Thursday, July 9, 2009
A Healthy and Active Vacation
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
GREEN ACERS IS THE PLACE FOR ME
Alright folk we had a very fun filled Tuesday that I know y’all have all been dying to hear about it…lol
SOUTHERN EATING #5
Hubby and I went to Huey’s this afternoon to meet up with some old college friends. I thought we were going to DIE on the way there because Memphis drivers are crazy, and I thought California drivers were bad. I love Huey’s, it’ such a fun and relaxing atmosphere and I hear they have great burgers. I am not a big hamburger eater, and because we have eaten out a lot already I wanted to be a little good. I ordered a side salad and a West Coast burger, go figure. It had a wheat bun, onion and guacamole. I asked for bbq on the side because they have some of the best bbq sauce around! The turkey burger was HUGE, probably had just as much FAT as a regular burger none the less it was yummy!
I miss Big B and Jenny. Big B was my best guy friend in college and because he is 6’11 he protected me like a big brother! Jenny and I trained for my first marathon together but because of conflicting schedule she wasn’t able to finish, but she was the only one at the finish line that came to support ME!!! THANKS JENNY!
CASHING IN OUR WINNINGS
A couple of week ago I received 5 free smoothies, from SMOOTHIE KING, thanks KERF for doing the contest! Hubby and I made a smoothie trip and I got a small mocha smoothie and hubby got a kiwi and strawberry smoothie! We saved them for our dinner dessert.
SOUTHERN EATING #6
Sadly it was our last night in Memphis, before we head out to Mississippi to the FIL’s farm. That’s right my FIL lives on a freaking huge FARM! He has a huge garden with corn, purple hole peas, squash, cabbage, and so so much more! He also has goats, and 2 huge dogs! I remember the first time I visited we drove around his farm and he had all these beautiful fields of grass and he told me how the dear came and ate at it, I thought that was cute until he told me that in exchange he got to have dear for DINNER!!! Lol…I was so naive.
Anyways back to eating, we had dinner with my college roomy Jess and her fiancé Josiah. It was so nice to catch up and hear about all their fun wedding plans. I am so happy for her and I can’t wait to come back in March for their big day!!! We ate at one of my very favorite restaurants, The American Café. I was tempted to try something different but I went with my usual, the Hawaiian Chicken Salad! It has lots of yummy grilled chicken, walnuts, pineapple, an orange right in the middle, coconut, and a skewer of shrimp on top. Not just good but pretty also! I love the presentation of food too, do any of you appreciate that too? I also had two glassed of Pinot Noir, hey I am on vacation and I had a SALAD for dinner!!!
FREAKY FRIDGE
Ok let me just start with this, I love my MIL (mother in law) she is great! Hubby and I were blessed to stay at her house in Memphis this week, thank you Mary. Well I needed something from the freezer and when I went to open it (this is the extra freezer in the garage) we found this.
She lives alone, why does she need this much food? I think it is because she is storing up in case of emergency. Otherwise why in the world would she have this MUCH food! Hubby says that she says “they were on sale and just in case she might need them”. WOW that’s all I have to say, WOW.Is there a freaky fridge that you have seen in your lifetime? Would you be willing to share?
WRAP UP
Alright to conclude this post I would post all the competitors of the POTM.
Here they are, and you guys rock keep Piling On Those Miles!!! I am so proud of each and everyone for working so hard, and being so disciplined and determined!!!!
TWO DAY TUESDAY & SNEAK PEEK
5 THANKFUL THINGS
Sticking to the season of thankfulness here are my five things I am thankful for today:
#1. I am Thankful for my mom, who loves me more then I know, and is a very giving and hospitable woman.
#2. I am Thankful for my health, I am so blessed to be in good health, not sick and able to work out because I have no injuries that keep me from it.
#3. I am Thankful for our home, I am blessed to have a home that we can call our own, and that we can enjoy life in.
#4. I am Thankful for friends, I could list all of the wonderful people that are in my life right now but I ll keep it simple. There are so many wonderful men and women that are pouring so much life in to me right now, and I am thankful that I get to do life with them.
#5. I am Thankful for the joy that God has given me, I love that even through the hard times God has given me a joy that stands still and my cup keeps overflowing with love and compassion no matter what the circumstances are in my life.
Your turn!
SOUTHERN EATING #4
Bosco’s not our little dog, but the restaurant. Hubby and I went to on our first date to a Restaurant in Memphis. Obviously that is why we named our dog Bosco. They have some of the best beers out there, and they make it themselves. We were running around all day and didn’t end up eating until 3PM! That is quite the late lunch; hey its vacation that’s kind of how it works around here….lol
I ordered a Firestone pizza, there are not too many healthy options there, and I was going to get a beer so I had to get pizza. It had sun dried tomatoes, pine nuts, goat cheese, and spinach. Not too much marinara so I got a small side of marinara and dipped the pizza in it! It was the best MARINERA I have ever had in my life! It mad the pizza POP!
EVENING AT SBUX
Hubby dropped me off at my favorite Sbux in Memphis at 5pm and I left at 9pm! I had two coffee dates, my beautiful gf’s Tiff and Steph. I met with Steph and 5:30 and then right after met up with Tiff at 7:30. Back to back coffee dates are what you have to do when you have so little time, and so much to catch up on. The last time I met up with them was a year ago at Christmas time. It was nice to chat, laugh and share stories. I love these women, makes me kind of sad that we don’t get to hang out more, because I consider these two girls some of my bestest of friends! I LOVE YOU LADIES!
When I got home hubby was under the weather so I made some chicken noodle soup and watch Batman Returns.
AS YOU CAN SEE we were having fun with the giant mag, hubbys mom has:)
MORNING FROST
Slept in AGAIN, 8am wake up call. When I got up I felt refreshed and ready to get some coffee. I threw on my layers of clothing and did a quick SBUX run. I got a small cup of coffee with two pumps of pumpkin spice syrup. When I left I ran in to Tif! I was so excited to be able to see her again, and chat for a minute before she headed to work.
PROBAR #3 SUPERFOOD SLAM
Alright I am off for the day, I am watching a little Today show, finishing my coffee had a half of a SUPERFOOD SLAM PROBAR for some energy and in ten minutes I am going out for a 7 mile run!!! The Super food Slam, is very chewy. You can see all that is in it, the nuts, the dried fruit, and the yummy dark chocolate chips. This bar has a little less fat and calories. I am excited about doing the review of these bars, watch of them have me thinking. Well I am out here my total POTM is 27 miles and after this run it will be 34! I know this is not as high as some of you, but I feel that I will hit my goal of 45 by November 30th!!!!
BAD RUNNER BAD
So I just finished my 7 mile run, and boy was I being THAT stupid runner!! I only had a cup of coffee and ½ a PROBAR before I ran at 10am. On mile two my tummy was rumbling and I knew this was not going to be a good run. I don’t know what I was thinking this morning I guess I was so excited about running I forgot to get prepared. I wore the wrong pants, no Vaseline, forgot the sunglasses, and no FUEL! If I am going to run more then 3 miles I need my hammer gel, and HEED! At mile 4 I thought I should just head back and make it a 5 mile run, but then I got lost! I think it’s funny that even though I was dying my body felt ok, it was just the lack o energy that was killing me. By the time I figured out how to get back home (thank you garmin) It was exactly 7 miles, which made me happy that I got the miles in but sad that I didn’t have a great run.
Here are my stats live well kinda my first self video sweat and all:)!
POWER BREAKFAST
As soon as got in I made a big bowl of Pumpkin oats with soy, graham cracker, granola, flax seed and apple sauce! Mmm…perfect combo.
Alright have a big day ahead of us:
Lunch at Huey’s with Big B and his new GF ( our friend Brandon is 6’11 he was my best guy friend in college) then I get to see my friend Tif’s 6 month old Paxton, and then dinner with College roomy Jess and her fiance that I have never met! Tonight after dinner were headed down even farther down south to Como Mississippi, the FIL has wireless so I ll catch up on all your blogs tonight!!! Were having two Thanksgiving dinners, one tomorrow with hubby's dad and then tomorrow with hubby's sister and family, do you have two Thanksgiving dinners? Have TERRIFIC Tuesday!!! Keep POTM!
P.S.
SNEAK PEEK POTM
Just got the email that Coach AL is going to be giving away a very special coupon to the winner of POTM. Coach Al's plan is the one I used to get me to a 3:30 marathon, so I could qualify for Boston! Check out his website to read all about who he is and what he has accomplished!!!
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Southern Living
SOUTHERN EATING #1
When I landed hubby asked if I wanted to eat at O' Charley's, I soon responded with " DO YOU EVEN HAVE TO ASK!". O'Charleys was one our favorite spots to grab grub when we dated in Memphis. I was so excited to get the sweet rolls. Well now that I am a lot healthier about what I eat, it wasn't as fun of experience as I remember. I used to get a Long Island Ice Tea, chicken pecan salad (which had like 1,500 calories, salads are not always the healthiest choice). Well we looked over the menu we tried to find the healthiest things on the menu. It basically came down to grilled chicken, boring! So I thought I would try a key lime and mango salsa chicken platter, and a small side salad. Of course I had one sweet roll as well, before I ate real healthy I would have 3 (these little puppies have 165 calories and 2 grams of fat a piece). The chicken was ok, but too hot for me…I think I could stop eating chicken all together if fish wasn't so expensive. My tummy was mad at me so I only ate half. I wish sometimes that I could just eat whatever I wanted, and my stomach would just act appropriately.
THE IN LAWS
We got to spend a couple hours with the SIL (sister in law), BIL, and 3 nephews before we hit the hay. It was fun, I love them and SIL already has her house looking like a Martha Stewart Christmas. I love her house, it's so nice and a dream home for me. I love all the brick homes in the South; we can't have those in California too many earthquakes. My SIL is so sweet, I wish we lived closer so I could have a big sister to go shopping, chat over coffee, and get pedicures with. These are things that we have done but only for a short while since were always on small vacations when we see each other. I just learned that they might be moving to Florida in two years which means they will be on the other side of the country!
EARLY RISERS
Hubby and I rose early this morning to go to our home church in Memphis, Fellowship. It's a three hour drive from Nashville so we had to leave at 7am. That means we went to bed at 12pm (10pm my time) and woke up at 6:30am (4:30am) my time. It's so worth it, we miss our old pastor and can't wait to sit in service and enjoy his message. I figure I will just get a Sunday nap in! SIL had GoLean Kashi cereal, so I had a bowl of that and on our way out to Memphis we swung by Sbux and I got a tall skinny 2 pump, pumpkin spice latte. They put whip cream on it, WTF, if you ask for non-fat milk that means NO whip cream, I worked there I know these things. O well I’ll suffer…lol
The plan for today is to get settled in MIL (mother in laws) house, nap, and plan out the week. I already have two coffee dates with old friends! I am not exercising today, unless I get bored…HAVE A RESTFUL AND BLISSFUL SUNDAY!
I AM BACK
Ok so I never had a chance to post the previous post so I am going to just continue and give you a small recap of our day so far. Church was wonderful, so nice to see our pastor again. Our old church is held at my Alma mater Crichton College.
SOUTHERN EATING #2
McCalister's, another fave! It is a bit on the expensive side so I only used to go there on pay days. I got my favorite sandwich, chicken berry with a cup of chicken tortilla soup which was a lot thicker then I remember. It was all very wonderful!
TRIP TO WF
After our lunch we spent some time with hubby’s bff, Josh he’s so fun, it’s always nice to hang with him. I convinced him to go to the new WF with us (they didn’t have one when I lived here) he was a little disappointed though as was I. This WF was A LOT smaller then the one in LA. Go figure, southern folk are not as health conscious as us west coasters. But we did score some samples and I got some breakfast fixins( o no some more southern lingo coming out). Josh is also going to sample one of my PROBARS and sending me a review, THANKS JOSH!
CONTEST ON MONDAY
Alright well were off for more fun, I wanted to let you all know that tomorrow morning I will be posting a fun contest on a FREE Cookbook offer, you don’t want to miss it!!! So excited about all that posted there work out plans for Thursday morning, keep on posting so I can have a great motivation post on WEDNESDAY NIGHT!
Friday, November 21, 2008
POTM Update & BSI Submission
SCHOOL THANKSGIVING FEAST
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving feast at school. There was vegetable soup, corn chowder, and cornbread. Last year I ate too much corn chowder and got sick so this year I stuck to the vegetable soup and had small sample corn chowder.
PROBAR #2 Apple Cinnamon Crunch
Hubby left for Nashville today. I sent him off with some treats, including an Apple Cinnamon PROBAR. Here is hubby’s review all the way from Nashville:
That is one thing I need to research, because I feel like there is A LOT of fat in these bars?“It didn't taste like apple cinnamon, it tasted like cherry-something.Texture was good but still couldn't get over the cherry-ish flavor bar was big,so that was nice. But with the grams of fat being so high, I would have rather had a good-ol' Snicker bar which tastes exactly what a Snicker bar should tastelike.”
CHRISTMAS PLAYLIST
After work I had a bunch of errands to run before I take off tomorrow. When I finally got home, I blasted my Hairy Conick Jr. Home for the Holidays CD, and got to work on my BSI recipe. Because I am a big lover of Christmas music, I thought I would give you some of my best Christmas CD’s that I think everyone should own.
Amy Grant Home for Christmas
Unexpected Gifts 12 New Sounds of Christmas
Celine Dion These are the Special Times
Chris Rice The Living Room Sessions
Clay Aiken Christmas Album
Christmas with the Rat Pack (my all time fave)
Kenny G Miracles
LeeAnn Womack Season of Romance
Mariah Carey Merry Christmas
Tran-Siberian Orchestra
Chicago Christmas Album
Michel Buble Let it Snow
What are your favorite Christmas CD’s?
BSI SUBMISSION
Thanks Lindsay for selecting Pumpkin for this week’s BSI . Well I love pumpkin, but hate pumpkin pie, I know it’s weird. I wanted to come up with something original and creative. It was hard because I felt like everyone else has already done everything I was trying to come up with. I like to use everything I already have on hand, so with out further ado here it is:
Chicken and Apple Pumpadillas ( yes a pumpkin quesadilla)
Ingredients:
1 chicken breast
Salt
Pepper
Dash of Chili powder
Dash of Cinnamon
¼ cup black beans
¼ cup sour cream
½ cup of pumpkin puree
¼ cup of shredded cheese
2 8inch whole wheat tortillas
1 sliced small apple
Preparation:
1,Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. Coat a larger nonstick skillet with cooking spray and set it over medium heat. Sprinkle salt and pepper on chicken. Cook chicken breast on both sides for about 5 minute on each side.
3.In a small bowl mash the beans, sour cream, chili powder, and cinnamon. In another bowl stir together pumpkin and cheese.
4.Spread the bean mixture on one of the tortillas, and the pumpkin mixture on the other. Then arrange the chicken and sliced apple on top of the bean mixture and then put the other on top to form a sandwich. Place on the baking sheet and bake until the tortillas are crisp, 5-6 minutes. Cut in to wedges and enjoy!!!
I know it looks weird but the cinnamon and chili pepper were a perfect match and so was the pumpkin and cheese!
OOO this was by far the best BSI meal I have come up with!!! I thought I would need salsa but not need!
PILE ON THE MILES SNEAK PEEK AND UPDATE
Ok so today after I finished my BSI recipe I stepped outside and found a very nice SURPRISE!!!! Thank you CAMELBACK!!!! I am so excited about all that they sent me, in support of the POTM. I will be doing a review on these bottles soon, and hosting a giveaway so keep your eyes peeled.
I have decided to offer a second and third place to the challenge as well. I think that this will give you all more of a push to run hard this last week!!!!! SO keep POTM! There are so many other great things I can’t wait to giveaway.
LEAVING ON A JET PLANE
I love plane rides and road trips. For me it’s a time to catch up on the things I NEVER have a lot of time to do. Read fiction novels, knit, sleep, and chill. Here are a few must haves in the bag:
I pod, New book Nicholas Sparks at First Site (have never read his stuff), scarf I am working on, and a few good magazines, Women’s Health and Running World.
What are some things you like to have with you on a road trip?
Alright it’s 10pm and I still HAVEN’T packed, hubby tells me it’s in the 30’s in TN, so I NEED to pack heavy. I don’t know what I am going to bring as far as running clothing because I HAVE NO WARM running gear! I will have to just layer it up. Have to get to bed at a somewhat decent hour I have spinning and weights in the morning. Good night Ya’ll, O' no hear comes the South out in me…lol….
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Updates & Vacation Plans!
Well since being gone, I have not eaten very well, and have not exercised I need to detoxify! So today that’s what I am doing, lot’s of fruits and veggies and water.
I wanted to run this morning, didn’t happen body needed rest. But I did get to sit and eat cranberry oats while hubby and Bosco read the paper together:)
Plan for the next two days until VACATION:
-eat lots of REAL food
-run
-kick box
-Yoga
-pack
-clean
-plan out vacation
PILE ON THE MILES CHALLENGE UPDATE
I wanted to give those of you in who are participating in the PILE ON THE MILES CHALLENGE, a sneak peak about some things that are going to be in the winners goodie baggy (a little incentive to keep running hard). I have a couple sponsors that are sending me some very cool things to throw in the GB (goodie bag). Here is the first peak, a Gas Cap....
I wore this amazing hat, in the ST. George Marathon. I felt a little goofy at first, but quickly got over that. I loved the way you could stick your gels in the hat and grab them conveniently.
Patented designed, with special inserts that snugly & comfortably hold gel packets.
· Reduce the weight & bounce of a fuel belt
· Keep your gels close & convenient
· Stay fueled up & light on your feet
It was so convenient and comfy!!!! I am so excited to give one of these to a the winner.
GREAT THANKSGIVING CHALLENGE UPDATE
Surprisingly hubby updated me on our total grocery bill for this month so far and it was only $100! We are almost to Thanksgiving and are going to make our budget! I can’t wait to send a gift card to my brother in the mail this week.
VACATION PLANS
I only have 48 hours until I leave for Nashville for thanksgiving with the In-laws. Hubby is leaving on Saturday because he had a FREE ticket and was limited on the days he could fly out, and because I have work I couldn't’t leave. So I will be home Friday night alone again, which means cleaning and packing! Then Saturday morning I will be flying solo, which will be good because I can catch up on reading and finish my scarf (I am almost done with it).
I am excited about heading out to Memphis for Thanksgiving, we are only there are a week so we have to plan accordingly. We want to hit up all the best eateries we miss, friends, and family. I am hoping to see college roomies, and get in a lot of running since I only have 19 miles logged since the 8th!!!!! Man I am slacking, but with vacation that means more time, and I am one of those crazy ones that love to work out on vacation, do any of you readers do that too???
Well I am off to work on this Thursday morning hoping to eat healthy, go to kickboxing tonight, and then couples study. I hope not to be stressed these next two days as I am packing and planning for Holidays. How do you deal with stress of the Holiday? DO you have any? I tend to just write as much as I can down so that I don’t have to worry about it, haven’t done ANY of that yet! There is still the shopping list, Christmas cards to make, send out, and have that annual Christmas party to PLAN! I WILL NOT get stressed, I WILL NOT get stressed, I WILL NOT get stressed!!!! (Must put a massage on that list)
P.S. When I got home from AZ I received all of these wonderful samples from ProBar, and Snacktration!!!! Can't wait to try them:)
