No running

This week is starting off so slow. I could have sworn that yesterday was Thursday, which would mean that I have today off. I am very tired of work, and ready for the next 10 days off. I know spoiled, but I need it big time.

Monday I forgot to take pictures of most of my food, I did a little better on Tuesday. On Monday this is all I managed to snap pictures of. I have noticed lately that I have been going through one bottle of water rather fast, so this is the introduction of the second bottle of water. Funny story, I didn't even touch the second bottle, go figure right.

For lunch I had a salad, and a bag of Vickie's salt and vinegar chips, it's a problem I know. Dinner was a delicious home made pizza. I make the dough from scratch on the weekends freeze it, and then thaw it in the fridge for a couple of days before I am ready to make my pizza. Monday I made a tomato and mozzarella pizza. So GOOD!

Tuesday my memory was a little better. I skipped breakfast both days. I know that is bad. I am not a breakfast person and so training myself to eat that early is hard. Unless it is bacon, and eggs, in which case I would eat breakfast every morning, only if I didn't have to make it. I drank water (not pictured), which is the norm. Then for lunch I had snap peas, grapes, and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I snacked on goldfish during the day, and drank a tonic, it is my favorite drink ever! Over Coca Cola yes, I know hard to believe. Dinner was so yummy. I made chicken pesto pasta, but I substituted broccoli for the chicken. I am not a big meat eater. I do try and find healthy substitutes for proteins, but it is not as easy as it looks. High protein grains are something I am experimenting with.

It is Wednesday and I have not ran once this week. I blame it on stress and a packed schedule. We leave for vacation soon, and I have to pack up Averie and myself, and when I vacation I like to make sure that I am organized to the point of panic. Once I am on vacation it's going to be relaxing but until then, STRESS! I plan on running while on vacation. We are going to the beach so I think it will be nice to get a little by the ocean exercise. I am looking forward to it. I do still plan on running this week, I just can't make any guarantee's. Maybe tomorrow, and Saturday. I think that is a good goal. It is still pretty early, so I am going to make some breakfast. What to have. Maybe yogurt with chai seeds. See you later alligator. 

Weekend Fun

Let's wrap this weekend up.

Friday was a really good day. We will begin with what I ate. I drank lots of water, then made a couple of pieces of toast with peanut butter for breakfast. I was only able to get through one piece it was so dry. For lunch I had a bag of sun chips and a delicious salad. Instead of drinking more water I mixed it up a little. I had a cup of green tea. Not pictured is dinner, I made filet mignon, baked potatoes, green beans, and battered shrimp. I was trying to have a little date night dinner at home. It went over very well. Brian ranted about how good the steak was. I used this recipe if any of you want to try it. Yes I need a recipe for steak.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/steakhouse-steaks-recipe.html

Other Friday news, my saint of a father, did Brian and I a huge favor and watched Averie all day so Brian could finish his car. Talk about a life saver. Averie had a great time with him too. I love it when she spends time with my family. It's so nice to see the connection that they make with her, and her with them. 

Saturday, man Saturday was stressful. We went looking at houses. Which is so overwhelming for me, the idea of moving, packing, and unpacking is too much to handle right now. I just can't fathom moving again. I just don't want to do it. Ugh! After browsing houses all day, we went back over to my parents to swim. I love swimming, if we had a pool it would get a ton of use, and I would have a killer tan. Dinner was so good, and my dad bought, what is proving to be my favorite brand of beer, Sam Adams. I think I drank 5 of them. Oops!

Here is a fun one. Averie has not been as acclimated to the pool this year. Lesson for next year, put Averie in swim lessons at the beginning of the summer. Yep, that's my girl just chillin in the pool. There was a little bit of crying to get her in the pool. After about 10 minutes she calmed down and just hung out on the lounger. 

Let's see where am I? Sunday. I did nothing. I mean I did something but not note worthy. I cleaned, which I do all the time, so that is not really new. I went to the grocery store. That is always daunting and fun at the same time. Does anyone else feel like this. I love going to the store. I love the shopping and seeing all the possibilities. I dislike getting home and having to drag it all in the house and put it away. But, if someone volunteers to help me, I immediately turn them down. Why you ask? Cause I have a certain way I like things, and if someone helps that doesn't know or care, I have to redo everything they have done. making my job 5x harder. Not worth the help if you ask me. I am probably crazy, and have some sort of weird disorder, but that's the way things are. C'est la vie. 

Here is Brian and Averie sharing brownies last night after dinner, aren't they the cutest. 

Here we are at Monday. I have short week. I work Monday-Wednesday. I have a class on Thursday, and then Friday I am off. I love having every other Friday off. It's a life saver. 

This morning started off with a delicious cup of yogurt and chai seeds, and a cup of coffee. Can't live without coffee. 

I guess that is enough excitement for today. Oh, workouts. I did not run this weekend. I did do a 30 minute pilates work out yesterday. That felt great. I will probably run today after dinner. I have been wondering, what is the optimal amount of time to wait after you eat to do exercise?

Talk to you all later. 

Still going strong

Here is my run from the 16th of July. I know it is the 18th, I will have to get in the habit of posting, and taking pictures of food, and all that jazz. There will be a slight learning curve. I did well on this run. I did make one mistake. I tried to do a little warm up of HIIT before. For those of you that don't know what that is. It is High Intensity Interval Training. I will post the one I did, and you can see how pathetic I am. I only made it through the squats. I know, it is so sad. Well doing this workout before my run made it harder for me to run, and made me super sore. I can barely sit and it has been two days, the bending of my knees affects my thighs that are on fire. It is ridiculous.

My food intake was better, I say intake cause eating is really not my thing. I do it cause I have to not cause I want to. Most of the time that is. If it is Zia's, or Woodstock pizza then I love eating. 

July 16th I had this beauty on the way home. Which reminds me I need to load my Starbucks card. I love grande, non-fat, light ice, caramel macchiato's! I did have to break my no caffeine after 2 pm rule. It was totally worth it. 

July 17th started with a coffee, and yogurt. I did not take a picture of the Marie Calendars chicken potpie, but it was delicious. I also had a small bag of baked cheetos. It is a weakness I know. Lastly I drank a ton of water. I still need to drink more a day, my Camelbak only holds 32 oz. I need double that I think. 

For dinner we went to Chevy's. I had a quesadilla, and a watermelon margarita. Yum! I did not take pictures again. Sorry. I did catch Averie being cute though. She was loving that ice cream cone. Love this little girl. 

Well, I am signing off until tomorrow. It is Friday and the weekend is only hours away. I am totally ready for it. I am predicting some swimming, cleaning, shopping, and maybe the farmers market on Saturday. 

Feeling well?

Something must be wrong with me, I am posting twice in one day. I have to finish my exciting day of eating.

Let's begin....

The baggy is protein powder, and yes it was hard to drink in water. I had to hold my nose. It is so much better in a smoothie. Let's say that the last picture is how much is left and I probably won't finish it.

The yogurt came with M&M trail mix that I gave away. I substituted the mix for chai seeds. It was so good, and easy. I was wondering what I was going to have for breakfast and this was perfect.

Next, Subway, my spicy italian sandwich and salt and vinegar chips. I should be good on salt for the rest of the day. This overloaded me for sure. But like I have said before I crave salt all day. That's it for now.

I am contemplating a coffee on the way home. I know I shouldn't but I have a long night ahead of me and I am losing motivation quickly. The plan, dinner, which consists of buffalo chicken sandwiches, and turnip fries. (don't tell my husband, I don't think he will notice the difference between turnip and potato.), then a nice long run, shower, and clean up the house and get ready to do it all over the next day. Sounds like fun right. Tomorrow will be a little more relaxing.

Happy Hump Day!

I feel good about where I am at today. I feel healthy, but still very tired. Yesterday ended with a few snacks, and Spaghetti for dinner. I have also been drinking a lot of water. That is a must with the weather we have been having lately.

* Taking pictures of my food is something that I will have to get in the habit of doing. Until I do master the remembering part of taking pictures, bare with me.

I don't normally drink water bottles. I have a very large Camelbak that I am in love with. But again the remembering thing is an issue for me. I am just not that great at it. I do have a bunch of the plastic water bottles at my desk at work just in case the Camelbak doesn't make it into my bag. My best friend started using these glass water bottles, I think that once my money troubles calm down a little I might invest in a couple of those. I would need at least 3. I drink that much water. Here is a picture of the one I am looking at. How did I get on a water bottle rant. It must be early.

                                           

Onward with the day. I am running today after work. The plan is to get off work, run a couple of errands, go home make and eat dinner, wait about 30 minutes then run. That puts me at the perfect time in the evening for a cool run. Last time I tried to run right when I got home and it was still 95 degree's outside. That is a no go! I think this will put me at about 7 pm. Should be perfect. I am feeling the effects of Monday's run more today than I did yesterday. I even walked a little yesterday to try and help the soreness, but nope my shins are killing me. No better way to break in these legs then to push them right. I think on the off nights of running I am going to do a little Pilates. I think I need something that is going to stretch me out after run days.

Okay no more about health stuff and working out. I am pretty confident about it as you can tell.

Anessa moves out in 37 days. Yes the count down is real. We are talking 3 full weeks of her left in my house. It is actually 4 weeks but one of the weeks we will be on vacation, and I am saying it doesn't count.  I made a huge list on walmart.com of everything that she will need. We are talking about $300 in stuff. It is crazy, she basically needs to be set up as if she is in a mini apartment. I am so excited. I so don't like teenagers. Ugh! No complaining. I am excited for her, and me. Shhhh!!!

Well I guess I should start working, It is going to be a long day. It's time to figure out what is for breakfast and lunch. I brought nada. Opps.

Here we go again....

I have said it before and I will say it again, time to get right.

Time to get healthy and active and stick with it. There is no reason not to, and I have no excuses.

Kicking this off, is the 1.59 mile run I did last night. It was not easy. I have been battling illness, being tired, and lack of motivation for months. Because of all that my run was hard, and I did not retain any of the endurance I once had. Big bummer, but that actually motivates me more. The GOAL: Run every other day. I can't do it every day, realistically that is just not something that I have time for. Every other day it is.

Eating Right! That is a big one. I am sure if you are someone that comes to my blog often and reads my posts you will recognize that I don't have the best  of eating habits. Not because I eat totally unhealthy, but because I don't eat. Eek! I crave one type of food, Salty FOOD! That's pretty much it. Usually this craving comes to me late at night, like around 9pm or 10pm. Not the best time for salt if you ask me. My diet consists of mostly vegetarian/vegan foods. I am not a big meat eater. Never have been. I love my fruits, veggies, and carbohydrates. I am going to use my blog to document my journey on eating better, exercising, and becoming a healthier person all together. I need something to keep me in line and honestly I have not found that one thing that helps.

In addition to eating better, and exercising, I also started to incorporate a few other items into my diet. One of them being a multivitamin. Because I don't eat a lot throughout the day. I think it is important that I supplement. I am also using Chia seeds (see example below), and taking Spirulina tablets. To learn more about Spirulina click on the link. Spirulina has so many health boosting qualities, why not give it a go. What harm could it do. The more you read on it, the more you will understand how completely amazing it is for you.

http://wellnessmama.com/4738/spirulina-herb-profile/

Let's begin, starting with my run. It was so hard. I don't think there is a way to express how difficult it was for me to run a mile, never mind 1.59 miles.

Onto Food, Breakfast. Today consisted of Oatmeal with Chia seeds, and small cup of coffee. Oh really quick on caffeine. I have been doing this for a while now, with a couple of small exceptions, but I do not drink caffeine after 2pm. That has helped a lot with getting to sleep at night. I do every now and then take a Melatonin, but I am trying to only take that when I know  my brain is not going to be able to settle down. I need to find another way to decompress. Warm milk is not an option, tea is okay, but it is scolding hot outside so tea is not the best choice in this weather. I was thinking about reading, but my husband watches TV and it is a huge distraction as I read. Any other suggestions would be welcome.

I will probably write again today, or maybe tomorrow morning about lunch and dinner. I will figure out a good way to post my healthy days eventually. *smiles* Until then enjoy seeing what I eat, and reading about this new journey I am going on. 

Start of a new week

I am already on edge. This morning started off pretty well, but apparently the people around me think that I have nothing to do but solve their problems. Does nobody understand that I am at work. Now I know how my husband feels when I try and talk to him during the day. You can't get anything done cause you are being pelted with questions. I just need a little break, and being at work is suppose to be that for me. No housework, no motherly tasks, and no yelling at a teenager to pick up towels, or put her dishes away. Who would have thought that work would be my oasis.

I am feeling the pressure of moving out of our house. The packing, the researching schools, scheduling time at a new preschool, unpacking, and looking for a place. The biggest pressure of all finding a new place to live. I want to live in one area and my husband wants to live in another, so we are looking in both. My fear is that there will not be something available during the time we want to move in either area. I made an agreement with myself this time. I am not settling. I settled for the house we are in now and have been nothing but unhappy. I will wait, and be patient until something pops up that can't be passed on. Until then we wait. 

Now that I seem to have released all the stress that I am under, I can move onto better and more interesting topics. Fourth of July Weekend, it was filled with fun family, and great food. No drama and lots of fireworks. We swam, drank and had a good ole time. I will be sad when we move, my area is pretty close to my parents still, but my husbands area is closer to his parents. Both areas are closer to work, so that is a win, win. 

This week should be pretty relaxing, I have a little bit of a busy day today but that should be it. No plans for the rest of the week. I can't guarantee you that will last, but here's hoping and praying. I have Friday off so that is nice. Well I guess I will leave with a couple of photo's. That's kind of my MO these days. 

Oh, I am working on some updates to the blog. That is kind of why this post is scatter brained. I have a lot going on and just can not seem to get my thoughts together. Hopefully tomorrow I will be an organized mess. *smiles*

Back on TRACK!

I am back on track and feeling good. I got to work a little early today, so I grabbed a cup of coffee and my new book and sat at my desk until it was time to get to work. It is moments like these that I cherish. I love being relaxed. Sleeping well is key to feeling this happy.

I am feeling especially energetic today and have lots of aspirations for the day. First I am going to work. Blah! That is not fun. I am off early every other Friday due to my RDO, so I plan on making a grocery store stop. Then home to run with my husband, I am making him run. It will be a light run. He complains, excuse me I mean has issues with shin splints so we can't run for long. Then eat a little dinner. Thinking BLT's would be yummy, and then maybe a late movie. Him and I are going to start living our lives a little more. We are homebodies a lot of the time, and I think we need to get out more. We sound lame, but it's true.

The weekend holds, cleaning, cooking, and a little organizing. I have to go to Lowes and get some more vegetables for my garden, and a couple of rods for my snap pea plants. My garden is looking pretty good so far. Not producing anything yet, but it is close. I am going to roast a chicken, make some pizza dough, and some spaghetti sauce. All my recipes are from Dinner A Love Story. One of my all time favorite family food blogs ever. She talks about the importance of a family dinner, and how to plan for them. I am really looking forward to the weekend. My plan is to get my house and upcoming week in order. Plan out dinners and so forth.

Check it out.

http://www.dinneralovestory.com/

You know what is weird about my motivation to plan out my week. The fact that if I really what to feel like my weeks are prepared properly, I have to take the same steps every weekend. That is daunting to think about. A routine would probably be good for me. Hmm... might have to think this through a little more.

Side note: This is what happens when I am at work and Brian is in charge of Averie. Is it clear why I want to be a stay at home mom yet.

Well, I guess this is good bye for now. I will leave you with the above picture and get back to work. I have to do a little bit even though it is Friday.

Running away from me

Oh how time has ran away from me. Talk about a total fail with my own challenge, what a loser right. I am going to make it up right now. This may be the longest post ever!

The last time I posted it was June 5, 2014. So I have a few days to make up. It's my challenge I can do what I want, even if that means promising to post everyday and doing all the posts in one. *haha* Don't judge.

June 6, 2014. My 31st Birthday. I had a pretty good day. I worked unfortunately, but I treated myself to a little retail therapy, and a fantastic lunch at one of my favorite places. I think it is high time that I started taking care of myself instead of waiting for someone else to take care of me. It's nice to feel like someone cares, but it is not a requirement any longer. After work I went straight to the Sacramento Zoo for Dream Night. This is a great event that DSIA (Down Syndrome Information Alliance) puts on every year. The Zoo has all sorts of Special Needs vendors, snacks, and the rides are free. They even give the kids a free stuffed animal at the gate, Zoo animal themed of course. This event was even better this year than last, cause I got to spend it with my Husband. This was the first year that he has attended and it made it better for sure. After we went back to my parents for dessert. My favorite way to spend any special occasion or holiday is to be with my family. I couldn't ask for a better birthday present. Brian did buy me a gift, something that I have been wanting for months. SPERRY's. He even picked out the color on his own. Good Job babe. They are my summer go to shoe now.

Averie eating popcorn at the Sacramento Zoo

June 7, 2014. This was an exciting day too. It is Tattoo day! Scary I know. It actually was not as bad as I had expected. Once I got there the nerves magically went away. It was the anticipation that was killing me, the drive there, and then waiting. I just wanted to do it. Once I laid down on the table and she started everything seemed to fade away. It really did take me to another place. All you can focus on is the needle. You dont think about money, family drama, or what chores you should be doing instead of getting a tattoo. *laughs* I am in love with my tattoo and am eager to get another. The only foreseeable problem is that tattoo's are expensive, and not really a priority in my life. I have other things that I could spend hundreds of dollars on. Like vacations, or clothes for Averie, or a new stroller.

This is a funny story actually. I have wanted a nice jogging stroller for years. Like a BOB or something comparable, so that I can run with Averie when I get home. Right now I have to ask for her to be watched and I hate doing that. Well the stroller is between 300-400 dollars. Too expensive right. I have asked Brian on multiple occasions, and his response every time is that is a lot for a stroller. However when I mention getting a tattoo that may cost upwards of 500 bucks. That seems practical. Hmm..... Where are our priorities people. This makes no sense to me at all. 500 dollar tattoo, or a 300 dollar stroller so that I can exercise. Talk about confused. Onward....

My tattoo right after it was finished

June 8, 2014. I spent the whole day cleaning, wasn't fun, and not interesting to talk about at all.

June 9, 2014. This is a fun day. I WORKED! Lame

June 10, 2014. Brian, Averie, Anessa, and I woke up at the crack of dawn to head down to San Jose. That's right people it is Freshman Orientation time. I am so excited for Nessa. We dropped her off at the school at 9am, and headed  to Santa Cruz. The life, she is at school while we play, this is how it should be. We drove to Capitola and walked around looking in all the little shops. I love shopping, it's my cardio. I found this great lotion/soap place, and got my Mom a lotion, and my Grandma some great Hibiscus loose tea. Then we attempted to walk along the beach, but it was pretty chilly, and Averie and I were in shorts. Not a good recipe for fun if you ask me. So that ended after about 5 minutes. Then we decided to go for lunch, which turned into breakfast for lunch. It was delicious, we found this little hole in the wall diner. It was perfect and imperfect all at the same time. Just what the doctor ordered. Once we were well nourished we checked into our hotel. We stayed the night in Santa Cruz and woke up the next morning relaxed and ready to pick up Ness at SJSU. June 11, 2014 we headed home. It was a long drive home, but my house was clean when I got there which is always a welcomed sight.

San Jose State Freshman Orientation

June 12, 2014. Finally this day has come. I have an appointment for a hair cut and color. Ugh this is so overdue. By like 4 months overdue. HA! Well it is here, and I plan on keeping up with it. You would be surprised how looking decent affects your attitude. You are more confident, happier, and seem to be a little more understanding. Well as far as I am concerned. Bad hair makes for a grumpy mommy in my case. Here is a little play by play. Talk about a change. Amber, my best friend, and I spoke after and came to the conclusion that I could have gone a little shorter. Maybe next time. She cut about 5 inches off. How could she not. Look at that untamed mop. Night and Day difference if you ask me.

Overdue Hair cut and color

 June 13, 2014. Almost to date. Hang in there. My RDO(Requested Day Off). I spent the day hanging out with Averie and cleaning. I always clean when I am home. No matter what I feel like there is always something that could use a good scrubbing, dusting, or vacuuming. I also tried my hand at this new meal service called Plated. Here is the link if you want to check it out.

https://www.plated.com/

Quickly, this is how it works. This company puts meals together and ships them out weekly. You have the option of a 2 plate service, or a 4 plate service, and they ship to arrive on Tuesday's and Friday's. You also have the option of menu choices. Vegetarian, Land, or Sea. I think those options are very self explanatory.

I received my first one on the 13th of this month, and selected the Butter Basted Steak.  It was delicious. Brian and Anessa gobbled it right up. Even Averie enjoyed the steak. We don't eat a lot of red meat, so I think when we have steak for dinner, they devour it. I wish I had of taken more pictures of the process, but I was so involved that I forgot. Let's just say that it was worth the $20 bucks. Now I have to be honest. The pricing is not the best. You have the option to purchase a membership for $10 a  month, that allows you to get the plates at the membership price not the Al-A-Carte price. The diffidence on most plates is $3, if  not all. Here is the pricey part. You have to select 4 plated to fill an order. Spending $48 if you have the membership, or $60 if you don't. Then you have to pay $20 for shipping, so you walk out of there for a minimum of $68 for 4 meals. That is a lot in my eyes. If you are single maybe it would be practical, but for a family of 4 we can go out to dinner for under $68. Well I hope that was helpful if you were looking into this program. The reason that I paid $20 is because I had a promotional code. It gave me a 4 plate service for free. All I had to pay for was the shipping.

Butter Basted Steak

 June 14, 2014. Brian worked and I stayed at home with Averie, and surprise! Cleaned the house some more.

June 15, 2014. Happy Father's Day. This was a good day too. I seem to be having a couple of those. Presents, oh fun! Averie and I bought Brian an authentic Louisville Slugger baseball bat engraved with the Braves logo, and his name. He loved it. I bought a case for Nessa's home run ball from the Optimist game and had her sign it and give that to him. My Dad is so special to me. I always am looking for ways to spoil both my parents. Especially with the limited funds that I have these days. I bought him a Seattle Seahawks Superbowl T-Shirt and a cover for his phone. It says, "A Son's first Hero, and a Daughter's first Love." Sweet right. He liked the case more that the t-shirt which made my heart melt. We all went to Caballo Blanco for dinner and then back to the house for dessert. It was a great day with some of my favorite people.

June 16, 2014. More work. This is a given I guess. I work all the time. It's safe to say that this is also the agenda for June 17, 2014.

That brings us to June 18, 2014. TODAY! Finally right. This is where I am at now. I am saving up for my jogging stroller. I want it more than a tattoo. Nessa is almost 3 weeks out from surgery. Brian is working hard and late, which I am growing not to mind as much. I get a little sad and lonely but why dwell on things that you can't change. I am doing things to make myself happy. I have been writing down what I am eating in an effort to make sure I do eat. We have been eating better too. Not as much crappy food is making it into our house these days. Thank goodness. I am also going to run here soon. It would be easier with a stroller and a lot more fun, but in due time. I know that exercise makes me healthy and happy and that is all I want in life. The plan for the remainder of the week is kind of up in the air. I will update the blog this weekend. But.... don't hold me to that.