Get Moving Goode

So...

2011-04-27T10:48:00.000-04:00

So...

I have most certainly NOT been adhering to my New Year's goal of regularly updating this blog. Unreliable internet access at home is to blame (or partly to blame). But it is frustrating to try and write a blogs and post photos with a super slow cell phone internet connection.

However, things are looking to change as we have started house hunting! Once we get in a permanent place we are going to get a landline and hopefully high speed internet.

We've officially been "House Hunters" for six days and already I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. We've seen a few houses, but none of them have fit the bill for what we want. Even though my new mantra is "Be patient, be patient," I'm starting to think we'll never find what we want! Is a house with a place for a horse or two on 10-20 acres so hard to find? Well, yes if you add in all the other criteria we're looking for:

Dishwasher
3 beds, 2 baths
Attached garage
Open floor plan
Up-to-date (well, at least NO WOOD PANELING)
Man Cave room (preferably in a finished basement)

Already I can understand how people get very emotionally attached to house--you see pictures and you start thinking about all the things you could do with the property-- I better stop now.

We're going to see about five houses on Saturday morning so we'll see what there is out there.

Also, I haven't been logging my workouts either. Not sure why I stopped-- I still work out most days of the week, but I really haven't felt like taking the time to write those down everyday.

Happy Wednesday!

As white as snow...

2011-01-13T18:00:00.002-05:00

So-- not much going on in Michigan these days. It's still snowing as you can see from the scene behind my office.

My office isn't much better than the landscape outside-- the photos haven't come in to hang on the walls, so everything's pretty stark.

On the upside, it's a HUGE office.

My Workouts:

January 10-Four Fast Miles (Yoga Focus)

January 11-Walk Your Way Slim

January 12-Total Body Time Crunch

January 13-Get Moving for Weight Loss

Shovel, shovel

2011-01-09T13:27:00.001-05:00

Alright, so I didn't meet my goal of blogging here at Get Moving Goode last week. Just a minor slip up, I will get back on track.

There weren't too many interesting things going on this week, unless you count the rogue smoke dectector that went off at 4 a.m. on Saturday morning (it took me 10 minutes to get the thing to turn off-- I had to unplug it from the electric wires and then wrestle with the rigid plastic cover to get the thing quiet).

Will was out of town on Friday, and this was the scene I saw outside when I let Kobe out at 5 a.m.:

I figured it would be good to shovel the stairs to prevent my klutzy self from slipping:

So I got my first experience wielding a snow shovel...

While Kobe watched from a distance:

Only a few minutes of shoveling and sprinkling salt later the stairs were fairly clear:

At least they passed Kobe's inspection ;-)!

My Workouts:
January 4- 2 miles from 5 Day Slim Down

January 5-2 Week Turnaround Cardio , Karen Voight's Yoga Focus
January 6-2 Week Turnaround Strength, PM Yoga Conditioning for Weight Loss
January 7-AM Yoga Conditioning For Weight Loss
January 8-The Firm's Cardio Sculpt Blaster, AM Yoga; Backbends
January 9-The Ultimate Workout-Cardio and Flexibility

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2011-01-03T19:00:00.002-05:00

It’s a new year so it’s time for some new goals. Yes, goals. Not resolutions. Why? I don’t keep New Year resolutions. But, that doesn’t mean a new year can’t be a time for new goals. Actually, according to dictionary.com, there’s a big difference between goals and resolutions.

But before I get to that, let’s talk about this totally cool photo of me driving two Belgian Draft horses. I got to drive them (and just not hold the reins... although the driving took place in a wide open field under close supervision from Mr. Courtney. I did ride horses for years when I was a kid, but I haven't really been around them since graduating from high school.) Anyways, Will and I got to go on a sleigh ride before Christmas at Four Green Fields Farm in Rodney, Mich. The farm offers sleigh rides and wagon rides for private parties and on the weekends (plus a corn maze and pumpkin patch in the warmer months). Visit the website for more information!

Okay, and back to the difference between a resolution and goal.

Goal: “The result or achievement toward which effort is directed.”

Resolution: “The act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action, method, procedure, etc.”

For me, picking a resolution is something that is very rigid, such as, “I will exercise Monday-Saturday for 45 minutes a day.” This would never work for me, because I’m an all or nothing type person. The first time I skipped a workout in the middle of the week (let’s say Wednesday), I’ve broken my resolution. And for me, a broken resolution means falling off the exercise bandwagon. For me, it’s all or nothing.

On the other hand, a goal like, “I will workout most days of the week,” gives me some flexibility so skip a workout hear and there, and pick out the workout I want to do regardless of how long it is. in this case, "most" is subjective.

So here are my goals for the new year:

Start logging my workouts again. I did this religiously a couple of years ago and it felt good to look back at what workouts I had accomplished each week. I am also much more inclined to do strength training and stretching three times each week when I write my workouts down.

Get two posts up on this blog each week.

Blog at least once a week at Goode Taste.

All of these goals are very doable for me-- no reason why I can’t write a few more blog posts and write down my workouts.

I’ll leave you with a photo of the winter scene outside our house.

Workout Log (January 1-3)

January 1- Rest (I stayed up to welcome in the New Year and had a few too many beverages)

January 2-Michelle Dozois' Ultimate Workout (Cardio), 10 Minute Solution: Quick Tummy Toners Crunchless Abs

January 3-Kickstart Your Metabolism

Let's get up to date!

2010-11-13T15:42:00.001-05:00

As you dear readers remember, in May my hubby and I moved from South Carolina to the great state of Michigan. As you probably recall, I spent a good part of the summer stressing over how to find a job and navigating all the stairs at the cottage.

It is with a very happy heart that I can report that I found a job (HOORAY!) and now that we have fairly reliable internet access at home I will try to get back to updating Get Moving Goode a few times a week. The next few posts will hopefully get us up-to-date.

First things first: my job! I am employed as a recruiter with a state university and have been in Southeast Michigan for the last month and a half recruiting high school students. Navigating in unfamiliar territory is always challenging, but I was really glad to get out and see parts of the state I’ve never been to before.

THANK GOODNESS FOR GPS!!!

To tell you the truth, I was really nervous about traveling. Not because I was scared of staying in hotels and driving, but because I was scared of packing on the pounds eating out at restaurants. I’m really proud to say that I didn’t gain any weight and actually lost a pound or two. This is credited to portion control—I usually ate at take-out restaurants where the portion size is limited. Here’s where and what I ate a majority of the time:

Subway
It will be awhile before I eat at a Subway again since the veggie and Swiss sandwich on wheat with honey mustard dressing was on the menu 80% of the time for lunch. I avoided chips and sodas, and ordered a ham and cheese sandwich on occasion to mix things up ;-). Kudos to the sub shop for offering healthy fast food options!

Panera
Can you really say anything bad about a restaurant that serves bread with everything? Usually I ordered a half and half: black bean soup and a classic salad, turkey (hold the mayo), garden vegetable soup with Greek salad. It’s also great that Panera posts the calories in an item right on the menu board.

I also made sure to NOT look at the pastry case… that took will power.

Wendy’s
Plain baked potato and small chili for under 3 bucks. Not bad, not bad at all.
Whole Foods
Loooove the salad bar! And the olive bar. And the bakery.
Breakfast
I made sure to stay at a hotel that provided breakfast—so I usually ate raisin bran with skim milk, or peanut butter toast.

The Car
I made sure to have healthy snacks in the car like almonds and dried apricots, plus bottled water (and I saved all the bottles to bring home to recycle-I did I did I did, so don’t judge). I also grabbed an extra banana from the hotel breakfast bar to take for a snack.

Coffee Shop
Inevitably, there were times when I had a couple of hours in between visits and college fairs, so I would head to a coffee shop to take advantage of the free wi-fi. My drink of choice is a decaf, skim cafe au lait (or misto for you Starbucks fans) or a simple decaf coffee sweetened with Splenda. Although I'm back to trying to avoid artificial sweetners.

Another tip that I learned from other college recruiters is to stay at an extended stay hotel that has a kitchen. That way you can buy healthier meals and you won’t have to go out to eat. It’s also a good idea because you can buy pre-washed lettuce and dressing and fix your own healthy salads (not to mention you can pick-up salad add-ons at the grocery store’s anti-pasto bar.) One week I purchased whole wheat rolls and boxed soup and ate that a couple of nights for dinner.

I'm off to hear my husband scream at the college football teams on the TV-- hope everyone is having a great weekend!

(Part of) My Summer in Pictures

2010-10-28T19:17:00.000-04:00

Step Up!

2010-06-13T13:50:00.000-04:00

Living in a lake cabin has its ups and downs, and this is illustrated no better than in all of the stairs on the property. Case in point: Last weekend I made the weekly run to the grocery store and arrived home with the husband nowhere in sight with a trunkful of food (fortunately only 4 bags and a cooler, but they were heavy bags!):

Upon unloading the groceries I faced a staggering climb down these:

Now, that's not so bad, but keep in mind I had to make another trip up and down, carrying at least 15 lbs. worth of stuff!

(I do have to say that my legs are looking a lot more toned ;-)).

We also have two other sets of stairs in the house (not to mention 3 more staircases outside connecting the decks). This one leads to the loft/bedroom area:

And there's another spiral staircase that leads to the basement/laundry room:

And it's guarded by this guy:

Big Rapids doesn't have much in the way of job opportunities. I've been checking the newspaper and the university's employment site. I really hope I find something soon because I'm getting BORED!!! Kobe and I walk 3-4 times a week at the park, but that only takes up so much time. There's usually not much on TV, and I'm quickly reading through my books.

I finished reading The Man Who Loved Books Too Much, The Hunger Games, and The Lost City of Z (all were excellent). I've moved onto to reading Outside 25: Classic Tales and New Voices from the Frontiers of Adventure.

Will and I did have a couple of excursions last week. We went to the football coach's house for a cookout with the incoming freshman class, and went out to eat at the Blue Cow Cafe for our anniversary on Friday. The Blue Cow was very good-I got the pan-seared duck breast and Will got the whitefish filet. WE finished our meal off by sharing the fudge brownie sundae (it was so good!). Guess it's a good thing we can burn off all those calories by climbing all these stairs!

I'll leave you with a lake view and a super cute photo of Will and Kobe.

Road Trip Recap

2010-06-06T20:14:00.001-04:00

Our road trip to Michigan took three days. We left South Carolina late on a Friday after we finally closed on Will's house. We drove a couple of hours to Virginia where we stayed with my brother- and father-in-law.

South Carolina must have been sad to see us go because it rained and rained and rained. I wish I could say the feelings were mutual, SC!

We got up early on Saturday and went to breakfast at Cracker Barrel before we headed out. We made sure we had Samantha, our trusty Garmin navigator, to lead us down the right road.

The road started with a twisty drive through the Appalachian mountains .Unfortunately it was foggy so we didn't get a great view of the views :-(.

And we got to go through a couple of tunnels...

Before we crossed the Ohio River in to Ohio!

Ohio was really pretty-- I had never been to this state before (except for a layover in the Cincinnati airport). The eastern part of the state eventually gave way to flat farmland...

We stopped in Findlay for the night where we stayed at a Country Inn and Suites. It was a really nice hotel and the rooms were huge with high ceilings. It felt really opened and not cramped like some hotel rooms.

Kobe was pretty tired. We gave him tranquilizer pills to make the long ride easier for him and for us. (The pills were prescribed by the vet in preparation for the trip).

He was so tired he didn't even stand up to eat!

We woke up early on Sunday to complete the final leg of our journey.

Yay! We made it to Michigan!

We arrived at our house around 1 p.m,. and started moving everything in from the car. We are almost finished getting settled into our house (that's AHEM, by a lake). It's really quiet-- we can hear the pair of loons that summer here and there are swans that swim by.

I'll be posting more information about our new town, but it'll be a couple of days before my next post (still having internet issues).

Technology Hiatus

2010-06-03T19:34:00.000-04:00

Still no internet on my computer yet (I'm borrowing my hubby's work computer to post this) and we still don't have satellite, so we're getting a whole five channels, and of those three are PBS stations. Needless to say, I've had to find other ways to occupy myself since there's not much to do other than stare out the window at a lake ;-).

So far this week I've gotten my car insurance, license, and registration all taken care of. I was very excited to see my lettuce sprouting out of its pot today (still no photos since my laptop is offline).

Kobe and I have been for a couple of long walks in the park, and I'm currently reading two books: The Hunger Games and The Man Who Loved Books Too Much. Both are excellent reads. Additionally, I've started a Lord of the Rings marathon (I love sci-fi/fantasy movies) which I should be able to finish by next week. I'm watching an hour here and there since they're such long films.

I'm off to get caught up with Google Reader. Hopefully I'll have pictures tomorrow!

Looks like we made it!

2010-06-01T20:51:00.000-04:00

We finally made it to Michigan on Sunday afternoon after driving over 900 miles from South Carolina! There are tons of pictures on my cell phone from our road trip, but I'm having issues getting online at our new place. The past two days we have been busy unpacking and getting settled in to our LAKE house (um, yeah, it's pretty cool), planting a veggie/herb container garden (updates to be posted over at Goode Taste), and getting all the little things taken care of after a move (taking a tour of the area, restocking the pantry, car insurance, new license/registration).

The road trip went really well, and the only problem we have has been our timid puppy. Kobe got stuck in our upstairs bedroom yesterday and refused to come downstairs for SEVEN HOURS. Yep, he was scared to come down the steps (in his defense, our last house was one story, and the steps in our our new place are steep and narrow). We figured the best way to get him to come down was to ignore him-- he's so needy we thought he would come down to get some attention eventually. The couple of times he peeked up at him, we was laying at the top of the stairs with his chin resting on the floor with big, wet eyes and a look that said "Help me, I'm such a wimp, I'm scared to scoot down the stairs!!!"

Will finally got him down after we were sitting outside and realizing that we needed our dog by our sides to really celebrate Memorial Day. All Will did was get Kobe's leash and the dog followed him right down on his own. Crazy puppy.

Morning walk

2010-05-27T13:43:00.000-04:00

Today may be my last post for a few days since the trek to Michigan begins tomorrow! I'm so excited-- I'm picking up my hubby at the airport tonight. We've only seen each other once since January. I have a few errands to run this afternoon before I head to the airport, but I managed to get in a workout (Maximum Body Shaping and Yoga Focus).

Kobe and I also went for our last Georgia walk this morning. Here are some photos:

I was hoping Kobe would be calm enough to be walked without the Gentle Leader...

But he was a little too excited (read: pulling me everywhere) that the Gentle Leader had to be put on. The walk was much more pleasant after that :-).

Spider web

We weren't the only ones out for an early morning walk...

On the road...

2010-05-26T20:18:00.000-04:00

I spent 5 hours in the car today-- my dad and I had to drive to South Carolina to take care of some stuff with the house. We did manage to fit in a Starbucks stop and went out to lunch at Fatz, but that's a long time to spend in the car.

When we got back, we had a few minutes of downtime at the house before heading out to eat at the local Thai restaurant, which was really yummy. This dish I ordered had a spicy, tomato-based sauce with lots of basil, veggies, tofu, and thick rice noodles-- sooo yummy! (I probably should also tell you I had a spring roll, crab Rangoon, and a chicken satay-- definitely my week's worth of fried food consumption).

Also, I got the recipe for Cincinnati Chili posted over at Goode Taste-- be sure to check it out!

And I've been having a little too much fun playing with iMovie-- here's my latest video edit:

I promise sometime I'll post something besides the cat and dog! I promise promise promise!

Sally

2010-05-25T18:39:00.000-04:00

Today was pretty uneventful, although Dad and I took a drive to Athens to eat at Chick-fil-A, visit a bookstore, and drop something off at his workplace.

I did manage to catch this very cute video of Sally (unfortunately I don't know how to turn it around).

Tonight I made Cincinnati Chili for dinner-- I'll try and get that recipe posted tomorrow. It was really good!

Hmmmm...

2010-05-24T18:49:00.000-04:00

Hmmm... I really don't have too much to blog about today. I'm really worn out since I stayed up waaaay past my usual bedtime to watch the series finale of Lost. I was satisfied with the way it ended, but I was really sad to see such a great show come to an end (YES-I bawled my eyes out at the end).

All of my favorite shows have wrapped up for the season, but at least Fringe and Bones are scheduled to come back next season. Maybe it's just me, but there never seems to be any really good shows on during the summer.

Anyways, returning to today's happenings:

Sally and Kobe made great strides in tolerating each other as can be seen in the following photo:

My workout consisted of the weight training segments from Kathy Smith's Secrets to Fat Burning (at least I think that's the name of the workout)
And I spent a lot of time in the kitchen (I roasted veggies for panini sandwiches for dinner and make 5 Fruit Salad ).

In other exciting news, I get to see my husband on Thursday! I've only seen him once since January and I can't wait :-)!!!!

Take a Hike

2010-05-23T19:14:00.000-04:00

We took a hike this morning at Unicoi State Park near Helen, Ga. The trail was 2.5 miles so that's all the physical activity I had today. It's so much more fun to walk on a path through the woods than on a sidewalk.

I didn't do a great job of taking photos during the day, but I do have several from our hike:

Look closely and you'll see the fish!

Kobe was thirsty after logging all those miles!

This inchworm stowed away on my pant leg...

... but we gave him a ride home and set him free on a tree.

Inchworms are the caterpillar version of a geometer moth (according to Wikipedia). There are over 26,000 species of this moth and inchworms usually eat leaves (good thing I put him in a tree).

I've been super tired lately- it must be the stress from the move, trying to sell our house, etc. I was a little upset this morning as I got on the scale and it said I weighed 3 more pounds than yesterday. Just to be sure, I moved the scale around the floor and weighed myself three more times, but that higher number kept coming up. I'm hoping it's just water gain from eating salty food this weekend. I'll lay off the sodium for the next couple days and see if the number goes back down.

A little overboard

2010-05-22T19:43:00.001-04:00

I went a little overboard in the fattening food department today, indulging in too much cheese, too many pita chips, cake and ice cream. Fortunately I got in over 1 1/2 hours of exercise, so I'm hoping that will balance out the calorie intake.

My exercise extravaganza started with a 40-minute walk with Kobe this morning. Isn't he the cutest pup you've ever seen? ;-)

Then, after a big bowl of oatmeal, I did Gaiam's Sculpt and Tone, which is an hour long workout. Honestly, I wasn't very impressed with the intensity of the workout, I didn't click with the instructor, and found the routine to be very repetitive.

After all that exercise I was hungry, so I ate the other half of my sandwich from lunch yesterday, leftover spinach salad , and a small bowl of fruit salad.

My mom wanted to get a bottle of wine, so Dad was kind enough to drive us to Helen, Ga., to the Habersham Winery.

We relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. Mom and I watched the Food Network, and she was kind enough to puppy-sit while I did some laundry (Kobe isn't ready to be off-leash with the cat yet).

Dinner was simple and easy tonight: salad, cheese, and bread.

Brie cheese

Pecorino

Beverage

Super Veggie Salad with even more cheese (feta)

Pretzel roll from the Corner Cafe in Buckhead (my favorite bread! Unfortunately all the salt fell off the crust during transport, but it was still good-especially with the brie.)

And dessert was a Turtle cupcake from Carolyn's Cupcakes and a small container of diet ice cream.

I am a lover of all kinds of ice cream, and the only complaint I Have about low-fat, low-calorie versions is they usually have an artificial after taste. Oh well, at least my ice cream craving was satisfied.

Tomorrow should be a fun day-- we're taking Kobe on a hike and tomorrow night is the finale of Lost!

Decadent Day

2010-05-21T21:00:00.001-04:00

Today was a decadent day, with the most self-indulging part being dessert, which was a Decadent Chocolate Cupcake from Carolyn's Cupcakes and some strawberries. My other indulgences included a much needed haircut, a pretty good beer, and lunch out with my mom.

The clouds were looming this morning, but Kobester and I managed to get a walk in, although we did get rained on in the last 5 minutes. When we got home, I joined Mom for the last 10 minutes of her aerobics workout and then did some stretching on my own before cooking a bowl of apple raisin cinnamon oatmeal for breakfast.

We went to lunch at Natalie Jane's Cafe in Clarkesville, Ga. I had half of a very large turkey sandwich on wheat bread and a small spinach salad. Afterwards we headed to Bumbleberry Yarn and Gifts on the square where Mom got her Mother's Day present: a skein of yarn and some new knitting needles.

The rest of the afternoon was spent baking brownies, checking my email and Google Reader, and cooking dinner.

I did manage to squeeze in happy hour that included a bottle of Sweet Water Brewing Company's Road Trip Ale (which was VERY good)....

.... some pita chips...

... and hummus (regular, zesty garlic, and black bean).

I also snacked on a few grapes and almonds.

A vegetarian meal was on the menu for dinner. We had stuffed portobello mushrooms and warm spinach salad. The portobello mushrooms were pretty good-- I probably won't blog about those since I followed this recipe from Veggie Num Num. These were really rich and hearty-- the stuffing includes lots of feta cheese and pine nuts. However, I wasn't too fond of the tahini yogurt sauce that accompanied the recipe.

On the other hand, the Warm Spinach Salad was wonderful so I posted that at Goode Taste.

I will leave you on a happy note with photos of tonight's dessert:

The Great Outdoors

2010-05-21T10:26:00.001-04:00

I got wrapped up in the season finales of Bones and Fringe last night and didn't post as I had to devote my complete attention to two of my three favorite shows. I spent a lot of time outside yesterday. In addition to the usual morning walk with Kobe, I planted some plants in front of the house for my mom.

There is a snakeskin in the front of the house so I made sure to wear jeans and shoes in case I encountered the legless reptile. Believe me, I had my eyes peeled!

Here's one of the planters (I forgot to take an after photo)....

The rest of the afternoon was devoted to going to the grocery store at the other end of the county (it has the best selection), making fruit salad, and cooking dinner, which was Two-Tomato Pesto Pasta (click here for the recipe).

Yesterday was a strength day, so after I walked Kobe I came home, ate two eggs and some fruit for some fuel and protein, and got to work. I did one of the lower body workouts from I Want That Body, and then followed it up with Karen Voight's Firm Arms & Abs. This is an oldie that uses fairly light weights, but the DOMS hits hard the next day. Her tricep work is killer, and my triceps were shaking just thinking about it!

Lunch was a salad...

With pita chips and hummus.

So far this morning, Kobe and I went on our walk, I got in another short workout once we got back, and cleaned up. It started to rain as we were reaching the car, and it is forecasted to rain all day, so I'm really glad we got that walk in early.

I'm off to get my haircut, eat lunch with my mom, and run some errands. Then I'm cooking two new dishes for dinner: stuffed portobello mushrooms and warm spinach salad.

Wrapping Up

2010-05-19T18:51:00.000-04:00

I have spent waaaay too much time on the computer today, so this is the wrap-up post. Here's what's happened since my last post:

Sally and Kobe have gotten to know each other a little better...

And I ate dinner...

.... with dessert...

...Sally was mischievous kitty....

I had leftover chicken with hoisin sauce on a sandwich thin for dinner. I have to say, I really don't see what all the fuss is about for these thins. They had zip flavor and even though I toasted it, some of the sauce still soaked through the bottom. I guess if you really want a sandwich without the calories of a bun they would do, but I'd rather eat "real" bread.

I'm off to work on the menu for the weekend and put together my grocery list for tomorrow-- good times!

Relax

2010-05-19T16:32:00.001-04:00

I'm (sigh) really (sigh) relaxed (sigh) now. I had a full body massage this afternoon and it has done me a world of good. I was super tight, but feeling a little looser now. I had to drive up to Sautee-Nacoochee, Ga., this afternoon for my appointment at A Garden for Wellness.

A Garden For Wellness offers a variety of services and instruction to help you reduce the stress in your body, restore your physical and mental health, and enhance your well-being.

This was a really nice place to get a massage-- the business is located in a house, so it's very cozy. Sometimes I feel a little intimidated going to spas with the receptionists and fancy seating areas. This setting is calm and peaceful and you can hear the birds chirping outside. I also liked the fact that Linda, the masseuse, talked to me during the massage. Sometimes it's a little weird having someone you don't know working on you, so it was nice to be able to talk and get to know her.

The drive to Sautee-Nacoochee was also relaxing with views of the mountains and valleys.

A Native American burial mound (no idea why someone decided to built a gazebo on top of it). At least it's fenced to protect it from the cows.

And what did I do today to deserve such a relaxing afternoon? I spent the morning working on my blogs-- adding a couple of new pages and some new links. Be sure to check out the additions over at Goode Taste !

I also got in an older Gilad cardio workout. It was so cheesy, but was really fun. There's one section where you do a variation on The Twist, and another where you play the air guitar. Sometimes it's a blast just to embrace being dorky in the privacy of your home :-)! Anything for a good workout, right?

After my party with Gilad, it was time for lunch!

Water

Leftover sweet potato fries

Pepper

Hummus for dipping (garlic and black bean-yum!)

Salad with honey mustard dressing, tomatoes, and hot peppers (and don't forget the pickle).

Kobe and I took the day off from walking, but we'll be back at it tomorrow. This morning I had a simple bowl of cinnamon raisin oatmeal and a banana. This afternoon I snacked on some pistachios and grapes. Dinner plans tonight include a chicken sandwich, salad, and some sort of sweet since Wednesday is dessert night (along with Saturday and Sunday).

Sally kept me company while I wrote part of this post (or maybe she was just hiding from the vacuum cleaner since the house is being clean-- I prefer to think she just wanted to hang out with me :-)).

On the go!

2010-05-18T20:09:00.001-04:00

I was on the go all day today and taking photos didn't come to mind. The morning began with an early wake-up call as Kobe and I got in a walk before my parents and I headed to Atlanta to run some errands. Mom and I stocked up on make-up at Bare Escentuals, and then headed to a plant store so mom could buy plants for her window boxes (but guess who gets to plant them all on Thursday ;-)!).

From there we headed to Whole Foods where I learned an important fact about cheese: pecorino refers to sheep's milk cheese in general. I was under the impression that pecorino was a specific type of cheese (like fontina, parmesan, or gruyere), but there are lots of different kinds. Thankfully a helpful cheese monger helped me find some excellent pecorino for snacking.

After our trip to Whole Paycheck Foods, we went to lunch at a Lebanese Bistro, Mezza. My parents LOVE this place, but I was a little skeptical about how good hummus, baba ghannouge, and falafel could be. I was surprised by how flavorful all the food was-- all the other hummus I have had paled in comparison to Mezza's recipe. I got the deluxe vegetarian sampler that included baba ghannouge, hummus, stuffed grape leaves, muhammara (kind of a pepper pesto), falafel, salad, and pita bread. My plate was wiped clean!!! The chef makes everything fresh and from scratch and you can taste the care she puts into the food. DELICIOUS!!! Even the stuffed grape leaves were good (the ones I have had before have been kind of tough and leathery, but these were tender and flavorful).

I squeezed in a workout before cooking dinner (the Firm's Total Body Time Crunch). Dinner was pretty good too, if I do say so myself. I roasted chicken, broccoli, and sweet potatoes. I'm off to watch American Idol and Lost! I can't believe the last episode of Lost is on Sunday...

Mush mush

2010-05-17T18:46:00.000-04:00

Hello, boys ;-)!

I spent a good portion of the day turning my brain to mush in front of the TV getting caught up on Supernatural. Whoever decided to put TV series on DVD is a Saint! I'm currently watching season 3 and will hopefully be able to finish it before I leave for Michigan as the DVDs are from the library.

In other news, I managed to pull myself away from the TV to walk Kobe, cook breakfast (banana, blueberry strawberry oatmeal), go to the grocery store, fix lunch (salad, slice of bread, pear chips), workout (30 minutes of cardio), and get dinner ready (salad and leftover frittata -dessert was fruit salad).

Tomorrow will be much more eventful-- I'm headed to Atlanta for shopping and I'm going out to eat at a Lebanese restaurant!

Unexpected Egg-cellence

2010-05-16T20:54:00.001-04:00

Tonight's dinner was an egg-cellent frittata! It took me a lot longer to make it than I originally planned, but the time spent was well worth it.

The unexpected thing about the recipe is that it came attached to the rosemary plant my mom bought. I highly recommend trying this Rosemary Potato and Caramelized Onion Frittata with Blue Cheese (photo at left was taken before the onions were added). You can view the final dish over at Goode Taste.

For dessert I ate a bowl of sliced strawberries and a few pieces of dark chocolate.

Today began with a bowl of strawberry, blueberry, raisin and Better 'N Peanut Butter Oatmeal. I did one of the Firm workouts (sorry, I can't remember the name-- one of the total body fat blaster sculptor calorie burning ones ;-) ), and I went heavier than usual on the lower body-- my legs were jelly afterwards.

Lunch was really good: leftover Super Veggie Salad, 3 slices of a small baguette, marinated mushrooms, and fruit salad.

I was worn out this afternoon so I tried to take a nap after lunch, but ended up dozing for about 40 minutes. I snacked on some pistachios and a banana. I also drank a small glass of wine before dinner.

Tomorrow I will occupy myself by walking Kobe, running to the grocery store, and reading a book (I finished In the Company of Cheerful Ladies today and have moved on to Sebastian Junger's new book, War).

Good night! :-)

Ahhh...

2010-05-16T08:49:00.000-04:00

As I was relaxing on the sofa yesterday, my husband was busy unpacking all of our stuff. He did take some time to snap a few photos of the new house. I won't post all of them, but here is the view from the back deck:

Ahhhh-- just looking at it makes me take a deep sigh.

Back in Georgia, Sally and Kobe had their closest encounter yet, and it just so happened the camera was readily available to capture the incident. Kobe was engrossed in a rawhide, and Sally decided to give his water bowl a closer inspection (she is obsessed with all things water).

Super Dinner

2010-05-15T19:13:00.001-04:00

I just finished a super dinner-- Super Veggie Salad, citrus-marinated mushrooms, and roasted rosemary potatoes.

YUMMMMM!!!!

Here's the recipe for the Super Veggie Salad . The potatoes were super simple: red potatoes cut into wedges, tossed with olive oil, chopped fresh rosemary, and sprinkled with garlic and salt (I used one of those McCormick grinders).

Look for the marinated mushrooms recipe soon!

Nothing to do

2010-05-15T13:51:00.000-04:00

This is the first weekend since January I have had nothing to do. No work, no moving, just sitting on a big comfy couch with Kobe laying at my feet.

Yesterday Dad and I went to Athens to eat at DePalma's (that place has the best pizza-they hand toss the dough) and this morning my parents and I took a trip to the suburbs of Atlanta (I'm not sure which suburb-there are so many).

First we paid a visit to Starbucks (I got a medium decaf skim misto) and then Petco. I picked up some rawhides and a new gentle leader for Kobester. He currently has a red gentle leader, but it doesn't match his blue collar and leash, and not to mention it's fraying.

After Petco, we headed to REI where I bought a couple of shirts. I really need some new pants, but the ones in my price range had weird pockets that wouldn't be flattering on me, or they were made of really thin material, which just won't do in a cooler Michigan climate. We also stopped by Costco before coming home.

Breakfast was cinnamon apple raisin oatmeal with Better 'N Peanut Butter. For lunch I ate leftover stir fry, a few citrus marinated mushrooms (look for that recipe later today on Goode Taste ), and an orange. Dinner will be good and healthy tonight: super veggie salad and roasted rosemary potatoes.

Kobe and Sally have been tolerating each other really well-- yesterday they took a nap in the same room, and Sally will actually stay in the same room as the dog now. However, he is still leashed since he gets a little excited when she starts to move around.

A long walk

2010-05-13T19:56:00.000-04:00

Kobe and I started the day with a 35-minute walk around the local college, which wore the puppy out. He napped most of the day and has been fairly calm tonight.

After returning from the walk, I had a big breakfast:

(Two eggs and toast with apple butter. Not pictured: half a piece of toast and an orange).

Lunch was a small bowl of roasted red pepper soup, a black bean patty, and a salad.

For entertainment, I watched the first DVD from Supernatural season 3 (I'm so glad the library had this available for rent-- it's one of my favorite shows) and started reading In the Company of Cheerful Ladies from the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series.

Despite being unemployed, I've been pretty busy since I'm now the cook for the household (it's the way I'm earning my keep). Today I made Slow Cooker French Onion Soup for dinner. I love using the slow cooker, especially when you're gone all day and come home to the yummy smell of dinner. However, using a slow cooker when you're at home all day and can enjoy the savory aromas all day long gave me the munchies (but I was able to control my appetite-- I ended up snacking on some pistachios, an orange, and some dried apple slices).

Tomorrow is going to be a good one-- my dad and I are headed to Athens to eat at one of my favorite restaurants, DePalma's .

The Move-Part 1

2010-05-11T16:44:00.000-04:00

Well, stage one of the move to Michigan is complete! The movers came, loaded up the trailer, and drove most of our belongings to the great North. They had the trailer packed to the gills and still couldn't fit everything (I'll be making a donation to the Salvation Army next time I'm in South Carolina.

In the meantime, Kobe and I are spending some quality time at my parents' house, along with Aunt Sally.

This is the first time either animal has had to share living space, and Sally isn't thrilled about her 90-pound houseguest. On the other hand, Kobe really wants to be friends.

They are slowly starting to tolerate each other-- Sally will now stay in the same room, but maintains a distance of at least three feet from "The Beast."

"Sally is still ignoring me!"~Kobe

Surprise!!!!

2010-05-05T16:15:00.000-04:00

Surprise!!!!!

The athletics staff threw a going away party for me at lunch today! I was so surprised-they actually hid in the dark and shouted at me when I walked in the room :-). My last day is on Friday and I wasn't expecting anything, although I figured something was amiss when my colleague came up with a very strange excuse to drive me up to the main athletics administration building during my lunch hour. I was really excited because I've never had a surprise party before.

Look-streamers and balloons!!!(Sorry for the blurry photo-I was using my cell phone).

Anyways, the room was decorated, I got a super yummy chocolate cake with LOTS of icing (thanks to Mr. Dave's wife), a lovely award, and two very nice cards.

I have to say that I will not miss my job, but I will really miss all the people I've come to work with the last 4 1/2 years. Bless their hearts, they've had to deal at times with my crankiness, ignorance, and self-center-ness, but I have learned a lot by working with all of them.

Anyways, lunch was not the healthiest as I had two ~~tiny small~~ big pieces of cheese pizza, a small piece of cake (I got the corner with all the icing), and a bite of blackberry/peach cobbler. Needless to say, no snacking was required this afternoon.

After work I'm off to pack up- tonight I've got the bathrooms and hall closets.

Time to get packing!

2010-05-04T16:22:00.000-04:00

Before I get to the dreaded packing, here are some photos of some flowers that were growing in our overgrown yard. *Please note the yard is not overgrown now as our kind neighbor mowed it last week*.

I think they must be some type of weed-- but they were pretty.

Ah-- now that you're relaxed I'll give you an update on THE MOVE. The mover is coming on Saturday morning at 9 a.m., so I have been hustling to get everything in to boxes.

So far I've been through 3 1/2 rolls of bubble wrap, dozens of sheets of packing paper, and dozens of boxes. There are boxes in the bedrooms, boxes in the living room, boxes in the hallways (which creates a fire hazard, but more importantly interferes with Kobe's ability to sufficiently patrol the house), boxes in the guest bedroom, boxes in my bedroom, boxes in the closets... You get the idea.And though the sight of these boxes would make me feel great about all the packing accomplished to date, I'm still freaking out that it's not going to get done.

I've used about 1/2 of this HUGE roll of wrap.

Here's a status update/action plan for all of the rooms:

Kitchen- PACKED(except for a few essentials-a skillet, a pot, some utensils, bowls, and plates)
Laundry room- some stuff packed; waiting to do a final load of laundry on Friday night/early Saturday. Pretty much will toss everything into a box and load it up
Workout room- PACKED (except for my exercise equipment.... and the VCR.... and the TV.... and my exercise DVDs-I've gotta keep up with my workouts!)
Hokie room (aka guest room): state of chaos and I am tackling it tonight!
The bedroom-nightstands & the extra dresser are pretty much packed; final attack on this room will be Thursday
Bathrooms/Hall closet-- some stuff is packed, but this in on my to do list for Wednesday
Misc. stuff- I've got several of the paintings/posters/knick knacks in boxes. Friday's plan is to go around the house and remove hooks, nails, etc., and patch up the holes.

Okay, just writing about that has gotten me out of breath!

Now I'm waiting on my car to get back from getting an oil change. I figured it would be a good idea to have that taken care of before driving 800+ miles this month.

It's been awhile

2010-05-01T20:22:00.001-04:00

It's been a long time since my last post, so I'll bring you up to speed on what's been going on in the last two weeks:

-Work was keeping me super busy (until this week when all the sports...... well.... stopped playing).
-I haven't felt like dragging the computer at out home to post (I'm just so happy NOT to have to get my computer out at home :-))
-The packing for the move has begun (and the house is in a state of utter chaos-boxes are EVERYWHERE. Really, it's awful-- poor Kobe has no idea what is happening).
-Still no running-- my ankle is still a little swollen. (But, I have been getting doing my weight and low impact DVDs.)

Today was a busy packing day-- most of the kitchen is packed up, nearly all of the books, and most of the videos and DVDs. Not to mention I had to score the last home lacrosse game of the season.

Tomorrow the goal is to pack up everything in the dressers and my closet. I'm also planning to get in some serious R&R tomorrow as well-- I have a sore throat and Kobe is under the weather again, so we'll probably spend a few hours laying in front of the tv.

Oh Peas!

2010-04-15T19:20:00.000-04:00

Yes, that's a bag of peas on my ankle! It's been swollen since yesterday-- it doesn't hurt very much and its not that swollen, but I'm following the rest, ice (or peas), compression, and elevation prescription. I'm not really sure what brought it on-- I didn't roll my ankle or twist it. I'm hoping it'll heal pretty quickly because I've been getting in some really great workouts. It was hurting a little bit after my 1 mile walk with Kobe and 30-minute jog on the treadmill (and most of my body hurts after that) yesterday, but the tipping point may have been the 1-hour trek around the local golf course taking pictures of our golf team... Oh bother!

Work has been really busy this week, and I've been really tired after busy days at the office so that's why there haven't been any posts. My last day at work is three weeks from tomorrow. While I'm very excited I'm also a bit nervous about not having a job lined up in Michigan. Hopefully things will fall into place.

Because of the my ankle, I skipped cleaning the house this morning (great excuse, I know :-)), and instead did a floor stretch after walking Kobe. I'm going to take it easy tomorrow and see if the swelling goes down, so tomorrow's activity will probably just be a walk with Kobe and an upper body/abs workout.

Okay, I'm off to dry some clothes and watch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. There are also new episodes of Bones and Fringe on! Guess it's not a terrible night to be laid up in front of the TV :-)!

It's the little things...

2010-04-10T21:06:00.003-04:00

Sometimes it's the little things that can make you really happy-- like a toasted peanut butter and jelly sandwich or a happy puppy dog running around in the yard. I spent a good bit of the day at work, but before I headed into the office, I fueled up with one of my favorite sandwiches: PB&J!

I really like to toast my PB&Js so the peanut butter gets warm and melt-y. My favorite jam to use is apricot preserves, but I had to settle for grape today. This sandwich is particularly good on homemade bread (and luckily I had a loaf in the freezer).

After putting the sandwich together, I toasted it in a dry skillett.

This would be fabulous if it were toasted in a little melted butter... Maybe I'll experiment next time...

I had a Jonagold Apple on the side.

In other news, Kobe is back to normal, rolling around in the grass and following me around the house. He had a great time frolicking in the yard after I got home from work, and now he's tuckered out on his doggie bed.

Dinner was pretty good, too. I wanted something "light" for dinner so I could indulge in a turtle bar for dessert, so I went for a grilled chicken salad (of course, I loaded the salad up with cheese and had a beer, so it may not have been so light).

Grilled chicken salad with orange bell pepper, pepperoncini, honey mustard dressing, grilled lemon chicken, and tomato & basil feta cheese.

Don't forget the corn muffin!

And the turtle bar! (It got a little smashed in the freezer).

Today's workout was SuperCharged Sculpting. It's a short workout, but I used heavier weights than normal to get in a good workout. I figured I got in plenty of extra physical activity today my getting some cleaning finished this morning.

Here's what else went into my tummy today-- I really ate a lot!

Breakfast: banana, blueberry & Better 'n Peanut Butter oatmeal
After workout snack: grapes
Lunch appetizer: leftover sweet potato fries
Afternoon snack: grapes
Dinner appetizer: leftover green beans

Thyme, thyme, thyme

2010-04-09T20:53:00.001-04:00

The thyme on our back porch is BLOOMING! I didn't know thyme would grow flowers! It was a really nice surprise-- the blossoms are so tiny-- there aren't many yet, they blooms are super cute!

Some of the thyme went into the lemon thyme marinade for my chicken for dinner tonight. I also cooked up a batch of green beans and some sweet potato fries. I did a pretty good job on the fries tonight-- as usual I tossed them with olive oil, cumin, and a pinch of cayenne pepper, and baked them for 30 minutes in a 425 degree oven. Tonight, I also tossed them in ground flax seed, which gave them a crunchy coating.

Yum!

For dessert I had a peanut butter sandwich cookie, some chocolate chips, and an orange.

This morning Kobe and I took a shorter walk than normal since he's still recovering from his sickness yesterday. He did eat some oatmeal this afternoon and I think he's on the mend :-).

After walking Kobester, I hopped on the treadmill for a 28-minute jog (plus warm-up and cool down). Breakfast was apple cinnamon raisin oatmeal with a big scoop of cashew butter and a banana. I ate leftover pasta for lunch with a salad, and I snacked on grapes, almonds, and pretzels this afternoon.

Today is an easy day since I only have to go to one event at work :-). I have less than a month left at this job and I am getting excited about moving on.

It's a good thing...

2010-04-08T19:30:00.000-04:00

It's a good thing I'm almost finished with work for the day since it was a rough one! Something was just off this morning, I can't put my finger on it, but I had no patience this morning, and then when I came home from lunch I discovered that Kobe was sick. I will spare you the gory details to but suffice to say it took me an hour to clean and we're probably going to have to buy a new living room rug. Sigh. It was so bad I had to take him to the vet this afternoon, so I didn't have a very productive day work-wise. At any rate, the vet gave us some medicine, so hopefully the dog will be on the mend soon.

The last couple of days have been really busy, so that's why there haven't been any posts. Tuesday afternoon I jogged on the treadmill after work, and yesterday I did Jari Love's Get Ripped workout.This morning I did Ellen Barrett's Fat Burning Fusion workout, which was a light workout but still really nice because it really helps you stretch out.

I needed some comfort food when I got home this afternoon, so I fixed a big bowl of pasta with sauteed mushrooms, zucchini, and squash, which got topped with a lot of Parmesan cheese.

Dessert was some raisins, dried cranberries, and an orange.

Oh, and today also called for a brewskie:

I'm off to watch The Colbert Report and Fringe and get some laundry done! CHEERS!

And it was all yellow...

2010-04-06T20:24:00.001-04:00

Everything has turned to gold! Thanks to the extraordinary high pollen count we've got going on. My allergies aren't as bad as some people's, but I've definitely had a bit of a headache all day. At any rate, a little headache isn't going to slow me down.

Not much exciting happened today, although it is Lost night! Woo hoo! It's also the night that TBS has repeats of The Office on starting at 8 p.m. Yeah, Tuesday is probably one of the best TV nights.

I'll spare you the drab details of the day and will just give you a brief rundown:

Exercise: walk with Kobe, yoga, 30 minute ~~run~~ jog on the treadmill
Breakfast: chocolate banana raisin oatmeal with wheatberries
Lunch: leftover chicken fingers, salad with honey mustard dressing and feta cheese, grapes
Snacks: apple, almonds, grapes
Dinner: black bean soup, corn muffin
Dessert: orange, Passion tea

A Long Walk

2010-04-05T20:10:00.000-04:00

Today was a really relaxing day- I didn't take any photos, I just enjoyed myself. I started the day by sweeping, mopping, and vacuuming since the realtor was showing our house this morning. Kobe and I had to get out of the house, so we drove out to Cowpens National Battlefield where we walked for about 45 minutes. Then we came home and relaxed for awhile. I also did the strength section of Fight Cellulite Fast during the afternoon. I did have to run out to a baseball game for a few minutes, but I spent most of the afternoon watching the Martha Stewart marathon on Hallmark (now I know how to till a garden, paint magazine holders, prune roses, and how artichokes are harvested!).

Kobe spent a few minutes out in the yard this afternoon, but he was worn out from our walk so he came in and went back to napping again.

Tomorrow is definitely a yoga day-- I haven't been focusing on stretching very much and am getting STIFF. I'll probably do yoga in the morning and run when I get home from work, since we don't have any home games tomorrow.

Here's what I've eaten today:
Breakfast: Banana, blueberry oatmeal with Better 'N Peanut Butter
Lunch: leftover black bean soup with quinoa, orange, salad
Snacks: grapes, almonds, pickle, craisins
Dinner: roasted broccoli, roasted potatoes, baked chicken fingers
Dessert: 1/2 a turtle bar, orange, tea

Bat Dog!

2010-04-04T20:57:00.000-04:00

Bat Dog made an appearance this afternoon in the living room floor-you can tell its Bat Dog by the way the ear is standing straight up. It's extremely hard to photograph Bat Dog since he's an elusive creature that tends to disappear when the camera comes out, but after much patience I captured this photo:

Check out that snaggle tooth! Kobe actually has very nice teeth, but his front tooth got caught on his lip.

This picture just makes me smile! :-)

Oh, I am stuffed. I loved holidays, but holiday eating and drinking can take its toll. I went over to our friends' house for dinner (salad, spaghetti, and garlic bread), drank a couple of beers, and came home with a lot of Easter candy and few more beers.

Here's my booty from the Easter Egg hunt (I was the only one who didn't find any beer :-(, but some kind souls took pity on me and shared).

Not that the candy I ate will kill me, but I also ate 1.5 turtle bars today. I ate half of one for quality control, and then had another after dinner.

An ooey gooey turtle bar-it is as good as it looks!

Despite not having any work, I was pretty productive. I got a lot of spring cleaning done, baked those turtle bars, and washed tons of dishes.

Fortunately I have enough dish washing detergent to handle days like this:

Not to mention my half hour run on the treadmill. Needless to say, I'm pretty pooped, feeling a bit guilty about eating all this junk food (and am silently hoping all my physical activity today will help burn off all the sugar).

I'm hitting the hay pretty soon-- Kobe and I have to get out of the house tomorrow morning since a potential buyers is coming to look at it, and I've got to get in a weight workout, and get stuff ready for baseball.

Until tomorrow....

Long time

2010-04-03T19:47:00.000-04:00

Wow-I can't believe I haven't posted since Wednesday! On Thursday, I went to my friends' house for dinner (chili and strawberry cheesecake ice cream-yum!) and to watch Fringe. Yesterday offices were closed, but I still had to go to the fields for a fundraiser and score a baseball game. I went to work at 11 a.m. and didn't get home until after 7 p.m.-needless to say I was exhausted.

Today I took the day off, but Thursday I ran on the treadmill while listening to Cardio Coach Volume 1.It's an audio workout that was developed to be used with cardio machines-- it's really cool -- the "coach" gives you visualizations and it has some really great music. I didn't make it the entire way through the first time, but I can't wait to give it a go again.

Yesterday, I worked out to the Firm's Total Scuplt *PLUS* abs. Today was a much needed rest day and tomorrow I'll have to run.

This morning I started the day with a bowl of blueberry oatmeal, chai tea, and a banana. Lunch was another peanut butter and jelly sandwich with some grapes. Snacks included an orange, a few almonds, and a pickle. Dinner was a salad with red pepper and feta cheese, grilled chicken, roasted potatoes, and roasted broccoli. For dessert, I ate a peanut butter sandwich cookie with single serve container of vanilla ice cream. I'm probably going to have a cup of tea later tonight.

After I got home from baseball this afternoon, I did some spring cleaning outside: I swept out the car port and front porch, and then swept all the sweet gum burr balls off the pool deck.

There was also a surprise waiting outside: my sage, thyme, and parsley survived the winter and are doing quite well! I evened use the thyme in a lemon marinade for my chicken tonight for dinner. I also love love love to add chopped sage and thyme to scrambled egg!

The picture wouldn't rotate!

I also discovered some violets growing in the yard (at least I think they're violets).

Kobe also had a great time in the yard this afternoon. I was going to throw away the peat moss liners from the hanging baskets, but then I remembered how much he loves to tear stuff up. Here's a video of his exploits:

I'm done with work for the day and am vegging out in front of the TV indulging in one of my guilty pleasures-SciFi movies. I'm having a Star Wars marathon, and am currently on The Empire Strikes Back and just watched the scene where Darth Vader first encounters Han Solo and Princess Leia at the Cloud City (um, yeah, I'm a DORK!).

There are NO SPORTS tomorrow (thank you coaches for honoring Easter Sunday), so the plan is to clean the house (we have a potential buyer coming to look at it on Monday morning), bake some Turtle Bars, and hopefully find some time to RELAX!

Happy Day!

2010-03-31T20:42:00.000-04:00

Today was a happy day with clear skies and 80-degree weather. See, Kobe agrees!

We started the day with our usual walk, and I cleaned the house when we got home (gotta get in that functional fitness!).

Breakfast was a bowl of cinnamon apple raisin oatmeal with a big scoop of cashew butter. That kept me full all morning. For lunch, I ate a bowl of pinto beans and rice with a salad.

Today's snacks included a banana, almonds, craisins, and a Jonagold apple. Dinner was a bowl of rigatoni with mushrooms and tomato sauce topped with lots of cheese. I also ate a salad. Wednesday is *candy night*, so I treated myself to a pomegranate Tootsie Roll Pop, an orange, and cup of tea.

It was lovely outside this afternoon, and I just couldn't bear the thought of sitting in my windowless office cave. Fortunately, there was a baseball game going on, and we could always use more action shots, so I headed up to the field, camped out next to the home dugout, and got a few action shots. (Our team didn't do so well so I ended up leaving early to go get some office work done).

When I got home, Kobe and I went outside. Kobe got to play, and I got to work at my outdoor desk.

Kobe had a blast running around...

But he got a little hot so he eventually crashed in the shade.

Kobe obviously forgot our deal yesterday regarding dirty paws, because he came to the door with mud-soaked feet.

And of course he picked the day that I had swept and mopped the floors to get icky. At least paws are easy to clean, so no harm done and my floors are still shiny!

I probably won't post tomorrow since I've got Fringe-watching plans, but Kobe and I will be back on Friday.

What to do

2010-03-30T19:48:00.001-04:00

What to do, what to do? It's 7:30 and I'm finished at work! Guess I'll go home, wash that sink-ful of dishes, and watch Lost. Not a bad way to end a Tuesday!

After the usual early start (which included snacking on a banana) and morning walk, I did 40-minutes of strength, followed by breakfast.I was running behind, so I scrambled some eggs, topped those with some pineapple salsa, and served that with a piece of toast slathered in chocolate Better 'N Peanut Butter.

Breakfast was pretty satisfying, I wasn't hungry until lunch, when I got a spicy chicken wrap from Chick-fil-A. After a busy afternoon at work, I thought it would be nice to let Kobe enjoy some playtime in the yard. I was a little worried about him getting muddy since the ground is still wet from Sunday's storm...

Mom, I promise promise promise I won't get muddy paws if you let me in the yard today!

...but he was a good dog and his paws passed inspection before coming back inside.

Spring has truly sprung in South Carolina:

Buds on the sweet gum tree.

I didn't have to cook dinner since I fixed a batch of slow cooker black bean soup before I left the house. I modified the recipe a bit because I'm out of cumin (which is a terrible thing because it's my favorite spice)!!!! Instead of the cumin, I used three packets of Sazon seasoning blend. I'm glad I experimented with some new spice because I was rewarded! The soup was so savory and yummy! I was a little concerned that the Sazon would have a lot of sodium, but it's actually pretty low in the sodium category. I also used an 8-oz. can of mild green chiles instead of the usual 4-oz.

I cooked a batch of Jiffy corn muffins to go on the side (mmmm!!!). I''m off to go wash all those dishes, call the hubby, and relax while watching Lost Actually, watching Lost isn't all that relaxing because I lie awake in bed trying to figure out WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON?!?!?

Until tomorrow....

Experiment

2010-03-29T21:06:00.001-04:00

The rain and the wind and the hail gave way to sunny skies on warmer weather today. On my way back to work after lunch, I just had to take a photo of these beautiful trees that are in the front yard of our house. I'm really going to miss seeing their blooms in the spring when I move.

Today was a LOOOOONNNGG day. It started with a 6 a.m. wake-up call, a walk with Kobe, a 28-minute ~~run~~ jog on the treadmill, and my favorite part of the morning: breakfast (oatmeal with raisins, chocolate Better 'N Peanut Butter, an orange, and a banana which I ate before heading out to walk the dog).

After a busy morning at work, I headed home for lunch: a salad and a bowl of pinto beans and rice with a scoop of salsa verde.

I snacked on an apple up at the fields ( I had to go to a softball game and take the lacrosse team's photo), and then came home to walk the dog around the block before going back to work. After staying at work until 6:30 tonight, I was STARVING when I got home. All I wanted to do was sit on the couch and VEG OUT.

I had leftover chicken fajitas in the fridge, but fajitas are so messy, and I didn't want to risk dribbling fajita "juice" all over the furniture, so I decided to conduct an experiment: what happens when you combine all the fixins for fajitas in a 16 ounce ramekin and nuke it in the microwave?

(grrr... my computer won't rotate the photo...)

(grrrrrrrrrr.... this photo didn't rotate either!)

The sweet potatoes didn't make it into the experiment-- I snacked on those while my dinner cooked.

You get a chicken fajita casserole!

If you're talented (ahem, like me), you'll be able to flip the ramekin onto a plate and enjoy it in all it's spicy, layered glory. (It's not pretty, but it's tasty).

Dessert was the usual orange and cup of tea. I just got finished watching Good Eats (one of my favorite shows). I've got to wrap up a couple of things for work, and then I'm off to bed since I've got a big day tomorrow!

Soaked!

2010-03-28T19:56:00.001-04:00

It's been raining on and off all day-- and now we're under a tornado warning :-O! Yikes! Kobe and I are hunkered down in the bathroom and we're going to stay here until the storm passes-- it's really bad outside. I've got the laptop with me and have the weather pulled up-- the red part of the storm is over us now, and hopefully will get out of here soon. And EWW-Kobe just drooled on my laptop- icky icky icky!!!

ANYWAYS, I haven't done much in the way of exercise today-- though I did walk Kobe once around the block in the rain and my pants got soaking wet.

This morning Will left to go back to Michigan, so that sucked. At least I had work to keep me busy since I had to score a lacrosse game.

I slept in until 7:10 this morning, and then let Kobe out in the yard. Breakfast was a bowl of oatmeal with raisins and a big scoop of chocolate Better 'N Peanut Butter. And of course there was a banana.

After getting some chores finished, I packed up my lunch (peanut butter and jelly sandwich on wheat with a Jonagold apple) and headed to work. When I got home, I snacked on some craisins and almonds. I also ate a pickle.

For dinner, I had a salad and a big bowl of pasta.

I ate some super Black & Gold dark chocolate for dessert with an orange and tea.

Well, we've got another 5 minutes in the bathroom until the storm passes. Guess I'll check out my Google reader. (On another note, I'm usually braver in storms, but you know this one is bad if I'm cowering in the bathroom with the puppy-I may need some more chocolate after this).

Good Day

2010-03-27T16:05:00.000-04:00

Today's been really nice so far! Hubby and I slept in and then went for a run. When we got back I cooked up some scrambled eggs and some home fries. Yum-meee! I had a banana before heading out on our run, and then I also had an orange with breakfast.

Golden brown=delicious!

After breakfast, we got cleaned up, stopped by the realtor's office, and made a run to the grocery store, By the time we got home, it was time to head to the field to score a lacrosse game. For lunch, I packed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and I snacked on an apple when I got home.

We're having BBQ chicken sandwiches tonight for dinner with sweet potato fries. I've got lots of stories to write tonight, so I probably won't post again until tomorrow. Happy Saturday!

My Boys!

2010-03-26T22:00:00.000-04:00

My apologies for not posting, but I've been a bit distracted because my hubby flew down for a visit!!! I have really missed him and am so glad he his here!

Kobe is glad that Will is home too. Here's Will wiping Kobe down after he gave him a bath. Kobe is so happy to be done with that chore (he hates baths).

Today Will walked Kobe, so I was able to do the Firm's Maximum Body Shaping DVD and yoga this morning before work. Breakfast consisted of a banana before my workout, and then a bowl of raising oatmeal with chocolate Better 'N Peanut Butter and an orange.

I picked up lunch for us at Chick-fil-A: I had a chicken tender salad with honey mustard dressing and a diet lemonade. I just <3 CFA!

Since I have to work all weekend, I left work early to come home and relax (a.k.a. getting laundry done) and watch Oprah and a some Food Network. This afternoon I snacked on another orange, a pickle, and some almonds. My appetizer was a salad, and I made chicken fajitas for dinner. I ate two HUGE fajitas (but the tortillas were whole wheat so I don't feel so bad) and drank beer-you can't have Mexican food without beer (it's a fact-look it up!). I promised Will an ice cream sundae since he washed the dishes, so we headed to McDonald's after dinner.

We watched Up tonight-- it was such a cute movie!

I'm worn out (can't believe it's already 10) and will be heading to bed shortly. Tomorrow hubby and I are going for a run and I'm making a special breakfast.

Here's a short recap of yesterday:

Workout: walk with Kobe, 25 minute run

Breakfast: banana, cinnamon apple raisin oatmeal with a scoop of real peanut butter
Lunch: lentil soup and salad
Snack: apple, almonds
Dinner: Beans and rice
Drink: BEER!
Dessert: Orange and tea

A Day Behind

2010-03-24T20:08:00.000-04:00

The weather here has been GORGEOUS the last couple of days! Kobe and I have spending some quality time outside.

Okay, two days worth of posting in one. Last night I was busy with work, and went over to a friend's house to watch New Moon. The Twilight books are much better than the movies (although I thought the writing was bad in the books, though the stories were excellent).

At any rate, yesterday started by snacking on a banana, walking with Kobe, a run, and cinnamon apple oatmeal with a scoop of peanut butter.

Lunch was bean soup with a salad, and I ate leftovers stir fry with noodles and an orange. I snacked on some trail mix while we watched the movie. Snacks included some almonds, craisins, and another orange.

Today began like every other weekday: a walk with the dog. Wednesday is cleaning day, so I swept, vacuumed, mopped, and tidied up the house before eating breakfast. Breakfast was oatmeal with the chocolate flavor of Better N' Peanut Butter. Strangely enough, the chocolate flavor doesn't taste very much like chocolate, so I'm not sure I'd by this kind again-I think I'll stick with the original.I also had a cup of tea and a banana.

Lunch was leftover stir fry, an orange, and a salad. This afternoon's snacks included an apple, a small pack of pretzels, almonds, and craisins. For dinner, I ate a salad and a big bowl of pasta.

Spaghetti really hit the spot tonight!

I'm off to watch last night's episode of Lost on Hulu-- I don't know what took me so long to check out Hulu, but I'm really glad I did!

My dessert tonight will be an orange, probably a tootsie roll pop, and a cup of tea. Hopefully I'll have some time to read a chapter or two from Twenty Chickens for a Saddle.

It's a memoir of a woman who grew up in southern Africa. It's a great book for busy people-it's really a collection of stories from her childhood, so there's no complex plot line to follow.

Good night!

Yay!

2010-03-22T16:28:00.000-04:00

No work tonight! No work tonight! I do not have to work tonight for the first time in.... Well, I can't remember the last time I didn't take my laptop home, but it will be sittin' pretty on my office desk tonight.

I'm so excited-this means I can actually chill, watch re-runs of Friends and The Office, and watch Good Eats. Perhaps I'll get a yoga session in, cook a nice dinner, and spend some time with Kobe.

Not much to report on today- here's a quick recap of what has passed and what is to come:

Workout: walk with Kobe, express version of the Firm's Hard Core Fusion

Breakfast: raisin oatmeal with Better 'N Peanut Butter, banana
Lunch: bean soup, salad, craisins
Snack: orange, almonds
Dinner-Veggie stir fry with noodles (I may add an egg in the mix)
Dessert-Tea and Orange

Evening workout: PM Yoga

In other good news, my hubby is coming to visit this weekend! I can't wait :-)!!!

Sunday, Sunday

2010-03-21T20:47:00.000-04:00

Today was a busy again. After letting Kobe outside this morning and eating breakfast, I was on the go for the rest of the morning. I cleaned, washed dishes, jogged, showered and ate lunch. Then it was off to the office to get ready for today's softball doubleheader (which was played in the rain--blech!).

I finally got home around 6 p.m., headed out for a walk around the block with Kobe, where we were pestered by the neighbor's yappy Chihuahua. when we got back, I had a salad and a small bowl of soup before writing the game story for softball. After wrapping up work, I chopped up a sweet potato for some fries (and I love sweet potatoes so much I ate all the fries--there were a lot!). For dessert I had a few chocolate chips, a peanut butter cookie, an orange, and tea.

Here's a short recap of my meals except dinner:

Breakfast-blueberry oatmeal with Better N' Peanut Butter, banana
Lunch-ham and cheese on rye, salad, pickle, orange
Snacks-apple, 2 Starbursts, almonds, craisins

It's early bedtime tonight--I'm beat.

A New Day

2010-03-20T21:22:00.001-04:00

I feel much better today- a good night's rest can work wonders. Today was absolutely gorgeous with the temperature in the mid 70s, so it was a great excuse to get outside. Kobe and I went on a 40-minute walk at Cowpen's National Battlefield in the morning. Today was a "rest" day, so the walk is about all I did (unless you count straightening up the house, washing laundry, and cleaning dishes).

Breakfast was a bowl of raisin and Better 'N Peanut Butter oatmeal with a banana. Lunch was leftover chicken and veggie curry, cous cous, salad, and an orange.

After lunch, I headed out to score a softball doubleheader, so I packed an apple and almonds to snack on.

My ~~Crack~~ Blackberry doesn't take very good photos, but what a pretty day it was!

I've been craving Chick-fil-A all week, so I went to the drive-thru for dinner tonight (I gotta say, we must have the slowest CFA in America in our town-it took me 20 minutes to get a salad!).

Alas, the wait was worth it!

I hate eating off of paper/foam/plastic, so I transferred the salad to a bowl and cut up the chicken to make for easy eating. And I topped it off with croutons and honey mustard dressing, and washed it all down with a Rising Moon beer.

It was a good dinner!

I finished my work after dinner, and then contemplated dessert. Since I ate a small Dairy Queen ice cream cone and an orange last night, I didn't want ice cream. I settled on 2 peanut butter sandwich cookies and some chocolate chips with tea. The peanut butter/chocolate combination hit the spot!

Tomorrow will be another busy day-- there's lots of chores to be done (laundry, taking out the trash, dishes), and I've got to get in a run. I may go for 28 minutes straight tomorrow, we'll see how I' feel.

Since there's nothing on TV tonight, I'm watching a PBS show on DVD called "Minik: The Last Eskimo" (I know, I'm a HUGE nerd). Anyways, once the show's over I'm hitting the hay.

Just AWFUL

2010-03-19T16:38:00.002-04:00

I knew something wasn't right this morning. I didn't sleep well last night, and then my stomach was in knots all morning-- and then I got awful news! It's not end of the world news, everything will ~~eventually~~ be okay, but I was devastated. Suffice to say I have been having sporadic crying episodes since 11 a.m. this morning. But I'm getting a grip and realizing "it could be worse."

At any rate, life goes on regardless of how I feel. And while my awful news had me wishing for either a) a six pack of beer, b) a pint of peanut butter and chocolate ice cream, c) a pint of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, c) chocolate cake, or d) a bag of minature Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, I took stock of my feelings and realized over eating (or over drinking) would not help the situation out in the long run. So that's why, after receiving THE NEWS, I returned to the spare bedroom to complete my workout, Firm Crosstrainers Strength.

Following the workout, I ate a pretty healthy lunch. I made some curried chicken and vegetables, which I ate with some cous cous.

I also had a salad and an orange.

When I cooked the veggies for lunch, I had to have garlic, so I broke open a new bulb and found THE LARGEST CLOVE OF GARLIC, ever. This is huge-- it looks like two cloves, but I promise, it's just one.

I just finished snacking on some almonds and craisins, and I'm going to eat an early dinner (soup and salad) since I'm going with some friends to see Alice in Wonderland. And in my current mental state, I don't need to be tempted by a gargantuan box of Sno-caps.

The only thing helping my mood right now is the beautiful weather outside.

Kobe and I spent some quality time in the backyard this afternoon.

The day got off to a pretty healthy start with Kobe and I taking a short walk around the block, and getting harassed by the neighborhood dogs, including a Chihuahua. Breakfast was a big bowl of banana and raisin oatmeal with sugar and cashew butter.

I'm signing off--tomorrow will be a sort of busy day since I've got to spend all afternoon at a softball game. On the other hand, it might turn into a great excuse to go to Chick-fil-A!

Feels Like Friday!

2010-03-18T19:38:00.000-04:00

Today feels like Friday because I don't have to go into the office tomorrow! Hooray! I can catch up on some much needed sleep. Here are the major highlights of my day:

I've lost 5 pounds!
Spent the afternoon outside in some lovely weather
Spent some time outside with Kobe in the yard
Got a great workout in (25-minute run on the treadmill)
NO WORK TONIGHT!

It's the first time since January I haven't had to write a game story, and I am HAPPY :-)! I almost don't know what to do with myself. Actually, I'm about to go hop in the shower, and I'm definitely going to watch The Office tonight. Tomorrow will be sort of busy, I've got a few errands to run, and I may go see Alice in Wonderland.

Here's a short recap of the rest of the day:

Exercise
Morning walk with Kobe, AM yoga, afternoon run, Yoga for Relaxation

Food
Breakfast: Blueberry oatmeal with Better 'N Peanut Butter, banana
Lunch: ham sandwich on rye with salad and a pickle

Snacks: Craisins, banana
Dinner: spinach salad, rigatoni with meat sauce

Dessert: orange, the last of the dark chocolate :-(, and tea

I'm off to relax for the rest of the evening!

It's Easy Being Green

2010-03-17T20:17:00.000-04:00

Happy St. Patty's Day! I'm celebrating by sitting on the couch and having a chocolate Tootsie Roll Pop and a cup of tea. Yep, I'm livin' the life!

I definitely ate enough spinach today to get into the green spirit. For dinner, I had leftover bean soup that included a pretty healthy helping of spinach, along with a piece of rye toast.

For lunch, I ate some baby lettuce tossed with honey mustard dressing, a pickle, and leftover sauteed spinach, mushrooms, and garlic with eggs. It was pretty good.

Today's snacks included an apple, a small bag of pretzels, some almonds, and craisins. Breakfast was a banana and bowl of oatmeal with tea.

I didn't really workout today, but I got in a walk around campus and the usual morning walk with Kobe. I also cleaned the house this morning.

I'm off to watch a rerun of Bones, finish my dessert with an orange, and then off to bed to read.

Blah!

2010-03-16T20:00:00.000-04:00

Today was a blah day-- nothing awful happened I just felt off. Maybe it's because I was running late again. My cell phone alarm went off at the right time, but I felt so good this morning, I decided to do one of the harder workouts in my collection: Firm Cardio. It's not a true cardio workout, it's weights with a couple of cardio segments thrown in, and the weight work really keeps your heart rate up. That workout is about an hour long, so by the time I finished the DVD and ate breakfast (oatmeal with pears and raisins), I was running about 30 minutes behind.

I was in such a rush to get to work, I pulled on my favorite pair of North Face pants, a Think Pink t-shirt, and tennis shoes. It was a no make-up day, but it didn't matter because no one came by my office.

Lunch was a salad and bean soup. I snacked on an apple, some almonds, and craisins.

Tonight I really needed a beer, and fortunately there were a few bottles of my favorite brand in the fridge.

And a beer paired perfectly with my grilled chicken sandwich and sweet potato fries.

I marinated the chicken in some marinade and topped with barbecue sauce-yum!

For dessert I had an orange, and now I'm relaxing with a cup of honey vanilla chamomile tea. Tonight's a "late" night since I must stay up until 10 p.m. to watch Lost. I can't believe it's the final season and I still have NO idea what's going on. I think I'll watch a little bit of American Idol, too.

Adjusting

2010-03-15T20:08:00.000-04:00

Every year, twice a year, the time either jumps forward or falls back. And each time, it takes me a couple of weeks to get into the swing of things. While I adapted yesterday (i.e.-made it to everything on time), today I was 20 minutes behind right out of the gate. My cell phone is about 20 minutes behind, time wise, so Kobe and I didn't get out the door until 6:20, and then I still had to get my run in when we got back.

After a kick @## workout this morning, I was starving so I cooked a batch of cinnamon raisin oatmeal with Better 'n Peanut Butter.Since I ate a banana before my workout, I had an orange with breakfast.

Despite waking up late, I managed to make it into work at the usual time. After a busy morning I headed home for lunch, which consisted of a salad and leftover lentils and leftover noodles.

I had an orange and some almonds for a snack. I had to get a little creative with dinner since I had some thawed chopped spinach and button mushrooms to use up.

So, I sauteed the mushrooms in a little olive oil with some garlic, and added in the spinach. I was craving sausage (and didn't have any), so I added in some red pepper flakes and fennel seed. Then, I added some leftover marinara sauce, let it warm through on the stove before tossing in some cooked penne pasta.

I topped the pasta with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. So yummy!

For dessert I ate an orange, some raisins, and drank a cup of tea. I'm actually finished with work for the night (SHOCKER!), so I'm going to watch a little TV, stretch, read a book, and read before hitting the hay.

Spring Ahead

2010-03-14T21:15:00.001-04:00

Somehow I managed to make it to all the sporting events on time despite the time change. On the other hand, I was so paranoid I was going to be late all day that I didn't get to sleep in, so now I'm draaaagggggggiiinnngg.

Today was my "rest" day, but since it rained last night and there is lots of mud in the yard, Kobe had to be walked twice today. I did get a lot more activity in with laundry and dishes to be washed.

For breakfast, I cooked a bowl of oats with a pear and then mixed in some Better 'N Peanut Butter. For lunch, I packed a ham on rye sandwich and a Jonagold apple to eat at the fields. My afternoon snack was a banana and almonds.

Dinner was a big salad and a big bowl of Goode Bean Soup and toast.

For dessert, I ate a few semisweet chocolate chips, a few pieces of dark chocolate, and an orange.

I am so beat, but I still have to put the sheets on the bed, dry another load of laundry, and put the laundry away. Sometimes I feel like all I do is walk the dog, work, and wash dishes. Hopefully soon my work-life balance will be on an even keel.

An Okay Day!

2010-03-13T20:09:00.000-05:00

I've had a pretty decent day. Not outstanding, nothing out of the ordinary, just an okay day. And that's fine by me :-).

I got a lot of exercise today-- two walks with Kobe (well, more like 1 1/2 walks, we took a short one this afternoon), and I did my favorite workout DVD of all time: The Firm's Time Crunch Workout. This is an oldie, and it's actually funny to watch the instructors bounce around in leotards. All kidding aside, this DVD packs a punch in 40 minutes.There's nothing like a great workout to help you face the challenges of the day!

Following our morning walk, I made a batch of cinnamon apple raisin oats with honey. I "splurged" and sauteed the apples in 1/2 a tablespoon of butter. Breakfast was really good.

After my workout it was time for lunch, so I had a ham and cheese sandwich on rye with an orange. Then, I headed out to a lacrosse game (which my team won-yay!).

By the time I got home it was snack time, so I had some almonds and a Jonagold apple.

I got a lot of chores finished this afternoon, including dishes and laundry. Kobe and I headed out for a short walk before the rain hit, and then it was time to cook dinner. Before I got started cooking, I snacked on a salad and a pickle.

Dinner ended up being roasted sweet potatoes, roasted broccoli with garlic, and paprika-spiced chicken with sauteed onions. Tonight was beer night (woo hoo), so a bottle of Rising Moon was on the menu, too!

Kobe got a rawhide for dessert while I settled for a few pieces of dark chocolate and an orange.

Kobe and I are relaxing and watching the first episode of Star Wars-- he got very excite when he heard a light saber!

Rainy Day

2010-03-12T20:13:00.000-05:00

Today got off to a pretty good start. I ate a banana for some energy and then the pup and I headed out. It was "warm" outside (about 50 degrees), so Kobe and I had a pretty comfortable walk outside. When we got back, I jogged for 25 minutes on the treadmill, not including a warm-up and cool down.

After my job, it was time for a very yummy breakfast: cinnamon apple raisin oatmeal with peanut butter and honey. It was great way to begin the day.

Since I had to score a softball game at noon, I packed my lunch: ham and spinach sandwich on rye bread and an apple. I also snacked on a small pack of pretzels during the games-- softball and baseball are sports you have to eat your way through ;-)!

I was pretty hungry when I got home, so I had a few craisins before Kobe and I went for a short afternoon walk around the neighborhood. Before I got back to work, I made a batch of spaghetti sauce.

These tomatoes with basil make a great base for the sauce. While I waited for the noodles to boil, I ate a spinach salad with honey mustard dressing.

I added lots of Parmesan cheese to my pasta.

For dessert, I ate some chocolate chip ice cream and a piece of caramel candy. Since the ice cream made me cold, I warmed up with a cup of tea.

Hopefully I'll get off to bed early tonight. I've got to run to the grocery store and post office in the morning before heading out to lacrosse-- should be wet and rainy-- so much fun!

Mix and Match

2010-03-11T19:21:00.000-05:00

Today was a mix and match day-- mix and match workouts and mix and match meals. Dinner ended up being scrambled eggs with pineapple salsa, roasted broccoli, and toast.

Roasted broccoli with garlic is one of my favorite veggies!

I also had a spinach salad before dinner.

Lunch was a bowl of lentil soup with some whole wheat egg noodles and salad. Breakfast was a banana with blueberry and Better 'n Peanut Butter oatmeal. Mmmm mmmm!

My workouts today consisted of two walks with Kobe, and an upper body and abs workout. Tomorrow's I've gotta jog for 25 minutes straight again!

Hump Day

2010-03-10T20:07:00.000-05:00

It's only Wednesday. But that's okay, because I had a pretty good day. Kobe and I got our morning walk in, and when we got back I got some cleaning out of the way. I also made a yummy breakfast: cinnamon apple raising Better 'N Peanut Butter wheat berry oatmeal. Oh yeah, it was good.

Here's what went in the mix:

A peeled, chopped, and baked (at 350 degrees for 30 minutes) Jonagold apple
1/3 cup of oatmeal
1/3 cup of wheat berries
Raisins
Pinch of salt
2/3 cup of water
Cinnamon
Ground ginger
1 TBSP. of Better 'N Peanut Butter

I brought the water to a boil, and then added in oatmeal, wheat berries, apple, salt, raisins, cinnamon, and ginger. Once that cooked for 5 minutes, I stirred in the the BNPB. What a great way to start the day! I also had a cup of green tea with breakfast.

I probably should have mixed the BNBP in with the oats in the pot instead of the bowl--it made a bit of a mess.

Lunch ended up being leftover italian lentils and brown rice. I snacked on a banana, some raisins, and almonds this afternoon.

For dinner, I ate leftover chicken stir fry with brown rice...

... which I topped with pineapple salsa. Yum Yum Yum!

And I ate a spinach salad with honey mustard dressing.

For dessert, I'm going to have a peanut butter sandwich cookie, orange, and tea.

I recently discovered Hulu, and am off to watch last night's episode of Lost. (It's my favorite show, and I had to miss it last night because of volleyball). In other good news, I don't have any work to do (that you rain gods for canceling baseball and softball)!!! I'm off to enjoy my evening!

I did it!

2010-03-09T18:33:00.000-05:00

I did it! I ~~ran~~ jogged (very slowly, at times) for 25 minutes straight this morning.But I didn't stop. And I felt great afterward!

My warm-up was the usual walk with Kobe, and I did some stretching after my workout before making breakfast: Better 'N Peanut Butter and raisin oatmeal and an orange (I ate a banana before I walked Kobe so I'd have some energy). For lunch, I had a bowl of lentils with brown rice, and this afternoon I snacked on some raisins, an apple, and some wasabi soy sauce almonds. For dinner, I ate leftover stir-fry with pineapple salsa with a spinach salad.

It was such a lovely day outside (sunny and 70 degrees), that I took a 15-minute walk up and back to the baseball field. I'm off to stat a men's volleyball game in a few minutes, so my orange and tea will have to wait until I get home.

Wear and tear

2010-03-08T19:59:00.000-05:00

The wear and tear of a hectic spring scheduled is getting to me, not to mention the stress of selling a house.I didn't go to bed until late last night (11:30), because I got caught up watching the Oscars and decided to finish reading The Outlander. At any rate, it was tough to make it through the day.

After my morning walk with Kobe, I did one of the leg workouts and back workouts from the Gilad Express DVDs. Then, it was time for breakfast- blueberry and Better 'N Peanut Butter oatmeal and a banana.

Today was crazy busy, so I took my lunch to work: salad and lentils with brown rice. In a vain effort to find some energy I snacked on a tootsie roll, apple, and some walnuts and almonds.

After watching one of the most boring lacrosse games EVER, I came home, let Kobe outside, and heated up some leftover stir fry and rice. While that warmed up in the microwave, I ate a salad. I'm about to make a cup of tea and eat an orange.

It's early to bed for this girl. Tomorrow I've got to run 25 minutes straight on the treadmill--wish me luck!

Sad Sunday

2010-03-07T20:47:00.002-05:00

As I sit watching the Oscars, I'm struck by how few movies I have seen this year. I've only seen one movie up for Best Picture (District 9), and feel a bit out of the loop. On the other hand, it's so fun to see all the beautiful dresses the actresses have on.

I have been bummed all day. I think I just really miss my hubby and am worn out from work. At any rate, I slept in until 7:30, and then let Kobe out in the yard.

Breakfast was blueberry and Better 'N Peanut Butter oatmeal with wheat berries, and a banana. After breakfast, I had to run to the post office and Wal-Mart, so of course that was my excuse to go to Starbucks for a grande skinny caramel decaf misto. Starbucks is a five-minute ride from my house, so by the time I got home, my coffee was at the perfect temperature.

After my coffee, I did some chores, and then worked out. Thanks to my trusty treadmill, I got in a great walk/run.

It's a pretty basic model....

...just options for speed and incline...

And I have a view of the neighborhood while I walk/run.

The treadmill is one of the best pieces of workout equipment I've ever bought-we got it for $25!

While I worked out, I had a batch of brown rice baking in the oven- I'll eat it for lunch/dinner this week.

Lunch was a salad, baked potato soup, and an orange. After doing some more chores and lying around on the couch, I snacked on a few almonds before heading out to the fields to collect baseball stats.

When I came home, Kobe and I spent a few minutes in the yard. Then it was time for dinner!

I started out with a salad, and then baked up some potato wedges in the oven, and cooked a big batch of chicken stir fry. I didn't add any sauce to the chicken or veggies, I figured I could add the sauce later to suit my mood.

Tonight, I mixed pineapple salsa with the stir-fry-- so good!

For dessert, I ate a piece of dark chocolate and a peanut butter sandwich cookie with tea.

I'm off to watch the Oscars, make the bed, and watch the NCAA DII selection show-- our team has a shot at making the tournament!

Saturday night

2010-03-06T19:58:00.000-05:00

After going to back to the fields to pick up some game stats, I came home, did some work. Then, it was time for dinner!

Tonight I had a big bowl of pasta with marinara sauce, chicken thighs, and mushrooms with Parmesan cheese. YUM-MEE!!!

I also had a salad to get some veggies in.

Well, I'm off to enjoy the rest of my Saturday night-time for dessert (orange, some chocolate, and a peanut butter sandwich cookie) and tea!

Snacking through Saturday

2010-03-06T15:59:00.002-05:00

It's almost 4 p.m., and so far the only meal I've eaten has been breakfast...

...which was big bowl of banana raisin cashew butter oatmeal with wheatberries.

Before heading out to score a lacrosse game, I snacked on a salad.

I hardly have any portable food in the house (well, nothing that you could tote in a laptop bag and eat without heating up), except for a few Odwalla bars leftover from a trip to Whole Foods back in January. So, while waiting for the game to start, I ate one...

I really liked this bar. It didn't taste artificial like a lot of bars do, and it wasn't too sweet.

My favorite Odwalla flavor is the chocolate and peanut butter, but that one is being saved. I also snacked on a Jonagold apple during the game (what can I say our team won 23-7-- it was pretty boring after a while).

Of course I was hungry when I got home around 3, so I broke out the soy sauce wasabi almonds and a few craisins.

These are soooo good!

I've got to head back out to the fields in a couple of hours, but I think I'll relax in front of the TV for a bit and then let Kobe out in the yard.

Oh yeah, no exercise today since it's my rest day!

One of THOSE days...

2010-03-05T19:35:00.000-05:00

Today was one of those days. You know...

...a beer day...

... and a peanut butter and chocolate day...

It wasn't a bad day. It was just really busy. The major news was that our house has a new sign in the yard:

We're just waiting for final approval on the loan! Only a weeks stand between me and the BIG move.

Today got off to a slow start- I really wanted to sleep in. I even turned off the alarm, rolled over, and pulled the covers over my head. But I knew if I didn't get up and walk Kobe, I'd feel really guilty. So, I dragged my butt outta bed, walked Kobe, came home, and did Super Charged Sculpting. I ate a banana before I headed out to walk the dog, so for breakfast I had toast, eggs, and an orange.

So I took a few nibbles of toast before the photo-- I was hungry!

After a busy morning at work, I headed home for lunch (baked potato soup and salad). Our realtor showed up unannounced with a new sign, and then took me to the lawyer's office to discuss some paper work. Then it was back to the office. I worked really hard all afternoon so I could head out early to get my grocery shopping finished. It was there that I decided that I needed beer. It's amazing how one drink can help you relax at the end of a long day.

When I got home, I finished up some cleaning, and made dinner:

...salad...

...leftover veggie sloppy joes with cheddar cheese, and roasted sweet potatoes (there was so much food-I didn't finish the sloppy joes.

It's only 7:30, and (amazingly) I am FINISHED WITH WORK for the night. I've got a long day tomorrow, so I'm going to log off and watch a few episodes of Damages on DVD. It's such a great show!

See you tomorrow-I'm off to indulge in a Reese's Peanut Butter Easter Egg with my nightly cup of tea.

I'm in heaven... I'm in heaven...

Late night

2010-03-04T21:31:00.000-05:00

It's almost 9:30. I'm still at the office. Waiting for a fax to go through. And then I am going home!

Today was a run day, so I ate a banana as soon as I got up so I had some fuel for my workouts. Kobe and I walked about a mile, and when we got back, I did a walk/jog workout on the treadmill (run 5 minutes, walk 3, run 8, walk 3, run 5) and some yoga.

For breakfast, I cooked my oatmeal with milk, and added some wheat berries, raisins, and Better 'N Peanut Butter. While my bowl wasn't as full as usual, the wheat berries gave the oats a nice, chewy texture. I also ate an orange with my oatmeal.

I was in meetings all morning, so I went home for an early lunch: baked potato soup, salad, and a few craisins. At work, I snacked on a small pack of pretzels and an orange.When I got home, I couldn't resist a few more craisins and wasabi almonds.

For dinner, I sauteed some mushrooms and garlic and served that over whole-grain pasta with marinara sauce. I also ate a big, baby greens salad with honey mustard dressing.

Well, I'm about to head home to wait on a couple of stories to come in. Dessert is waiting for me at the house: peanut butter sandwich cookie, orange, and tea! Great way to unwind after a crazy day.

Brrr!

2010-03-03T21:18:00.001-05:00

Today was so cold! I spent all afternoon sitting outside watching a softball doubleheader and I was absolutely frozen by the time I got home! My stomach was also hungry, since I left my afternoon apple in the office. At least I fueled up at lunch with a bowl of baked potato soup and a salad.

I did end up eating an apple when I got home, but I needed something to warm me up, so a bowl of Italian lentil soup with some brown rice really hit the spot. To get in some greens, I also ate a salad.

For dessert, I had a peanut butter sandwich cookie, orange, and a tea.

This morning Kobe and I got our walk in, and I cleaned the house after we got home. For breakfast, I ate two scrambled eggs with 2 small pieces of toast and a banana.

Tonight's laundry night (and work night-boo :-(), and I figured since I was home, I'd cook up some wheatberries.

I bought some from Whole Foods a couple of months ago.

I simmered them in boiling, salted water for about an hour.

Then I drained them and put them in a storage container-- I'm going to put some in my oatmeal for breakfast and see how that tastes.

Falling Behind

2010-03-02T18:28:00.000-05:00

My heavy workload has seriously impacted my blogging this week! I only have time for a short post before I have to go to basketball, so I will stick to the major highlight so far this week: I RAN 20 MINUTES WITHOUT STOPPING! And it wasn't so bad.

Two for One

2010-02-28T20:18:00.000-05:00

How lucky are you? Two days worth of living in one post! I was super busy with work last night and didn't get a chance to report on my day. Here's what happened:

Wake up. Let dog outside. Eat banana raisin cashew-butter oatmeal for breakfast. Drink a cup of green tea. Score softball. Eat baked potato soup and a salad for lunch. Bake bread. Work out (walk/jog) for 30 minutes. Eat some almonds for a snack. Back to softball. Eat a pack of yummy almonds and then somem gummy fruit snacks (yuck yuck yuck-- can we say artificial flavor?). Report on softball. Cook dinner (portobella sloppy joe, salad, sweet potato fries). Back to work. Finish work (about 10:30). Eat dessert (dark chocolate, orange, chamomile tea). Tea. Bed.

Now, today was a little bit calmer. Since Kobe and I went on a long walk later in the morning, I let him outside before I made a bowl of blueberry oatmeal with Better 'N Peanut Butter. I ate that with a banana. Before Kobester and I headed out, I put a batch of Italian Lentil soup in the slow cooker, which was ready for lunch. I ate a bowl of that with brown rice, a salad, and an orange. After lunch, I got some chores finished around the house, and went to score a women's lacrosse game. After the game, I let Kobe outside again, and snacked on some almonds while I wrote the game story. Then it was back to softball to collect results and then back home. For dinner I had some leftover sloppy joe mixture with brown rice and leftover sweet potato fries. For dessert, I had a peanut butter sandwich cookie, an orange, some dark chocolate and tea.

Needless to say I'm beat. I had photos to post but am too worn out to hook up the camera. I''m off to bed early tonight to get rested up for another busy week!

Frigid Friday

2010-02-26T19:57:00.000-05:00

My feet feel like blocks of concrete. Cold concrete. I spent about 2 1/2 hours outside today, and my feet were actually pretty toasty inside 2 layers of socks and fleece-lined shoes, but as soon as I got home, took off the shoes and socks, my feet got so cold and still haven't warmed up, despite the fact they're now enclosed in warm fuzzy socks. I think I'll take a shower in a few minutes and see if I can't warm them up.

Since I knew I was going to do weights after this morning's walk, I ate a banana before heading outside to brave the 20-something degree temperature. When Kobe and I got back, I did Get Ripped. Breakfast was 2 scrambled eggs, toast with jam, and an orange. Lunch was the last of the Mediterranean Soup and a few craisins. My afternoon snack was a small pack of pretzels and a few walnuts and almonds. Dinner was leftover black beans with brown rice a little sour cream.Since it's Friday, I splurged on dessert: 2 peanut butter sandwich cookies and a few squares of dark chocolate with a cup of tea.

Well, I'm off to finish the laundry, take a shower, and (maybe) relax! Tomorrow's an early day since I've got to stat a softball game at 9:30 a.m.-- it's going to be another cold morning!

Cookies and Wine

2010-02-25T19:44:00.001-05:00

Today was stressful. On days like today, I am thankful for two things...

...wine...

... and cookies.

Now, if only these two things could solve all my problems (not that I have that many, but I'll take what help I can get).

Today started out like any other with a morning walk, which I followed up with some yoga. Breakfast was a bowl of raisin and Better 'N Peanut Butter oatmeal and a banana. For lunch, I had a pickle, a big bowl of Mediterranean Soup, and a few craisins. My afternoon snack was an orange. Then, finally, it was time to come home from a stressful day at the office.

Now, I try to keep tabs on my emotional eating, but I REALLY needed some comfort food, and conveniently I had picked up my two boxes of Girl Scout Cookies this morning. I decided that since I was going to ~~run~~ jog, a little cookie wouldn't hurt. I opened the box of peanut butter sandwich cookies, and pulled out my treat.

Can you believe this little cookie is 50 calories? At least it satisfied a craving without making me feel guilty.

After my cookie, I was charged up for my workout. I moved onto to week 5 of the Couch to 5K program, so after a 5 minute warm up, I ~~ran~~ jogged 5 minutes, then walked 3 minutes, and repeated the pattern two more times. Afterwards I did some yoga to stretch out.

After exercising, I indulged in a glass of wine. Dinner was leftover black beans and a baked potato. Dessert was a few craisins and an orange with chamomile tea.

I'm off to do some laundry and enjoy a night off from work!

Update

2010-02-24T19:47:00.000-05:00

Here's my dinner post:
Salad, 3 chicken fingers, and half a baked potato, and honey mustard sauce

Dessert was a very small scoop of ice cream with some chocolate chips, M&Ms, Reeses Pieces, and *SPRINKLES*! I'll probably have a tootsie roll pop with some tea after work.

Quick Recap

2010-02-24T15:13:00.004-05:00

Here's a quick update of the day so far. I've got a basketball doubleheader to work tonight, so I probably won't get to post again.

Exercise:

Morning walk with Kobe
Cleaned the house

Food:

Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs, toast with jam, banana, green tea with honey and lemon
Lunch: craisin & feta spinach salad, Mediterranean soup, craisins for dessert
Snack: hmmmm, haven't thought that far ahead yet
Dinner: Fatz catering at the basketball games

I'm about to run home and walk the pup around the block. See you tomorrow!

Recap

2010-02-23T21:22:00.001-05:00

Today was unseasonably warm, which meant not bundling up like an eskimo this morning, which meant Kobe and I finished our walk a good 5 minutes ahead of time, which meant I got finished with my weight workout early, which meant I could get lunch cooking in the crock pot.

After getting the ingredients going for Quick Mediterranean Soup, I cooked some Better 'N Peanut Butter and raisin oatmeal. Oats on the stove are so easy. For a single serving batch of oats, just bring 1 cup of water to a boil and add:

1/2 cup of old fashioned oats
Pinch of salt
Raisins (as many as you want)

Knock the heat down to low and simmer the oats for about 5 minutes. Remove and stir in a tablespoon of BNPB.

I also had a banana with breakfast (as usual).

My soup was bubbling away when I got home for lunch, and since I'm low on salad, I just ate a big bowl of soup with a few craisins for dessert.

My afternoon snack was an orange, a few wasabi/soy sauce almonds, and a pickle. Dinner was the same as last night (black beans and a sweet potato).

Today's workout was the morning walk with Kobe and the express version of the Firm's Time Crunch workout.

I'm off to post volleyball results.

What is that?

2010-02-22T20:46:00.000-05:00

You probably took one look at this picture and wondered, "What is that?"

That, ahem, would be my dinner, and while it won't win any food style awards, it gets a perfect 10 from my tummy. It's leftover black bean smash with guacamole, and some baked sweet potato fries spiced up with cumin and a little bit of cayenne pepper. Mmmm, mmmm!

Lunch was also ugly-- I haven't had time to make any soup yet this week, so I had leftover beans and a spinach salad. I snacked on an apple and some dill pickle cashews. Breakfast was toast with jam, two scrambled eggs, and a banana.

It was pouring down rain this morning when Kobe and I went for our walk, and it was so miserable we ended up cutting it short. Once we got home and both got dried off, I hopped on the treadmill to make up for lost distance with a 10 minute stroll. I followed that up some yoga.

After a fairly stressful day at work, Kobe and I went for a short walk around the neighborhood, and then I hit the treadmill again for a walk/jog session.

While the sweet potatoes were roasting in the oven, I set out the ingredients for Mediterranean Soup.The plan is to throw everything the crock pot tomorrow morning, set it to high, and have soup to eat for lunch.

Suddenly Sunday

2010-02-21T19:21:00.000-05:00

The weekend has really flown by-- guess that's what happens when you're busy. Now that I'm finally finished with work, I'm relaxing a bit by watching Supernatural season 2 on DVD, and later I plan to watch some of the USA vs. Canada hockey game.

The weather was beautiful again today, so I didn't mind sitting outside all day watching softball and lacrosse. Kobe spent a lot of time this afternoon in the yard, which he passed chewing sticks.

Today I took as a rest day, so no formal workout for me. Tomorrow, Kobe and I will (probably) end up walking in the rain, and the I may do an upper body/abs workout. In the afternoon I'll probably get a walk/jog session in.

The day started with a bowl of Better 'n Peanut Butter and raisin oatmeal and a banana. Lunch was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a Jonagold apple. I snacked on some soy sauce & wasabi almonds and a pickle. Dinner started off with a craisin and feta salad, and then the main meal was leftover sweet potato fries, some baked corn tortilla chips, black bean smash, and some guacamole (just mashed avocado, lime, and salt). Dessert was a few squares of Green & Black dark chocolate and an orange.

Awesome workout

2010-02-20T22:02:00.000-05:00

Today I had a kick a@@ workout. I just knew that I was going to kick some rear end on the treadmill today even before I stepped on it this afternoon. I had so much energy, and I even bumped up the pace a bit and still finished strong-- it's time to make the jump to week 5 of the Couch to 5K program.

Today was super busy at work-- softball started at 9:30 a.m. this morning, lacrosse played at 1 p.m., and then I had to post stories for baseball, softball, tennis, basketball and swimming. Whew- I'm beat.

This morning Kobe just got let out in the yard. For breakfast, I had a big bowl of (Better 'N) Peanut Butter and Banana Oats sweetened with a tablespoon of brown sugar, and a cup of green tea with Splenda.

Since I had to eat lunch at the fields, I packed a peanut butter & jelly sandwich and a Jonagold apple. I snacked on some soy and wasabi almonds this afternoon. Dinner was a spinach salad, leftover chicken, sweet potato fries, and some sauteed zucchini and onion. For dessert, I ate an orange, four small squares of dark chocolate, and a piece of a knock-off crunch bar that really wasn't that great.

It was gorgeous outside today-- sunny and 50-something degrees. Kobe and I hung out in the yard for awhile this afternoon just enjoying the great weather.

I'm hitting the hay in a few minutes-- tomorrow's events start at 9:30 a.m., so I've got to be up and at 'em early.

Fabulous Friday

2010-02-19T20:27:00.002-05:00

Today was absolutely gorgeous! 60 degrees and sunny. Kobe and I headed outside when I got home from work. He moseyed around the yard while I read another chapter of The Outlander.

A lot of birds have been out and about lately. Yesterday there was a pair of blue birds in the backyard, and today I saw a couple of bright red cardinals, a wood pecker, and really pretty finch that had a blush head and chest. Kobe likes to chase the birds if they land in the yard, so they tend to keep their distance when he's outside.

Tonight for dinner I ordered takeout, which I rarely do because I feel I can cook a better, healthier meal at home and food is so overpriced when you eat out. Like tonight, I ordered a roasted BBQ half chicken and a baked potato from Fatz Cafe, and it cost about $10. If I had cooked the same meal at home, I could served an whole chicken, 4 baked potatoes, and green beans. But, I had a gift card to use so I decided to pick up dinner.

When I got home, I put the chicken and potato in the oven to keep warm so I could eat a craisin and feta spinach salad with a couple of Fatz rolls.

These poppy seed rolls are so good-- they're deep fried. I actually only ate one.

I also had a glass of Shiraz wine with the chicken and baked potato.

Trader Joe's has good inexpensive wine. Of course, it could be good because I don't know that much about wine. But, my mom says it's a good thing to like cheap wine :-)!

Since I had a glass of wine with dinner, I skipped the ice cream for dessert and went for an orange, dark chocolate, and honey vanilla chamomile tea.

I had a great workout this afternoon-- I did the upper body interval workout from Results 10 Days to a Better Body. The downside is that my arms feel like they're going to fall off.

Despite having a great workout this afternoon, I was beat this morning. It took me forever to get to sleep last night (my brain wouldn't settle down) and then I had really weird dreams. After Kobe and I walked, I did some yoga, and then made some oatmeal with raisins and Better 'N Peanut Butter.

For the first time in a month, I didn't have any soup in the house, so I had to get creative for lunch.

I started with a salad with pepperocini peppers, balsamic vinaigrette, and pickles (yeah, I know all that sodium, but I love salty foods).

For the main dish, I sauteed some zucchini and onion and mixed it with about 1/4 cup of leftover meat sauce, and tossed that mixture together with some macaroni and seashell pasta. I topped it off with some Parmesan cheese. I didn't finish it all because 1/2 cup of the dry pasta cooked up A LOT.

On a side note, I found some really yummy almonds at the grocery store today. I was actually looking for glazed walnuts, which of course our Gaffney grocer didn't have, when I saw these:

Wasabi and Soy Sauce Almonds! (Sorry, I can't figure out how to rotate the photo.)

These are really good-- they pack a lot of heat, but they don't leave your mouth burning. The days are definitely numbered for these nuts.

I've got to be at work bright and early tomorrow-9 a.m., for a softball tournament, and then an afternoon lacrosse game. Hopefully I'll have time to squeeze in a run when I get home.

Whoa

2010-02-18T20:41:00.002-05:00

Once again, the winter Olympics have amazed me-- the downhill skiers reach speeds of 80+ miles per hour! I don't even drive that fast on the interstate, and these women are FLYING down mountains at this speed in spandex and a helmet. Whoa.

Despite watching the fabulous athleticism of these athletes, I'm still huffin' and puffin' through my treadmill workouts. Since the house appraiser came today, I spent about 30 minutes after the morning walk straightening up and cleaning the house. After that, I did a 15-minute yoga session for relaxation from the Yoga for Stress Relief DVD. After work, I had to get one of my walk/jog sessions in. I can't say that I enjoy jogging, but it's getting easier, and I feel great once I'm down with my workout. Jogging is such a great stress reliever-- I don't think about anything else going on when my feet are pounding the treadmill. I think I'll do one more week 5 Couch to 5K session before moving onto to week 6.

Of course, all that jogging gave me an appetite, so after my workout I had a big dinner. I started with a feta and craisin spinach salad, and then ate a roll and a big bowl of Goode Bean Soup while watching Samantha Brown of the Travel Channel vacation in Vancouver. That woman has the world's best job.

A chocolate craving hit me after dinner, so I had some super dark chocolate with my orange and tea.

I also ate a bowl of soup for lunch with a piece of bread, and snacked on an orange at the office and some dill pickle cashews when I got home. Breakfast was a bowl of blueberry oatmeal with Better 'N Peanut Butter and a banana.

Tonight I've got to post some swimming results, and hopefully will get a chance to read some of my book. Since I'll be at Limestone all day Saturday and Sunday, the plan is to leave work early tomorrow and get my errands finished.

Wild Wednesday

2010-02-17T11:26:00.003-05:00

Today is a super busy day at work-women's lacrosse this afternoon, men's basketball at home tonight, and just for fun let's throw in a softball doubleheader, baseball game, and two tennis matches (which are all fortunately away, but unfortunately require stories).

Here's a quick recap/preview of today:

Workout-not really a workout, but lots of activity. Walk with Kobe, then 45 minutes of vacuuming & mopping floors
Breakfast: Blueberry oatmeal with Better 'N Peanut Butter, banana, green tea with honey
Lunch: Soup, salad
Snack: Apple & some craisins
Dinner: Leftover couscous and chicken
Dessert: Orange & tea, tootsie roll pop

Best Day of the Week

2010-02-16T15:44:00.001-05:00

Today is the best day of the week. Because it's Tuesday? No. Because it's leftover night? No. Because it's laundry night? No. Because there aren't any sporting events to write about? Yep, you got it!

A night off couldn't have come at a better time. First of all, Lost is on, and second, I'm super tired. I felt pretty good until after I ~~ran~~ jogged last night, and then the weariness hit me like a load of bricks as I nearly dozed off several times while watching the Olympics last night. I got a good eight hours of sleep, but that didn't seem to help.

At any rate, I dragged my rear end out of bed this morning so Kobe and I could walk (which we did in 20-something degree weather-Michigan, we're gonna be ready for your winters!). When we got back, I did three sections from Gilad's Express workouts: Warm-up, Hips & Thighs, and Shoulders. He doesn't have you use much weight (I used three-pound dumbbells for the shoulders), but your muscles burn! After Gilad fried my legs and shoulders, I did one segment from the Firm's 5 Day Abs and a short stretch.

Breakfast consisted of two scrambled eggs, toast with blackberry preserves, and a banana. Lunch was a spinach salad and a bowl of black bean soup. I snacked on an orange this afternoon at my desk. Dinner plans include leftover couscous with grilled chicken.

Despite not having to write any stories tonight, I do have to come back to campus for a meeting, wash a couple loads of laundry and straighten up the house (the appraiser is coming on Thursday). So much for a complete night off!

Ho hum...

2010-02-15T19:53:00.000-05:00

Today was another ho hum Monday. Nothing exciting happened, just a calm day.

Kobe and I went for our usual walk this morning and I did the AM Stretch DVD when we returned .For breakfast, I had 2 scrambled eggs, toast with blackberry preserves, and a banana. Lunch was a salad, a small bowl of black bean soup, and some leftover sweet potato fries. Some craisins helped satisfy my sweet tooth.

Since I only have two apples left, I snacked on an orange at my desk. When I got home from work, Kobe got to play in the yard, and I got to wipe off his muddy paws. Then, it was time to run! (And yes, I'm still doing week 5 of the cardio coach program.) I did a short stretch before fixing dinner: gnocchi with Meaderville spaghetti sauce. Then I ate an orange and had a cup of tea before hopping in the shower.

Tonight I've got to post basketball results, so I'll probably watch some Olympic coverage. In the meantime I'm watching a No Reservations marathon on the Travel Channel.

Who would have thought....

2010-02-14T19:57:00.000-05:00

Today I have spent several hours watching the Olympics coverage (I'm watching the pairs figure skating right now). Which leads me to a question, "Who decided it would be fun to wear spandex, a thin plastic helmet, get on a sled, lie flat on your back, and speed 80+ miles per hour down a steep icy hill with hair pin turns and call it a sport?" I guess someone did, but I can't imagine the amount of courage (or insane-ness) that drives these athletes to compete in the luge or mogul skiing or snowboarding. On the other hand, the skating events (especially the speed skating) are so beautiful to watch since the athletes are so graceful and their movements so smooth. As someone who considers herself a huge klutz, this degree of athleticism is spectacular.

So, watching all these world-class athletes should motivate me to work on my own fitness level, but today that simply wasn't the case. I didn't get to bed until 11:30 last night (I started watching the women's mogul skiing event), I woke up at 7:30 a.m. and took Kobe on his usual walk. From that point on, I was very lazy. Sure, I managed a load of laundry and cooked lunch and dinner for myself, but mostly my rear end has been planted on the couch.

After our walk, I had two scrambled eggs and a slice of toast for breakfast. I was out of bananas (oh, the horror), so I made my weekly trip to the grocery store, and then stopped by Starbucks for a medium, decaf, skim, hazelnut misto. The aroma of the drink filled my entire car, and it was a great treat to have mid-morning with a banana.

Since the coffee filled me up, I didn't eat lunch until 1 p.m. I'm still trying to use up the food in my pantry, so today I pulled out a package of couscous.

I had bought a couple of zucchini at the store, so I sauteed one of those with an onion...

...and then added about 1 1/2 cups of marinara sauce.

Then, I mixed the couscous and sauce together and topped it with some grated parmesan cheese. Yummy!

I also had an orange after lunch.

This afternoon I snacked on some dill pickle cashews (I saw these at Target on Thursday and had to try them). They weren't bad, but didn't have the dill flavor I was expecting.

My valentine's day dinner was a grilled chicken sandwich with sweet potato fries and a pickle. I also had a big spinach salad before the main meal.

Dessert ended up being the usual orange with some 85% cacao dark chocolate with some tea and honey.

Tomorrow it's back to the old grind again. My plans are to walk Kobe in the morning and do a long stretching session, and then run after work.

I'm going to watch the Olympics until about 9 p.m., and then I'm heading to bed to read a new book, The Outlander.

Ready to Run!

2010-02-13T12:53:00.000-05:00

I haven't run all week because my right knee has really been bothering me and I had a head cold. Today, I am sniffle-free and my knee brace was on, so I was pumped to get a great workout in. I repeated last week's Couch to 5K training session:

0:00-5:00: Warm-up
5:00-8:00: Jog (5.1 mph)
8:00-9:30: Walk
9:30-14:30: Jog (5.1 mph)
14:30-17:00: Walk
17:00-20:00: Jog (5.1 mph)
20:00-21:30: Walk
21:30-26:30: Jog (5.1 mph)
26:30-30:00: Brisk walk
30:00-35:00: Cool down

This is my new the knee brace. I was skeptical that a thin strip of fabric would solve the problem, but it helped a lot! I was pain free (and still am).

For lunch, I ate a salad with yellow peppers, feta, and olives. I finally finished off the curried chicken and lentils with a some leftover rice.For "dessert" I ate an orange.

This afternoon I have to head to the gym to prepare for "Officials Appreciation Night" at the basketball games (fingers crossed that it goes well and the refs aren't complete idiots). Since I'll be watching basketball all night, my dinner plans include:

Feta & craisin spinach salad
Peanut butter & jelly sandwich
Apple
(and maybe a Tootsie Roll Pop)

Winter Wonderland

2010-02-13T09:19:00.000-05:00

Kobe and I stayed up late last night watching the Olympic coverage. (Well, late for me-for all I know he stays up all night and sleeps all day.) It fell a little flat for me, but I sympathize with the program's director since he had to follow the Chinese opening ceremonies which were spectacular.

We got a couple of inches of snow last night, which made for a very pretty landscape outside. (And not to mention my work load got cut in half since all the outdoor sports had to cancel their games. Oh darn.)

Kobe had a great time outside this morning and got to have lots of fun rolling, running and playing! He's going to love Michigan winters when we get up there.

Here are a couple videos and some photos of "the beast" wreaking havoc outside:

This is just a front, he's really not ferocious.

For breakfast, I cooked stove-top oats with blueberries, brown sugar and butter (yeah, I feel a little guilty about putting a pat of it in my oatmeal, but breakfast sure was tasty!).

I'll be hitting the treadmill in about 30 minutes to get my walk/jog workout underway.

Great video about the livestock industry's impact on the environment

2010-02-12T20:12:00.002-05:00

It's snowing!!! (Again...)

2010-02-12T19:43:00.001-05:00

It's snowing here again-- even more exciting it's actually sticking to the ground. Kobe had a great time outside running around-- hopefully he'll get to play in the snow tomorrow morning.

After Kobe played outside this afternoon, it was time for a snack (pickles). After starting a load of laundry and watching some TV, I ate a huge spinach salad with red peppers, olives, and feta before heating up my dinner of leftover rice with chicken and lentils (yeah, I'm still eating leftovers and I'm down to only one more serving left in the freezer).

Since Kobe and I had a long week, we both got dessert. I had a container of Edy's chocolate chip ice cream with a cup of tea.

And Kobe had a rawhide.

This morning got off to a good start since my head cold is going away and I could actually breath. Before Kobester and I headed out for our walk, I ate a banana. When we got back, I did one of the segments from Leslie Sansone's 5 Day Slim Down.

For breakfast, I cooked a bowl of oatmeal with blueberries, and then added a pretty big squirt of honey and some Better 'N Peanut Butter. Today I had a lunch meeting, so I ate a salad and slice of mushroom and green pepper pizza.

I was craving a soda this afternoon, so I succumbed to temptation and drank 1/2 a bottle of diet coke with some almonds and walnuts.

My plans for tonight include watching the Olympics coverage, and then posting a wrestling release. I'll leave you with a photo of the cutest pup in town:

Get outta town!

2010-02-11T19:58:00.001-05:00

Today was exciting because I got to take a trip to the big city of Spartanburg! I had to go pick up some stuff for an event at the basketball games this weekend, and since Publix was on the way back, I stopped there to pick up one of their sub sandwiches- ham and swiss on wheat with pickles, peppers, lettuce, tomatoes, and spicy mustard. Even the half size was HUGE! I didn't even need to eat a snack until I came home from work, and then I ate a banana.

Kobe and I walked this morning, and then I did the Firm's Tough Cardio Mix. I had eaten a banana before heading out with the dog, and after my workout I scrambled two eggs and ate those with a slice of toast.

After letting Kobe run around the yard after work, I did PM Yoga Conditioning for Weight Loss. For dinner I had cheese and pepper pizza with a big spinach salad that had red pepper, feta cheese, and olives. Dessert was tea, and orange, and a few pieces of dark (85% cacao) chocolate.

Windy Wednesday

2010-02-10T20:12:00.000-05:00

It was a windy day today- really windy and only 30 degrees. I don't have a lot of time to post, so here's a summary:

Workout: walk with dog, cleaning the house

Breakfast: banana, 2 eggs, toast with jam, cranberry juice
Lunch: split pea soup, salad
Snack: apple, craisins, pickle
Dinner: lentils with wild rice
Dessert: tea and orange

Hopefully I'll write more tomorrow!

Cold coming on...

2010-02-09T12:13:00.000-05:00

A cold is coming on... I can feel it... Slightly achy joints and a stuffed up nose. (Fortunately, I've had both of my flu shots so at least I know I won't get terribly sick). Not even my lunch of my favorite salad (spinach with craisins, feta, and glazed walnut) and a half of a Better 'N Peanut Butter and blackberry jam sandwich could raise my spirits today.

I finally got a decent night's sleep last night, except for the fact that my alarm went off way too early this morning.After I drank some water and ate a banana, Kobe and I headed out. After Kobe went through his daily beautification process, I still had time to get in another workout. I was planning on running this today, but my right knee is bugging me. According to one of our athletic trainers, its probably my Iliotibial band, so I went ahead and ordered a knee brace. Since running wasn't going to happen (and I was feeling worn out) I did a two-mile indoor walk DVD.

Breakfast was two scrambled eggs and a slice of toast with blackberry preserves. I have a meeting at 12:30 today, so I didn't have time to go home for lunch (poor pup, he'll be alone all day). My afternoon snack will be a Jonagold apple.

Dinner plans tonight include spaghetti and a salad. I need all the vitamins I can get!

Worn Out!

2010-02-08T20:22:00.000-05:00

I am worn out- the stress of a busy work schedule and selling a house is starting to get to me. I haven't been sleeping well, and after Kobe and I walked, I went back to bed for another half hour.

Breakfast was oatmeal with raisins and Better 'N Peanut Butter. I ate lunch at my desk: a spinach salad with feta, green olives, and red peppers with dressing, and two slices of leftover pizza. I needed a pick me up after lunch, so I had a Starburst. I snacked on an apple and pickle over the course of the afternoon, and then had black beans, green pepper, onion, and tomato stir-fried together over rice. Then I had an orange and tea.

I also updated Goode Taste with a really chocolatey cookie recipe: Rocky Road Whoppers. Click here to check it out!

Super Bowl Sunday

2010-02-07T21:34:00.000-05:00

This Super Bowl Sunday ended up being super busy. Since I was up until midnight on Saturday, Kobe took the day off from walking (okay, so I wanted the day off), so he got to run around the yard this morning. Then, I made a trip to Wal-Mart and came home to eat breakfast. My breakfast was blue: I mixed frozen blueberries in with my oats as they boiled, and then added some honey. And don't forget the banana!

After breakfast, I cooked a batch of tomato sauce, washed a couple of loads of laundry, and did week 4 of Couch to 5K. I've been awfully anxious the past couple of days (this time of the year at work is stressful), but I felt SOOO much better after working out. Then I did a yoga sequence.

Lunch was more chicken and lentils (and there's still more left in the freezer) and a baked potato. The oranges I got at the store last week were so good, I had one after lunch. After washing a sink-ful of dishes, I baked some special treats: valentine cookies for my hubby, blondies for the Super Bowl get together, and pizza crusts for dinner. And gosh darn it if some of those chocolate chips and some of the batter didn't find their way into my mouth.Next came more work: DISHES!

Finally, I hopped in the shower about 3 p.m., made the bed, got ready, let Kobe out in the yard, put the laundry away, snacked on a salad, and headed over to a friend's house to watch the Super Bowl.I had a beer during the first half of the game before heading home to post a story about baseball.

Dinner was a couple of slices of pizza with bell pepper, parmesan, and feta cheeses. Dessert was (another) orange and half of a rocky road cookie.

Hopefully I'll get the baseball story soon so I can post it. It's an "early" bed time tonight: 10:30 p.m.

Pantry Pilfer

2010-02-06T11:16:00.000-05:00

My pantry is a little out of control. I have WAY to much food in it for one person. Here's a tour to prove my point:

Not only is there a spice cabinet...

There's also a spice rack...

Here's the rice/pasta/snack cabinet...

Top shelf: pasta; Middle shelf: cous cous, rice, tea, honey, pasta lentils.

And two more views of the pantry...

Rice, canned soup, toothpicks, popcorn, macaroni, dried milk and potato flakes (for baking)

Canned tomatoes, pickles, brown rice in the back, chicken stock, salt, cocoa powder.

Let's not forget the freezer...

Rolls, soup, leftover lentils, frozen veggies, meat sauce, ham hocks, cranberries, semolina and whole wheat flour, cookies, and ice cream

And the freezer door...

Cashews, walnuts, coffee, sesame seeds, bacon, ice pack, two containers of bread crumbs, limeade, pine nuts, peanuts, and flax seeds

And I didn't even show you the "baking" cabinets with flour, salt, candy, and sugar.

My action plan to cut the pantry down to size: pick an ingredient from the pantry each week and make meals around it. This week's star ingredient is canned tomatoes. My action plan is to make a big batch of pasta sauce tomorrow, eat pasta a couple of times this week, and make a pizza for Super Bowl Sunday tomorrow. That way I can make the crust from scratch, and top it with the pasta sauce.

Kobe and I went for our usual walk this morning-- he's looking quite dashing since he had a bath yesterday :-). We almost had a run-in with a Chihuahua, but fortunately the yappy squirt stayed on its porch.

It was back to oatmeal for breakfast (with pumpkin, raisins, cinnamon, and Better 'N Peanut Butter mixed in). Of course I had a banana and a cup of tea.

This morning I went to the grocery store and post office. When I got home, I did a little cleaning and started the laundry.

Lunch is going to be leftover lentils (I've been eating that all week and there's still more in the freezer).

I've got to work a basketball doubleheader tonight so I'll need to fix a sandwich and apple to take to munch on. I'll probably make a craisin, feta, and walnut salad. Mmmm....

I'm off to do the laundry!

It was Friday night

2010-02-06T10:55:00.002-05:00

It was Friday night and I headed over to some friends' house to eat dinner and watch Fringe. Dinner was really good-vidalia onion hamburgers with cheese and sweet potato fries. After dinner, there was cheddar cheese popcorn to munch on (so good). When I got home, I had some work to do, so I ate a chocolate chip cookie and an orange, and drank a cup of tea.

I didn't get to bed until almost 11:30, so I was really glad to sleep in on Saturday.

It's Friday! It's Friday! Woo hoo!

2010-02-05T14:56:00.000-05:00

Yay! It's Friday! Yay!

Today was an eventful day at the Goode house. First, Kobe and I got our morning started by walking in the POURING rain (and yes, we pushed through and got in our entire walk). After returning home, toweling off the dog, and taking off all the rain gear, I did the express workout from Hard Core Fusion.

Breakfast was different this morning! I had 2 scrambled eggs, honey wheat toast with blackberry preserves, and a banana. Lunch was a spinach salad with tomatoes and Parmesan cheese and a bowl of curried lentils and chicken.

Before heading to work, I dropped Kobe off at the vet's so he could get a bath. He hasn't had one in a very long time and he's way too big for me to get into the bathtub. At 90 lbs., if there's somewhere he doesn't want to go, I can't force him to. I can't wait to pick him up, he's like a big fluffy teddy bear after he's had a bath.

While I was at home for lunch, I straightened up the house in anticipation for the home inspectors' visit this afternoon. Hopefully everything will go well and we'll be one stop closer to getting it sold!

oops

2010-02-05T14:42:00.000-05:00

Oops. I didn't post yesterday. I feel like a slacker. But, I had other things on my mind. In a nutshell, here's what happened yesterday on the health front:

Exercise
Morning: Walk with Kobe, Week 4 of Couch to 5k,
Evening:PM Stretch

Food
Morning: banana before my walk/workout, oatmeal, orange
Lunch: split pea soup, salad, pickle
Snack: pickle
Dinner: curried lentils and chicken with rice
Dessert: blueberry Tootsie Roll Pop, tea sweetened with Splenda, orange

Toss and Turn...

2010-02-03T20:47:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned yesterday, I stayed up late last night (until 11 p.m.) to watch Lost. The problem with the show is that my mind is always racing after seeing it, trying to figure out what in the world is going on. Last night was no different-- it took me forever to fall asleep, and then I tossed and turned all night. I was sure I was going to be exhausted today, but I've actually been pretty alert.

After my early walk with Kobe, I vacuumed and mopped the house. It's better for me to do it during the week, that way I have more free time on the weekends. Plus, cleaning counts as physical activity :-).

Anyways, here's my food journal for the day:

Breakfast: Oatmeal with pumpkin & Better 'n Peanut Butter, banana
Lunch: Salad with feta and balsamic vinaigrette dressing, chicken and lentil soup, few raisins
Snack: Jonagold apple
Dinner: salad with craisins and feta, chicken and lentils over white rice (I know white rice isn't as nutritious as brown, but I had to use up the rest of the bag)
Dessert: orange, tea

Hopefully I'll get the volleyball and basketball results soon so I can go to bed. Tomorrow is another busy busy day!

Top of the morning...

2010-02-02T16:17:00.000-05:00

I did not want to get out of bed this morning- I was toasty under the covers, and rain was awaiting Kobe and me on our walk. It would have been so easy to hit the "off" button...

But, it wouldn't be very fair to my faithful companion if I slept in on our morning walk, so I dragged myself out of bed, layered up, put on the rain gear, and headed out. We walked about a mile in the rain, and since I was still tired I decided to go back to bed. And I did. And I slept for another hour.

Breakfast was the same 'ol, same 'ol (oatmeal and banana), lunch was the usual (soup and a salad), and my afternoon snack also lacked creativity (a jonagold apple).

Fortunately, I don't have to work tonight so I can devote ALL of my attention to the Lost season premier. I cannot wait I cannot wait I cannot wait! (It's my favorite show :-), and this season we're suppose to find out what is going on on that darn moving island!) The downside is that the premier will last until 11 p.m., so I'm not going to feel any more energetic tomorrow.

There is another sunny side to no work tonight situation-- I can get my running workout in. Tonight I'm moving on to week four of the Couch to 5K program. It's sure to be a hard workout today, but I'll power through.

After my workout I've got a good dinner to look forward to: leftover black beans/tomato/onion with smashed avocado and a baked sweet potato. And don't forget my nightly orange and cup of tea!

A little extra

2010-02-01T21:13:00.000-05:00

This afternoon I planned to do an upper body workout, an abs workout, and call it a day. But as I was preparing to workout, I felt the need to do a little cardio, just to really get my heart rate up. So, I popped in Karen Voight's Half and Half DVD, and ended up doing the entire workout except for the lower body part (my knees have been a bit sore lately because of the running).

Before I ate dinner, I had a couple of snacks that included a Jonagold apple, some cheerios, and a couple of pickles (I love love love pickles, and the jars were buy one get one free at the store today!) For dinner, I cut up a sweet potatoe, roasted it in the oven, and topped it with black beans, chopped tomatoes and onions seasoned with cumin and little cayenne pepper, and mashed avocado. YUM! I also had a cup of tea and an orange.

Ice on the ground...

2010-02-01T13:46:00.000-05:00

Despite most of the roads being cleared and offices open, there was still snow and some ice on the ground. Kobe and I had to navigate 15 treacherous feet of ice on one section of the road this morning, and I'm proud to say we came through still standing on two legs (or four paws).

Yoga was on the agenda this morning, so I did the Pure Tranquility DVD.Breakfast was pumpkin (Better 'n) peanut butter oatmeal and a banana. For lunch, I had a baby spinach salad with cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, and balsamic vinaigrette, and a small bowl of split pea soup. Then I snacked on a couple of raisins to satisfy my sweet tooth.