule #3…

We found this quite funny for some reason, so we had to go stand on the dance floor.

We made our way to a couple more bars, just having one drink at each, stopped for a slice of pizza around 2am and called it a night!

Today I haven’t done much, once again. Around 10:30 this morning Adam and I went boating with some friends. We did a little tubing and just goofing off in the lake, and then the sky started turning dark so we decided to get off the lake. I came home and sat around for awhile, and then decided to head to the gym and at least be somewhat productive for a little bit. I ran a mile and then realized I didn’t feel like running, so I incline walked for another 2.5 miles. I also did a little strength work and sat in the sauna for a little bit. I didn’t realize how much I love the sauna!!

And since this is supposed to mainly be a food blog, here was my dinner tonight. A salad, an open-faced turkey burger with some baked beans, and just a few minutes ago I had a bowl of yogurt/strawberries/chocolate syrup for dessert.

I hope you all had a great weekend and start off your second week of July in a great way tomorrow!

No Excuses Really…

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY, AMERICA!!!

And HAPPY FRIDAY to everyone else!!

I have no excuse for not posting the rest of yesterday except for the fact I had an awful afternoon and I figured most people won’t be reading for then next few days anyway… So this will probably be my last post for the weekend, but I’ll be back on Sunday night with a full weekend update!

Nothing too exciting to report… this morning I went to the gym and did a 5 mile run to cancel out the alcohol I plan to consume this evening.

After that I came home, showered and made an odd breakfast…

A slice of toast topped with scrambled egg beaters, and a little mix of kidney beans/corn and salsa… kind of like a mexi-mix breakfast I guess.

And an iced coffee which I have no picture of, and this, just because…

That’s all I’ve got for now, have a great weekend everyone!!

Fake Friday!

Okay, well it isn’t really Friday, but it’s my “work Friday” and in 3 hours and 45 minutes I will be heading home!! Yippee!!

More to come later… I’m going to try to actually do something at work this morning.

Tiiiiired

I don’t know what got into me tonight but I am beat! Sorry, this is gonna be a quick post so I can curl up in bed and read a little before passing out!

LUNCH

Lunch was this small, yummy salad of mixed greens, carrot, tomato, cucs, and cottage cheese.

Along with this wrap of ham, 1/2 a laughing cow, carrot, lettuce, tomato, and relish.

And two of these for dessert.

SNACK

I started feeling a little hungry around 4:00, and I knew I had training at 6:00 so I wouldn’t get a chance to eat until late. I had some applesauce with fiber one.

WORKOUT

I was a little early so I ended up getting about an 18 minute walk in before hand. Tonight we did:
Leg press, weight squats, “cat walks” with push up, assisted pull-ups, oblique crunches, and crunches holding the medicine ball.

DINNER

I was starving by the time dinner rolled around. I started with a salad (mixed lettuce, tomato, cucs, pea pods w/light sesame dressing)

Left over Annie’s shells, a chicken sausage with mustard and relish, and two olives.

Then for dessert I had a spoonful of pb and a glass of chocolate milk.

I still want to eat, but I’ve had a lot today so I probably shouldn’t. I’m going to try drinking some water to see if my “hunger” goes away. We’ll see!

Thank goodness I only have to work until noon tomorrow!!

Sorry again for the short post, but I’m off to bed to read! Good night!

Sing it, Britney!!

Happy Hump Day!! I’m so glad it is Wednesday and my work week is almost over! I still don’t know what I’m doing throughout my long weekend, but I’m sure I will figure out something.

This morning we were talking about “line dance” type songs here at work and now I have the “Cupid Shuffle” stuck in my head… and I want to dance. Yes, seriously, it takes everything in me not to dance in my chair while I’m at work listening to my iPod. In the words of Don Henley, “All she wants to do is dance, dance!”

Speaking of dancing, let’s have a show of hands for everyone who dances in their car. *Raises hand proudly* I always sing and usually dance in my car. I sometimes wonder what other drives think when they go by or see me at a stop light, but I really don’t care. When I was going to school at Waldorf it was about a 5 hour drive home and singing/dancing in my car is what kept me entertained. It entertained others as well, one time I had a semi honk at me as I passed him. Must be those mad dance skillz I’m always talking about…

I actually am quite the “distacted driver” now that I think about it. I sing, I dance, I sometimes eat or drink things, sometimes text or talk on my phone (I know, I know.. it’s BAD and I shouldn’t do it), and when I’m stopped at a red light, sometimes I pluck my eyebrows. No joke, the natural light makes it so much easier to see the little guys! I’m sure I look odd to the person stopped next to me, but eh – once again, I don’t care. At least my eyebrows will look better! LOL How about you guys? Do any of you do any odd things while driving/stopped at lights?? Come on, share your stuff!!

AM RUN

I made it to the gym for my incline interval run this morning. I’m still loving my new shoes. I also bumped my speed up to 5.5mph for this workout today, so I’m still improving! It was tough at points, but a good tough, like I knew I was challenging and pushing myself. Plus the music on my iPod this morning was amazing. All the right songs and beats were coming on at all the right moments. There’s nothing like pushing yourself to run on the 8% incline while hearing Britney Spears singing, “Gimme, gimme more, gimme more…” LOL It really did make me give more though and push through! Why did I just have to start typing that song… now I’m sing that one and still want to dance!

Pre-run I had a small banana bread muffin.

Also, I took some of my cookies and muffins in to the gym this morning for some people and I just got a text telling me “thank you so much” and saying people are begging to find out how I made them. Ha ha… It’s a tough one, if I share my recipes and other people there start making them then it isn’t as special when I bring them in… but on the other hand, I don’t want to keep people from making these yummy treats for their own friends and family either! I’ll share with them, I’ll just have to find new amazing treats to start bringing in.

BREAKFAST

While I was getting ready this morning I had an iced “mocha” coffee thing again…

Then for breakfast I had a MorningStar pattie.

And oatmeal with banana, strawberry, ff vanilla yogurt, and fiber one!

About halfway through this bowl I was feeling full so I put the lid back on and set it aside. Then about an hour and a half later I ate the rest of it.

And for a mid-morning snack I just had one of my cookies. Everyone else was eating them, I had to!

I’m done with the sweets for today, I had too much of a stomach ache last night before bed. Well, that’s a lie – I know I’ll eat a peppermint pattie (or two), but those are more minty than sweet, right?

Sorry I’m Late…

I was busy doing a little bit of this…

And a little bit of that…

So, good news - I didn’t have to wait for my shot today! Actually, I didn’t even make it there at all! The clinic is supposed to be open until 7pm, but for some reason they were closing at 5pm today and I didn’t know it! My appt was at 4:50, and traffic was slow - I got there at 4:58! Luckily they were ready and waiting, I was in and out and on my way! And it was my least painful shot ever!! Typically people get them in the hip area, but I get mine in my arm. They say it hurts more there, but I don’t think it is too bad (and I’m a weenie!). It is usually a little sore for a day or two, but I don’t think it will be too sore this time - yay!

Mid-afternoon I had some broccoli and cauliflower and a banana with some pb.

Anyway - when I got home I put on my running gear and went out for a nice run, just a little over 3 miles. It felt great! It was a little warm out, but luckily it was breezy so that helped.

DINNER

Dinner tonight started with a raw fruit/veggie bowl again. Tonight was celery carrot chips and strawberries.

For the main meal I had some maple couscous with peas

And some spicy maple salmon!

Yum.

As I was baking I tried one of my cookies with a smear of frosting and the banana bread muffin pictured above.

The muffins were just my banana bread recipe halved and put into muffin cups, obviously! The recipe halved made 12 muffins.

I feel like I ate a lot today… I kind of have a stomach ache… ick.

Anywho… that was seriously all I’ve done tonight, so I don’t have a lot to chat about. Sorry, boring talk show now! I should head to bed so I can get up and do my incline routine in the morning… less than 48 hours until my weekend start! Hooray!

Baby Got Back

HAPPY JULY!!

My mom teased me once saying I write on my blog like I’m a talk show host or something. I wish I were a talk show host – that would rock! And I would totally start every show out dancing like Ellen because, well, that totally rocks and it is fun and FUN is my middle name. Not really, but it should be! Mom, you should have named me Chandra Fun instead of Chandra Rose! LOL Kidding… but I would totally rock as a talk show host. You would all watch, right?

Can you count how many times I said “totally” or “rocks” in that paragraph? OMG what is up with me today?? I’ve been at work since 6:30am, that’s got to be it… I’m going crazy already! Haha No, I say “totally” quite a bit… I’m not sure why, I’m not like a “valley girl” or anything… it’s just a thing I do I guess!!

So last night I went to take my garbage out and it was basically the highlight of my day. It wasn’t because I enjoy taking the trash out, it was because… I saw my first lightening bugs of the summer!! I absolutely adore lightening bugs!! I saw the first one and I just had a perma-grin. I heart lightening bugs.

MORNING

Since I had to be in to work early this morning I didn’t have time to hit the gym. But I also remembered last time I came in to work early and hadn’t done anything but wake up & get ready… I was dead to the world, so I did a Turbo Jam dvd this morning to get me moving.

Then as I was getting ready I had an iced “mocha coffee”… which is just coffee I made with a little creamer, splenda, and 2tsp of lite hershey’s syrup then refrigerated over night. It’s actually really good, and I think I should do this more often instead of stopping at Starbucks so often!

For breakfast I had the most delicious peach in the world (which I made a mess with and had peach juice all over my hands).

And an Amy’s texas burger with mustard, tomato, and lettuce on an English muffin. There’s cheese on there in the pic, but I decided to take it off. I wasn’t in a cheese kinda mood this morning.

After breakfast I felt like I had bad breathe, and I am currently out of gum, so I had a piece of a peppermint pattie… 

And a few minutes later I just ate the whole thing.

And I had to go help someone and they had twizzlers on their desk… twizzlers are my FAV non-chocolate candy!!

LUNCH

M couldn’t walk today over lunch, which was okay because I was having a huge fight with a database and I sure wasn’t winning… though I just did about 5 minutes ago thank goodness.

Remember a little while back when I said I heard Sir-Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” and it made me crave red beans and rice?? Well it kind of happened again… except this time I added corn and spinach and a ton of spices.

I burned my tounge on this pretty bad, which I’m not so thrilled about but it was my own dumb fault for shoveling steaming food in my mouth. Oops!

And then a little yogurt and fiber one for dessert… along with my Adora and multi.

Ta Da!

I’m hoping my shot doesn’t take long tonight (well, waiting for it I mean). One time I was there for like 5 minutes, the next time I was there for over an hour. Bleh. Not in the waiting kind of mood today, I want to go for a run with my new shoes!! Hopefully it won’t be too humid and I can go outside… we’ll see.

Hope you are all having a great day!! 48 hours from now I’ll be on my long weekend! Woo!!

**Dances her way out with her kick ass dance moves like Ellen**

Almost There…

Good evening! One long work day down, two more to go, a half day and then freedom!! Ha, literally, it’ll be Independence Day, get it? Ha, I’m a nerd… that so wasn’t funny.

For the record, I had another one of those peppermint patties at work this afternoon. I’m addicted to those things, I never should have bought them!! Oh well, they’ll be gone soon. HeeHee

STRENGTH WORKOUT

So… tonight was my weigh in.. do you think the scale told on me for all the beer, doritos, and m&ms I consumed Saturday?? NO!! I was down almost 1.5lbs, now at 121 which is 23lbs down from when I started at the gym and 5.5 down since the start of the contest!! As long as my team can stay in first place I think I have a great shot at the money. I was pretty nervous to step on that scale, but I seriously wanted to hug it when I saw what it said! LOL Anyway, for the workout we did what is starting to become our Monday regular and took it outside to start:

• Walking lunges, 15lb weights - I totally didn’t count reps but I think it’s 12 down the sidewalk and 12 back for a total of 24, 3 sets
• Lateral lunges - same as above for reps/sets
• Jump rope - 100 reps, 3 sets
• Ball to Wall toss/twist - 20 reps, 3 sets
• 200 foot climb - somehow the stop button got hit at 150ft today! so we had to restart and I don’t know my time.
• Russian Twist/toss - I think 10 reps, 3 sets

DINNER

My post-weigh in meals are always kind of “treat” meals I’m starting to notice… but nothing wrong with that! Tonight started with a bowl of veggies (carrots, tomato, snap peas, celery, and two jalpeno stuffed olives)

Then I had a Quorn cutlet with buffalo sauce (Kelly T - I forgot to answer your question!! Buffalo sauce is kind of like hot sauce, not really sure what the difference is.. but it’s what they would put on hot wings sometimes, or anything listed as buffalo chicken)

Roasted zucchini

And Annie’s Mac & cheese!!

I had a little more mac & cheese after this.

And an ice cream sandwich for dessert.

STUFF & THINGS

So I saw a commercial tonight for PrisonBreak!!! If you didn’t read the blog back in the beginning of the year, I am OBSESSED with that show. LOVE IT. And a new season finally starts again this fall! On Mondays, when I will be in class. Bleh. I don’t have a dvr, but I do have vcr, so it looks like I will be watching it the old fashioned way! I’m going to marry Wentworth Miller someday, I just know it.

Well, I should go clean up my kitchen and pack up my lunch for tomorrow. I have to be in around 6:30am because I have to leave early to go get a shot. Bleh. Anywho - have a great night (or morning depending on when you’re reading this!), and we’ll see ya later!

Monday!

Happy Monday!! How is everyone doing today? Excited for the short work week?? I AM!! Less than 72 hours from now I will be starting my long holiday weekend! Woo!! But ya know what? I have nothing planned to do!! I have a few possibilities of things I could do, but nothing set in stone. I’m kind of glad so I can have plenty of time to relax, but it’s also kind of nerve racking wondering if I’ll end up with something to do!! I’m sure I will. What do you all have planned for the long weekend? Anything exciting?

AM RUN

I had to be in to work early this morning (and every other day this week actually), so I had to make it to the gym right at 5am when they opened. I did a decent run on the treadmill, got about 45 minutes in total and then did a little stretching and raced home. I really like my new shoes. I took them for a little 2 miler last night and I can tell a huge difference. I still have that nagging, “I need to pop” pain in my left hip when I’m done running though… still haven’t figured that one out yet.

BREAKFAST

I was craving a breakfast sandwich really bad this morning… so I made one! Ham, tomato, egg beaters and buffalo sauce on an English muffin.

I also had a peach with it. I swear I could have eaten like 5 peaches this morning, it was SO good!

LUNCH

Lunch today was simple, but delish! Just some mixed greens and chopped carrots with about 2/3 of a serving of black bean/corn/shrimp salad on top. It worked perfect as protein and a dressing! Yum!

Oh, and before eating I had my usual walk with M.  I also had two of these afterwards as “dessert”.

I’m a little nervous about my gym weigh in this evening… the scale did not like me this morning. I think it noticed all the chips and m&ms (and beer!) from Saturday night. But, we’ll see. I’ve been working my butt off, so hopefully one night of fun didn’t do too much damage!

I can’t believe I head for Vegas in 17 days!! I can’t wait for that trip, it should be a blast. And then just a few days after we return it’s time to party it up for my birthday!!

Have a great Monday everyone!!

Weekend Rewind

Good evening!! I hope you all had a fab weekend. I can’t believe it is already about over!! Booo…  And once again, no real food pictures this weekend, sorry!  One of these weekends I’ll blog regularly, I swear…

RUNNING AND SHOPPING

Saturday morning some of the girls and I met up for a run. I had a nice 8 mile run, the longest I’ve done since the 20K. It felt good to get out there and get the distance in again. Between miles 3 & 4 I had to do quite a bit of talking in my head to keep myself encouraged, but the last half of the run was great after that.

After the run we went downtown to the farmer’s market. It was packed and my hip was aching, so I ended up getting a little crabby and didn’t want to stay long. We grabbed some breakfast, walked around a little and then took off.
Here’s a picture of the group down at the market. (Me, Manon, Katie, Emily, Alana, Bonnie)

And me, enjoying my breakfast burrito.

Everyone always makes a big deal about these burritos at the farmer’s market but I didn’t think they were anything special.

I spent most of my afternoon relaxing. I read out on my deck and walked to the grocery store for some produce shopping. I wanted to lay out by the pool, but it wasn’t very warm and it was super windy so that made it too chilly.

I’M A LIGHTWEIGHT

Saturday night my friend Erika and her hubby were having a little get together at their house. I didn’t plan on drinking much, or staying long, but of course I ended up unable to drive and stayed the night. I can’t believe how much of a lightweight I have become! Honestly, my tolerance was probably a little too high before, but after losing about 25 pounds, I can’t handle as much as I used to! Wowza. I played a little too much beer pong. I also munched on a few too many doritos and m&ms… Oops. Hopefully the scale doesn’t notice at weigh in tomorrow! Here are some fun pictures from the night.

Myself and Erika

Me and Nick, after we just lost a round of beer pong

Brandon, Me, Nick

LAZY-ISH DAY

I drove home around 8:00 this morning feeling nasty, obviously due to a mild hangover. I was bound and determined to not spend my day on the couch so I came home, put on my running clothes, tied up my shoes… and laid down on the couch for a nap. I decided going for a run in the state I was in was not a good idea - a tired, dehyrated run would not be a good one! So I slept a little more.

I woke up about two hours later and did not want to move from the couch. But I forced myself to. I popped in a Turbo Jam video and did a 50 minute workout. I wanted to go sit poolside afterwards, but it was still too windy today so I ended up out on my deck again. I read for about an hour or so and then walked over to Walgreens to pick up some things I needed.

I’m still planning to go out for a run this evening. I think I’m re-hydrated now and, I’m dying to take these babies for a test run…

New running shoes!! I needed new ones REALLY bad. I had insole inserts in my old ones because the inner padding was wearing down, and the inserts were getting pretty worn down as well. It was time to get a new pair before I hurt myself running in old shoes. I’m hoping to get out there in about 30 minutes or so.

MOVING??

I had a proposition over the weekend to move in with a girl over in West Des Moines. I’ve been wanting to move over there, and been thinking about the roommate thing to save some cash, but I don’t know… I haven’t had a female roommate since my first year of college, and I haven’t had a roommate at all in over a year. I just met this girl over the weekend, but she seems extremely nice. I’m dabbling with the idea of taking her up on the offer. I think moving in with someone I don’t know would almost be easier than living with a friend or someone I’ve known a long time. Plus this fall with classes and work I’m not going to be around as much, so my apartment would be sitting empty a lot. I know I still have a lot of thing to think about for this but I’m curious to hear other people’s opinions on roommates. Do any of you have a roommate? Is it someone you knew before moving in together? What are some of the things you do/don’t like about having a roommate? Give me some opinions people!!

Anywho- I’m going to hit the road for a short run. It’s still pretty windy so I don’t think I’ll be out long, I just really want to run in my new shoes!! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!