For starters, I have to apologize ahead of time for the awful iPhone photo.  You never know when the idea of a blog post will come up and you have to capture that moment with a photo! Right now I am on Christmas break from work.  I have 11 days off and when I go back to work, work will be very different.  I will have a somewhat desk job... I think.  I will update this topic once I know more I promise! So anyways, this week I have done NOTHING!! Nothing at all, so when my neighbor and I discussed going to the mall and finding outfits for tomorrow evening... I didn't think it would be a bad idea.  We started the day at BJ's restaurant with some pizza and beer.  How can the rest of the day go wrong when you start it this way?   

Well I can tell you how!  TOO MANY PEOPLE mixed with being at home in your cozies for 4 straight days equals wanting to punch people in the face when they keep running into you and not walking through the crowds correctly.  It drove me crazy and I immediately wanted to leave.  We didn't find anything and will try to go to the local stores here in town tomorrow. No more going to the bigger city for me. So anyone else have any fantastic NYE plans?  Tomorrow I will post about New Years resolutions and my thoughts on those... Have a great night!

Trip to Ohio!

So back in July we surprised out Ohio family with a trip over there for the Fourth of July. In Ohio we have one family: Uncle B, Aunt M, cousins J, JJ, C, and L. Cousin J and Aunt M were the only people who knew we were coming and everyone else was surprised. It was so much fun to surprise everyone! We even bough tears to Uncle B's eyes. We even got the surprises on video, I'll think about posting those on here. We had so much fun there. We BBQ'd, went to cedar point amusement park, went to a HUGE 4th of July party, and shot guns. I even got to help feed their pet baby deer. We always have such an amazing time when we are around them. That whole family are the kind of people that make you feel like being around them makes you a better person.  After surprising everyone and spending time with family that you truly enjoy spending time with, Michael and I sat up our first night there and discussed for an hour how awesome it would be to live here.  We went as far as to do research on jobs for the both of us out there.

Me feeding Baby!

C. shooting into a pile of dirt

Views from their awesome back porch, we were out there for hours

Beautiful isnt it?

Us at Cedar Point... what a day!

Cousin J's laundry room that I feel in love with!
I would do more laundry if I could do it in here. 

At the 4th of July BBQ

The fireworks show was AMAZING over the lake.  

Me and J :)

Here's a small view into the trip we had... lots of funny faces!  

We miss it there so much, and hope that we can visit there again really soon. 

Sage Chicken Yum!

So tonight I made dinner for us and the neighbors. I was over at their house earlier watching The Notebook :( and I was telling my husband what I was making for dinner. As serious as ever my neighbor looks at me and says "is that dinner for everyone or just you guys?" I started immediately cracking up! I love that we are close enough with our neighbors to invite ourselves to dinner and the same for them. For dinner I made Sage Chicken and roasted vegetables. It was amazing! I pan fried chicken breast dipped in egg and Pablo bread crumbs with chopped up fresh sage. When they were done I splashed a little lemon juice and vuala!

Any suggestions for new recipes to try???

Updates....

Well, so many things have happened since I last blogged...

We went to Monterey to whale watch for my birthday... won't be doing again... everyone (25/29 people) got sea sick.  I was super nausea, it's not fun watching 25 people throw up.

Michael installed can lighting in our living room... I wanted 4, he installed 8 and now we have museum lighting!

Michael put molding around our green wall

 We finished the front yard!  

We were in the ER and OR 5 separate times for Michael (kidney stones, work injuries, kidney stones, kidney stones.. removal of kidney stones.. at one point we were in the ER 3x in 1 week!

We surprised our Ohio family with a 4th of July vacation to there that made us really sit down and think about moving there.  It's so wonderful to be surrounded by amazing people all the time.  

Went to baseball games.. drank beer...

Made it out to the lake with our neighbors and had a kick ass time for Labor Day. 

Got new carpet :)

And decided that we need to take more photos... that's my New Years resolution.  There was so many other great things that happened this year and we don't have pictures of them :(

One of them being........ that I finished my Masters of Science a couple of weeks ago!!! Wow that was an accomplishment. On another sad work note, I had to say goodbye to one of my kiddos that I had been working with for a year and a half.  She was an amazing little girl who has come so far and is growing more and more everyday into a wonderfully independent functional citizen.  Sadly now I will no longer see her :(

On another note about accepting that things will work out, we have been trying to get pregnant (pause for "Awwww")  Unfortunately for as long as I can remember anytime I have thought about having a child with Michael I have had this gut wrenching feeling that it wouldn't be easy.  I have been blessed my whole life, AMAZINGLY blessed.  There is only one thing in my life that I didn't get when I wanted it, my GRE scores.  I studied, studied, studied and still got horrible scores.  Even that worked out I still got in the graduate program I wanted!  So I knew that somehow the shoe would have to drop, how can a person get everything they have even wanted in life?  So anyways, for as long as I can remember I have a feeling that getting pregnant was not going to be easy for us.  i was right :( I stopped birth control (BC) in February, on my birthday actually and since then I have been slowly (well maybe not slowly) letting our trying to conceive (TTC) take over my life!  Every morning I wake up at ridiculous hours (3am, 4am...) to take my temperature.  I have to do it at this hour because you have to take your temp at the same time everyday and it has to be the first time you have woken up after having at least 3 hours of sleep. Well my husband works crazy hours and some days he has to wake up at 345am and other days at 6am.  So in order to try and keep it at the same time my subconcious wakes me up everyday between 3 and 4 and I take my temp.  No alarm, just my brain wakes me up.  Do you know how upsetting it is to wake up at 415 while on vacation to take my temperature.  And then it's not like I can go back to sleep. I sit there and ponder about my temperature.  Why is it so low?  Does that mean I did not ovulate?  UGHHH!!!! After an 80 day cycle with multiple negative pregnancy tests I decided if something wrong I am calling the doctor to find out sooner than later.  Typically they* say that if after a year of being off birth control you aren't pregnant to start doing testing.  Well why wait a year, I'm not getting any younger and my chances of getting pregnant get smaller and smaller everyday (I know I'm dramatic, at least I can admit it :D) So I called the doctor and she started me on bloodwork right away. So far we have determined that with the cycle I am in right now I ovulated late or not at all. I did the cycle day 21 progestrone test; which should show that I have already ovulated and would be elevated if I did.  That came back less than 10 and she said I either did not ovulate or have not ovulated yet.  So she had me re-do the test on cycle day 23 to see if my progesterone level is rising (still a chance of ovulation) or decreasing (no ovulation).  Looking at my BBT (temps), it looks like I may have ovulated on the day of the bloodwork... but wouldn't that have been reflected in the bloodwork??? So now I am waiting to hear back from the doctor to see what my trend is right now.

So that is my unleashing of so many pent up feelings.  I try to not talk to much about the TTC thing, I was only talking to my BF about my frustrations and it was even to much for her. She is the one who brought it to my attention that I am being a little obsessive about this.  It hurt my feelings a little but I appreciate when people tell you how you are acting when you can't see it yourself.  So I am trying to not bring it up during EVERY conversation just when something happens. That's why I began writing again on here.  This can be my outlet for "talking" about life's frustrations.

Day 5/6 bootcamp

This week has been a hectic one, so forgive me for my late posts! Both days have been great for bootcamp.  Wednesday was arm day and we did a combination of plank position/overhead presses.  We did this alternating between the two for a 20 count and holding plank for 1 min.  This was killer!  We then went to tricep dips on park picnic benches.  Immediately after that we went to pull ups on the playground equipment and then bicep curls.  We finished with some running and sit ups.  Today was obstacle course day.  We partnered up and had to complete an obstacle course, we weren't able to finish the course we ran out of time. The hardest part about it though were our hills.  We had to jog down a hill, bunny hop back up and then do a wall sit for a 100 count.  We had to repeat this 5 TIMES!!! I will tell you that my counting sped up each time I had to re-do it.  Now I am eating my breakfast and trying to plan out my clean eating weekend. I tried last weekend, and it didn't work so well so I will try again.  I just bought Tosca Reno's clean eating book so hopefully that will help!  

Day 4 Bootcamp!

So today was our first day outside for bootcamp and I LOVED IT!! It was a bit cold at first but we started running and I felt great!  It was such a workout compared to indoors.  This time I was wishing it was over 15 minutes before it was.  I liked how we used the playground equipment for pull-ups and sit-ups.  The best thing about the workout though was when we would do a work-out on the ball I could stare up at the black sky with grey clouds and shimmering stars!!!  It was so relaxing at the same time as difficult to do.    The unfortunate thing about this morning was my weigh-in..... up 2.3 lbs. I will have to say that most of the week I could not stop snacking! I find that when my husband isn't home and I'm just hanging by myself that I eat RIDICULOUS amounts of food.  I did alot of reading this weekend about clean eating and would like to try it, but I didn't have enough food to try it this weekend.  So today I am going to try and get as many food items that I can that can stay in my car while I work (our health food store is about 30 minutes away, where I am working at this morning).  I will go on my lunch break and hopefully get a few items.  I don't think it will be that hard for me to change, I already prefer whole wheat products and cooking my own meals.  But I think what will be difficult is the grab and go foods. So wish me luck and send me any advice you can!

Bootcamp Day 2 & 3

Day 2 (a little late) was pretty much the same as Day 1 but EASIER!! We ended almost 15 minutes early this time, I thought it was crazy. So not much to say about that....

Day 3, well I skipped it.  I accidentally doubled up on my dose of allergy meds... and then slept straight through my alarm clock for bootcamp AND work! So I asked the trainer to let me know what they did so that I could do it the next morning at the gym, I was sad I missed the circuit training day. Thinking maybe it would be a challenge!  So I did 45 minutes of cardio, 10 push ups, 25 sit ups, and 1 minute of jump roping.    Repeat this twice with only 1 minute break in between.  That was difficult to do! Only the push ups and sit ups since my arm strength isn't what it should be.  But that was my day 3!

Bootcamp Day 1

Hello... after a VERY LONG rest from both the blogging world and the healthy eating/working out world I am back.  I just started a bootcamp through the city.  For the start of bootcamp we were suppose to begin with a detox (48 hours of almonds/pomegranate juice/spinach salads) but because I didn't sign up until yesterday the instructor suggested I wait until week 3/4 to do the detox since I will need my strength to get through the workouts.  So last night I went out with a bang and ate 2 slices of ok pizza.  I wish it would have been homemade I would have made it better but after a long day of installing can lights delivery was all I could handle.  This morning after my workout my instructor took my measurements and I didn't see them all but I took a glimpse at a couple of them.  Weight: 138.8 :( :( :( waist: 35.5, thighs: 22, calves: 12.5.  I am going to ask my instructor to send me the rest of my measurements and I will update my blog with them later.

So the first day went... ok....  I don't consider myself unfit and I don't consider myself a fit person.  I would say I'm in the middle.  But this morning was a little easy.  Maybe it was because their were ladies of all ages in the class, maybe because it was the first day, I don't know but it did seem a little easy.  She did say that this morning was the only day that she would take time from class to stretch, other days it would be our responsibility to stretch after class on our own time since she only has 60 minutes with us.  I may regret saying this but I am hoping that things get a little more "bootcamp".  The hardest part of the day was getting up and out of the house before 5 am.

This class is 3 days a week so I will update you all after each session hopefully and let you know how I am doing!

Back on track

So I know I have been MIA for a while, but life got in the way. There was illness, stress at work and over my unfinished thesis :( but never the less I am back. This morning I am going to try and run again, with a very stuffy allergy nose! Then I am off to attempt to continue work on my thesis. I will update you all on those struggles later, that's a entirely different story.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Motivating yourself!

I miss Jamaica :(

Today I went into the gym thinking, I only have to do 25 minutes of running today according to my training plan, but last time I was only suppose to do 25 minutes I did 30 and I was ok.  So I was going to see what my run was like and see if I could make it to 30 minutes, but I was going to be happy with 25 minutes.  So I got started, and as I'm watching the timer on the treadmill roll over 15 minutes I thought to myself, you're half way there you can do this.  A few moments later I realized that I didn't account for the 5 minute warm up walk I did and that I was actually 20 minutes away from the goal!  That really messed with my head.  All of a sudden those next 10 minutes were the hardest of my life.  When I had finally been running for 20 minutes I knew I would make it to 25 minutes, but still wasn't sure about the 30 minute goal.  Then as 25 hit I started really talking myself up.  "You've got this, you did it last time you can do it again."  "You took that 30 minute goal and kicked it's ass!" "You are going to feel better and look better if you do 30 minutes instead of quitting now."  That did it for me, I just kept repeating those mantras to myself and I was able to run the full 30 minutes.  I did just over 2.5 miles in 30 minutes and walked for another 10 minutes finishing at 3.3 miles.  (5 min warm up, 30 min run, 10 min cool down)

So I'm curious does anyone else have any mantras that they tell themselves to get through the toughest part of your workouts?

Oranges

Today I wanted to share one of my favorites things to do after a good run.  When I am done with a run I crave oranges more than anything!  I am thinking this is due to my years of playing soccer and always having sliced oranges at half time.  The association between running and oranges has stuck with me all these years.  I am just getting home from the gym right now, and I didn't run today (it was a cross train day), but I still went straight to my counter and grabbed a nice plump orange.  MMMmmmm! While I was at the gym I did the cross ramp again for 35 minutes and burned a little over 300 calories.  Tomorrow I plan on running another 30 minutes.  Wish me Luck!

Success!

So after taking 2 days off from the gym due to computer problems and a sister who got dumped :( I finally made it back today.  I went in knowing that I was going to be challenging myself by trying to do a 25 minute run! I got started and luckily I was able to get on a good treadmill with a built in fan right in front of the TV.  Even though it took me 15 minutes of slowly riding a sit down bicycle to find a free treadmill I was able to start running right away.  When I was about 10 minutes in this girl gets on the treadmill next to me and she and her friend were chatting SO LOUD!  Then on top of that she starts making call after call and talking very disrespectfully for being in a public place.  Finally she gets off after walking for 15 minutes and I am able to concentrate on my run again.  Then I look at the timer and realize I'm 10 seconds away from 25 minutes!  So thank you to the loud mouth lady who distracted me from the time.  Anyways since I was feeling good at 25 minutes I decided to keep going and see if I could go to 30 minutes.  As 30 minutes came around I was at the point where I knew stopping would hurt more than if I just kept running. But I was starting to get a side cramp so I stopped and felt amazing as I walked away from the gym. I was able to do 2.85 miles in 36 minutes.  I know that I won't be going to the gym tomorrow at all since I'm having a dinner/jewelry party so this makes up for it :)

I did it!

Well I went to the gym.  I actually had to go tonight if I planned on going tomorrow morning.  See my free pass expired yesterday and I had to go during their main business hours in order to sign up as a full member.  So if I didn't go tonight, I wouldn't go again until tomorrow evening.  And even though I have been telling myself to go to the gym in the morning for over a week now and haven't made it there before 4pm during the week.  Anyways back to tonights workout.  I did week 6 day 2 of the C25K plan.  Warm up, 10 min run (5.0), 3 min walk (3.5), 10 min run (5.0), cooldown.  I am super exhausted though.  I think it has something to do with the crap food that I ate today.  It was yummy then, but now I am regretting it.  So goodnight!

Need motivation......

Hello whoever is out there tonight, it is 6:45 pm here in CA and I am trying to talk myself out of going to the gym!  I have already eaten dinner and cleaned up most of it, but I still feel like not sitting on my butt and doing nothing! I need some words of motivation, or just a flat out threat would work, JK!  On the menu at our house tonight were sweet potato fries and mexican turkey burgers MMmmmmm.  One of the hubs favs!  

 
P.S. I'm busy watching The Office HaHaHa Love that show!

Start of Week 6!

So I woke up Saturday morning and knew that I had a lot to get done before going up to our cabin at 10am.

I needed to get laundry done, tidy the house a bit (I HATE coming home to a messy house), and get in a run.  So I started the laundry, got sweept away in Julie & Julia, and all of a sudden it was 9am!  So I finished up what I could and got to the gym a little late.  I still hadn't decided at this point whether I would do week 6 day 1 (5 min run, 3 min walk, 8 min run, 3 min walk, 5 min run) or just run for about 20 minutes.  When I got there though I figured that I should stick to the plan that C25K had for me, obviously it's a plan that works.  So I shortened my warm up and cool down in order to make it home by 10am and was still able to get in about 2.5 miles.  Had a lot of fun at the cabin too!

Couch 2 5k

So I don't think I mentioned last time what training plan I was using to train for the half marathon.  I am beginning with couch 2 5k to get myself up to the bridge to 10k plan.  Since I have been an on and off runner I started in week 5: Day 1 run 5 minutes, walk 3, run 8, walk 3, run 5.  Day 2: run 8, walk 5, run 8. Day 3: run 20 minutes.  Monday I did week 5 day 2, and it did not treat me well at all.

I did realize 1/2 through my run that I could have slowed my pace a bit (from 5.5 to 5.0) and the second 1/2 of my run was much easier.  So today when I started my run I went in thinking I would re-do week 5 day 2 since I had a hard time getting through it Tuesday.  Well when my first 8 minutes were up I felt great.  I was running at a 5 mph pace with an incline of 1.0, and decided to just keep running.  I knew that the week 5 day 3 schedule was for me to run 20 minutes without stopping so I did that.  Then when that was over and I didn't feel like falling over and throwing up I kept going!  I could have gone until 25 minutes, but the 2 high school boys next to me were being high school boys so I decided to start walking until I hit 3 miles. I did this is 42 minutes tonight as opposed to 45 minutes on Tuesday.  So we will see what I can do Saturday morning!

Is anyone else out there training for a race?

Cross training day

I attempted to go to the gym again this morning.  I set my alarm for 5 am... stayed in bed until 7:20! So I went to the gym after work again, it was a little less busy and I was still able to get in some good cardio.  I haven't actually joined my gym I'm just doing a free week first.  When I join I will get some actual training sessions, and until then the weights are INTIMIDATING!  So I haven't touched them yet.  So today I did cardio, 45 minutes on a crossramp.  I burned 310 calories too :)

New goals!

So I have decided that this will be the year that I run.  I started running last year, and right before we bought our house was able to run about 5 miles at a time. Then we bought our house and all that running went out the window, and the place we moved to isn't the best neighborhood to run in.  But we do have a gym about 2 minutes away, so I went in today and signed up!  I have this grandiose idea that I will run a half marathon this year, but would be happy with a 10k.  I just hope that I can keep up this motivation to run and actually do it.  I always seem to loose track right before I hit my goal.  So today I ran/walk 3 miles in 45 minutes.

On a totally different note, I found out this weekend while visiting some friends that my husband has baby on the brain!!