A model older.

Today's temp: 85F. Ran 3 miles before I gave up. It's HOT and I'm not ready for running in it! Mike is still out there running his 9-12miles. Crazy! He seems to condition so much better than I do.

Well, the new shoes arrived just in time for me to get that quick run in and pack them away for the cruise which is TOMORROW!!!!!!

When I opened the box, I found that I got a different shoe. They are almost the same, but the year before. They are the GTS 11.

The differences:
Not much.

The only real difference I could tell between the 11 and 12 was cosmetic. A different angle here, a little bit less design there, etc. The only real noticeable difference to me is that the mesh material does seem to feel slightly different and has a "crunch" sound to it.
I like the 11's better however, as the tongue on the 12s is more stiff and dug into the top of my foot slightly, even after loosening the laces.

Verdict: happy camper! :-)

I am off to my #6 day working this week and for my last shift before I can peace out the office for an entire 7 days. For those of you who work in a big corporate world, "disaster recovery" week can be the pits. Basically, the company acts as if there was a "natural disaster" and the main data center gets wiped out. They turn everything on to the fail over systems and turn off development and staging environments to see if we are capable of getting up and running with minimal side effects to production. I was terrified of what my night had in store yesterday judging by what I got thrown at me first thing, but it has been pretty painless thus far and I'm crossing my fingers for tonight to be just as nice.

While I am on the cruise, I plan on working out at least 4 out of 7 days. I will spend tonight creating a workout plan and jotting down some moves I want to incorporate since I will be without internet or email access and no ability to use my phone.

I haven't quite gotten into the blog thing enough to do "guest posts" yet, so I'm sorry readers, this will be the last one until I return. I promise lots of good pictures and stories to tell once I'm back!

Bon voyage!

I'm a cheapskate. I have priorities?

Source: google images

Well, wouldn't you know, the night after I bought my Brooks from Fit2Run on Sunday, I found them heavily discounted on Hautelook on Monday - you better believe I wiped those puppies down and took them back to Fit2Run on Tuesday! This equaled A LOT of driving after work through rush hour traffic in every direction (over 100 miles total!), but I saved myself $60.(the equivalent of a few couple of drinks on the cruise) Thanks to my efficient civic - gas was not much of a bump out of my savings. This little swap didn't leave me enough time to workout though.

I am a huge fan of sites like Hautelook, RueLaLa, and Gilt and I peruse them quite often. However, I hadn't visited Hautelook in months until Monday. It was fate! My "new" pair of the exact same all black Brooks Adrenaline GTS 12 will be here on Friday! And they even made it before the cruise! One downer about one of these sites - I have over and over found that Gilt caters to the way out of my price range a bit more than Hautelook or RueLaLa, therefore being the penny pinching pig person that I am, it may be removed from my lineup indefinitely.


Tonight was another brutal track workout! My body has no idea how to respond to this type of training... except with pain! Allergies were still a bummer even after taking an Allegra this morning.
Here is my second butt whooping dished out from Mike broken down:

• 400m jog
• 200m sprint as fast as you can
• 200m jog
• 200m sprint as fast as you can
• 200m jog
• 200m sprint as fast as you can
• 200m jog
• 400m jog
• 400m dash
• Run Bleachers - about 5 sets of 18-20 high/long length stairs
• 100yd sprint
• 50yd sprint
• 2 miles

I was a couple seconds quicker overall in the 400m and the same on the 100 and 50 yards. I know I could have pushed out a way better time in the 100yd and 50yd if my quad and hamstring (both on my right leg) didn't decide to totally take a crap on me. It still hurts - uh oh...

In typical smelly fashion, we went to Walmart (again this week), because there is no other way to go to a Walmart than disgusting, smelly, wearing mismatch workout clothes, and hobbling around to pick up a couple last minute cruise items. Of course I always forget stuff and will be back tomorrow!

I've been slacking on the meal pics, but lunches have been the same as what I posted on Monday all week! Dinners have been thrown together in a flash while trying using up any produce left in the fridge and attempts to give the plate some substance.

Monday's dinner

Monday's dinner was a Bird's Eye Steamfresh risotto and mushroom with green beans bag with a handful of spinach thrown in and a whole wheat english muffin on the side. And of course my Miguel Colina's Verde jalapeno and lime hot sauce all over it!

Tuesday's was a tuna salad pita. This turned out FANTASTIC! I diced up a quarter of a red pepper, added some slivered grape tomatoes, a little relish, light on the mayo, an a can of white albacore. Stuffed a whole wheat Tofuyan pita with spinach and the tuna mixture and went to town.

Tuesday's dinner - tuna salad pita

Tonight's dinner was a challenge. We are down to the bare minimum of our grocery staples, and we usually keep the just enough in the house to last us through the week to keep from wasting food. We plan each week ahead and shop according to what we will need for that one week only. There are occasional exceptions are BOGO that can be freezed (breads, shredded cheese) or are sealed (cereals, pasta sauces,etc.). I managed to use the remaining half bag of spinach, thinly sliced the remaining quarter of my red pepper into strips, the 6 grape tomatoes in the tub, and the remaining feta cheese. Into the skillet it went with a little garlic powder and lemon juice. Sided with a spoonful of Sabra sun-dried tomato hummus and a triangle sliced whole wheat sammich thin. 

Sorry no pics - I was too hungry after the track workout that I had to stop myself from biting my fingers off or eating the plate.

Cruise Countdown: 4 days!

Do you shop on any discount sites?  What are they?

Loogies are gross...

I hope everyone had a great weekend and those running the Athleta Irongirl Half or 5k did great!
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This morning I took a mini run to start breaking in my new Brooks Adrenaline GTS 12's I picked up yesterday from Fit2Run at International Mall. I really wanted to go to Hit The Trails here next to my house, but the owner wasn't in to provide a gait analysis and I wanted new shoes by the weekend's end to start breaking them in and take them on the cruise to break in further.

Fit2Run is great. They have a huge selection and everything a runner could possibly need or want. I got my gait analyzed and it confirmed everything I figured I already knew about myself. I have higher arches, pronate a bit, and heel strike. Awesome! They recommended that I stick with my Asics GT2160s or look into the new model - the 2170s and also bought out pairs of Saucony Progrid 5, Brooks Adrenaline GTS12s, and the Newton Lady Isaac Stability Trainer. I really liked the idea of the Newtons, but they aren't practical for me yet. The Saucony was extremely cushioned and felt great! (Today I see that Runner's World gave them a top pick too!) I almost bought them, but decided that I better stick to more familiar territory. Seeing that I have been happy with my Asics, but wanted to try something different, I picked up the Brooks. They feel a lot like my Asics, almost identical really, but have a little more arch support. Also, I don't love pink so I picked up a pair of all black.

On to this morning...

Any one else suffer from allergies?  Yea, me too. For those of you who don't have them, you suck are lucky and I wish I didn't. Most of the time, I can take an Allegra and be alright. But when I run out or forget, my first couple of miles of a run gets really.... well, snotty and miserable.

Like this morning's mini run.

my face exactly.

About 1 mile in the 'juices' started flowing (out my face) and the motherload of all loogies came ready to disperse itself from my body giving me some relief. I guess I just didn't put enough 'oomph' behind it because it came out and landed right on my upper arm, coating almost the entire thing. Oh the horror! Say it with me... GROSSSSSS!   -->


This next move probably would have had the neighbors calling 9-1-1 had they of not seen the entire parody unfold... In horror, I took an immediate right and dive bombed into my neighbors yard and rolled around on the wet grass to get it off.  Just like this, but way less excited...

Shortly after I got a thumbs up from a neighbor. I wonder if he saw that? I collected myself, and got back to business of testing out my shoes. So far, they feel good. Quite a bit lighter and different than my worn in Asics. I like them and I plan on going for another longer run this evening. I also need to start working on my heel striking and stop attempting to dig holes to China when I run.
I completed a quick two miles and left a little part of my Red Robin Burning Love burger (which burned my esophagus on the way out too) and garlic parmesan fries dinner on the road, too. Ugh. Overall, shoes are A+... my run, I can't even give that monstrosity a grade.

Let's hope that this is not a sign of the start of how my week will go with me hacking a loogie on myself, throwing up in my mouth, and throwing myself on wet grass. I'm in for a doozie.

Let's also skip the topic of the majority of what I ate this weekend. We'll just say that I took a major decline on the health o'meter and share something healthy that I ate on Friday!

This has shown up on my blog a couple times now. You can literally add any veggies you like.

Quick veggie egg scramble

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 diced red pepper
• large handful of spinach
• tomatoes
• feta cheese

Put the spinach, red peppers, and tomatoes in the skillet to saute over medium heat. Add the eggs, and scramble everything together until cooked through. If you're good at omelets, make an omelet out of it. I am horrible at omelets, so it becomes a scramble.

TADA! Add some hot sauce and chow down!

Mike also surprised me with his chef talents in the kitchen again! After we both stood in the kitchen surveying our minimal items to choose from since we hadn't gone grocery shopping yet, he proclaimed "I GOT THIS." an shooed me out the way. The result was born. It was REALLY tasty!

Couscous, peanuts, peas, feta, and grape tomatoes. Refreshing and light, but filling. I ate left overs on Sunday too.

This is the last week before the cruise, so this week's lunches will consist of this. 

Greek yogurt, granola, 2 hb eggs, veggies or fruit

On another workout note - I am not so happy with the Tone It Up series lack of sending emails on time or at all. I will still check out their blog to gather new moves for my own work outs. I don't have any races coming up any time soon. I  borrowed the New Rules of Lifting Weights for Women from a friend and may spend a little more time in the gym over the summer heat.

And because she is the cutest kitty ever, a pic of Claire dragging herself across the floor begging me to play with her to start your week...

And my mom has an iPad before I do. I don't know if I should be ashamed or not. O_o

Cruise Countdown: 6 days!!!






Have you had any running mishaps?


What was your favorite weekend meal?


Do you have a summer workout plan?

Walmart workout

Well, my first track workout is now in the books!

Mike tried to kill my legs. 

On a mention and a whim we went out to a local high school track.
My abuse looked a little like this:

• 400m jog
• 200m sprint as fast as possible
• 200m jog
• 200m  sprint as fast as possible
• 200m jog
• 200m  sprint as fast as possible
• 400m jog
• 100yd  sprint as fast as possible
• 50yd  sprint as fast as possible
• 2 mile jog/walk

Mike asked for 3 miles on the end, but after a couple laps, my leg gave out and I almost busted my face on the asphalt. I decided to call it a day. He ran another 2 miles and this workout didn't even seem to phase him. I was wore the heck out! I am going to try to incorporate track workouts hopefully at least once a week. It was definitely a change of pace and my body was shocked and absolutely in no way happy about the change up. Pain tells me what I need to work on--- so be it! I ran 100yd in 16 seconds, which I know could have been faster had it of been on the front end of that workout. Now I have a whole new set of time goals I'd like to meet.

After our track workout, we went to Walmart all smelly and nasty, but surprisingly we fit in with the regulars. SHOCKER! HA! I was already sore, but we fast walked around the store, because Mike hates to let me wander and look at things because I have to touch everything! He eventually made me push the 35lb litter bucket around until I complained.

We picked up a few items for the cruise. Like these gems!

hot pink water shoes. Did I mention I DON'T love pink?

We will need water shoes for the cave tubing in Belize and other excursions. For $8, can't beat that! These are a little girl's size 4-5. Only color they had. They fit better than any of the adults size shoes. I normally wear a 7.5 women's. I'm so excited to take tons of pictures on my adventure and share with you guys!

Monday, I completed the first Tone It Up workout. It was a circuit of 8 strengthening moves and intervals on the treadmill alternating 3 minutes at 7.0 speed/2 minutes at 4.0speed. I was working up a sweat and felt great. I pushed my last interval to 8.0speed. :) Next time I do a similar interval workout on the treadmill I will have to beef it up a little to really feel a challenge.

Tuesday, I felt as if I was fighting off a possible cold ALL day, but seems to be just allergies. I took a couple rounds of EmergenC, rested all evening watching Along Came Polly (my first time to see it!), and woke up on Wednesday feeling way better.

-----

Publix had Voskos Greek yogurt on sale this week so I figured I'd deviate from my beloved Chobani and give it a whirl. Holy moly I am glad I did!!!! DEEFREEKINLISHUUUS!

Exotic Fig Voskos greek yogurt

 Apricot with BearNaked Fruit and Nut granola

However, I wasn't expecting the Exotic Fig flavor to look like vomit when I opened it...still tasted pretty good! The Honey Vanilla Bean is my favorite.  Voskos is so much more creamy than the Chobani. I had another new flavor this morning for Wednesday's breakfast, Apricot -I threw in a serving of my favorite granola - Bear Naked Fruit and Nut. The whole nuts really make it! This particular bag is loaded with nuts and fruits. My last bag was a little scarce...

I finally finished my sweet potatoes and spaghetti I made last Friday. I've been working on it since then! Other than eating that, I've been sticking to my healthy eating very well this week. Lots of veggies, lots of fruits, and feeling lots better after my weekend binge.

hummus, a cut up whole wheat sammich thin, sweet potatoes, spinach = Dinner on Tuesday

Are there any movies that you've seen just recently that came out years ago?

Do you incorporate speed/track workouts in your normal routine? What kind of intervals do you run?

What is your favorite greek yogurt brand and flavor?

Weekend Wrap up

I laughed out loud in the middle of the salon when I saw this.  = me.

Because I'm lazy, busy, no time, etc (excuses are my specialty) I haven't posted since last week. Oops...but I have enough from the weekend to write about as I was a busy bee!


Friday night, was my typical work night, but before I left I made a giant pot of spaghetti and roast sweet potatoes. It was the first thing that I have made that Mike doesn't like, but I had a feeling he wouldn't. The pasta was whole wheat linguine, feta, spinach, balsamic, and capers (which I personally love and knew he probably wouldn't like). You either seem to love capers or you don't.


Caper and Spinach pasta

• 1 box of whole wheat linguine
• 1 bottle of Capers
• 1/2 bag of fresh spinach
• feta cheese (to taste)
• 3 cloves of garlic chopped
• 2 lemons
• splash of balsamic vingegar
• splash of evoo

Bring a large pot of water to boil and put a little evoo and salt into the water. This helps the pasta to not stick together. Cook the pasta until al dente (about 7-10 minutes). I always do the cabinet test (don't tell Mike), and if you don't know what that is, I tried to find a youtube video of it with no avail, simply toss a piece of pasta onto the face of a cabinet and if it sticks, it's done. Or you can just try a piece to your liking,if you don't like cleaning your cabinet. I think I saw Rachel Ray or Emril do this, so it stuck in my head.

While the pasta is cooking, in a large skillet - sautee the garlic until browned, add spinach, lemon juice, and capers. Cook on medium until spinach is wilted. Drain your pasta and put back into the pot, add your contents from the skillet into the pasta noodles. Toss with a little evoo and balsamic and sprinkle with feta.

I took some of this and some of the roasted sweet potatoes to work in a to-go container. It was a delicious dinner.










I added a touch more cayenne to the roast sweet potatoes this go round. Even tastier!

This recipe yields enough for about 6, or leftovers for 3-4 days.





Proud to report I finally finished book 2 in the Hunger Games trilogy. I was surprised by the end and kind of mad. I really need to get into the third book asap!

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After getting home from work super late  (12:30am), getting to bed, the 5:30am wake up came WAY too early!!!  Saturday morning breakfast consisted of this delicious creation. I had a 5k to run!

I signed up to run the Lions Eye Institute 5k in Ybor City with my friend Jon to help support him in his running and weight loss journey and Mike also joined in last minute.

The course was mostly flat with a slight incline for the last mile. Not a whole lot to look at as it ran down a street with a few empty office buildings, a hotel, and along side the underside of the expressway. Not terrible views, but nothing exciting. I don't carry my phone while running so I don't have any pics. 

I was super impressed. The event was very well organized. A pretty good turnout. a little over 400 ran in the 5k. Post race snacks and food were great! There was water, red bull, and 5 hr energy for free, also bananas, rice and beans, and blueberry crepes were being served.










As for my run, it was ok. I definitely PR'd!

Chip time was 25:57

An improvement over my 29:38 from 4 months ago, but I was hoping for a slightly faster time (as in 58 seconds faster). I won second in my age group and received a super awesome award.

I'm not sure why i'm clutching it to my chest like a life vest...

Coconut banana bread

After the race there was even a little market that sets up every Saturday morning in Ybor Centennial Park. I was sucked in. I love flea markets and farmers markets and the like. I bought a Coconut Banana Banana bread literally 3 minutes after I finished the race.
And also a bottle of Miguel Colina's all natural homemade hot sauce. I didn't go for the hottest one, but naturally I did sample it! It was a Habanero sauce - not so hot it'd make me tear up, but at this point, I don't think much does. I purchased a lime and jalapeno sauce which was delicious! It will be a great addition to my hot sauce arsenal.

Antenna head?

I suck at taking self pictures with a cell phone.

I went to the salon on Saturday after the race to get my mop taken care of. Just a cut and some highlights/low lights.

The rest of Saturday was spent shopping and hanging out with my friend down in Ellenton. I love a good shopping trip.











We had dinner at a little place called Gio's Pizzeria and Martini Bar.

It was very quaint, kitschy little place. The food was pretty good. But not mind blowing good. We had a martini, we shared a spinach and
ricotta pizza (I was good and only ate two pieces), and a portabello salad. Overall, although pretty satisfying, I wouldn't go there again unless I was in a bind and at the Ellenton Outlets and starving.





------------------

Sunday morning I headed down to Little Harbor Resort in Ruskin with Mike and the gang for lunch. If you are looking to have a quiet get away for the weekend, this place is a great option. It's close to Tampa and over looks the bay - you can see St Pete, but has a secluded feel. There is a little beach, but the water isn't great. I wouldn't get in it to swim, especially since the pier fishers were chumming for shark, but to kayak or to relax on the sand and have a lot of delicious beverages is a great idea! Mike wanted me to go because he knows I love food and knows I love good fancy food even more. Their sunset grill is ahhhmazing.

I had a lobster and shrimp quesadilla for my entree -it came filled with spinach, cheeses, shrimp, and lobster meat. It was tasty. They serve it with a mini taco salad with a chipotle sour cream, guacamole, shredded lettuce, and pico.


After hanging out for a few, I drove back in to Tampa to meet up with the Tampa Bay Lady Bloggers at The Lime in South Tampa. I was pretty nervous to meet everyone since I'm always a weirdo when it comes to meeting new people. Guess that's the tiny bit of shyness still coming out! I got lost, which is typical for me, and was a few minutes late. But when I got there and sat down with the ladies, it was nice and comfortable. I felt as though I already knew them all after reading their blogs daily/frequently!


The Lime was very accommodating to our ten person table. Since I had just eaten lunch, I snacked on the chips. I loved the seasoning on them. The decor of the restaurant was hip and modern with lots of bright colors. The walls were decorated with murals of the dia de los muertos, which Mike and I were for halloween this past year!

Overall, a great experience and I can't wait to hang out with these ladies more often.



I headed back down to Little Harbor (whew a lot of driving today!) to spend the rest of the afternoon/evening with Mike. We walked on the little beach near sunset and then came home and crashed.

Not a whole lot of working out, but overall, an excellent weekend.

--------------------
On other notes...




I signed up for the 8 week Tone It up! Bikini Series program. It is FREE! I just received my first challenge last night. I'm excited to do this, since I've never participated in anything like it before and hope to get great results... I know. It depends on ME more than anything!

You can find more about this program here. :)

This morning's breakfast was tasty. A serving of cottage cheese sprinkled with pumkpin pie spice, a cut up pear, and a small handful of granola.


Cruise countdown: 14 DAYS!

I swim with tigers...

WOW! Wednesday was great! Here goes why... this is a little lengthy.

I received compliments at work from the head honchos - TWICE - an hour apart.

Found out that I will/can be swimming with a tiger in May! 

No, not the one asleep on top of my desk, but the one in the picture from facebook!!! 

This is one of my 'must do' in this lifetime events that I have the opportunity to cross off the bucket list. Heck, even getting to touch one would be good enough for me.

The one asleep actually broke one of my picture frames up there with her clumsy self. 

Bad kitty.

Then about mid day - my blog hit 1,000 views and I happened to catch it! Being such a new blogger at only one month old, this is very exciting news to me!  My little corner of the interwebz is getting some attention! I kind of feel like District 12 during the Hunger Games! Rising on up!

And to be the cherry on top of today's high -

I was beyond excited and flattered to see Tori's lonely comment (because I haven't really been getting many even though you people are reading!) letting me know that she has nominated me for the Liebster Award! 

Her blog is one of the first that I began reading when I got sucked into this new blogging hobby of mine. I admire her for being a great athlete, being a vegan (something that I and many people don't have the determination/ability to be), fiercely battling tummy troubles that I can relate to, and for most recently undertaking the Crooms 50k! That is amazing!  Her blog is fun to read and you can find her here at In Love and Peanut Butter. She's a local, so hopefully we will get to meet soon.

This award is given by bloggers to other new bloggers, to help spread the word about their blogs and to help them gain more recognition.

The Liebster Award comes with four conditions that each recipient must satisfy when accepting:

1. Choose 5 up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 followers to award the Liebster to.
2. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
3. Post the award on your blog. List the bloggers you are giving the award to with links to their sites. Leave comments on their blog so they know about the award.
4. Share 5 random facts about yourself that people don’t know about you.

Here are the five I chose to recognize in no particular order - and I am not even 100% sure they have less than 200 followers... the only way I can tell is by being new like me (archive posts) or by the follwers detail on the side panel of the blog!

FYI: Most of my nominated blogs are about  healthy living and running/fitness and are local to me as I am still branching out into other genres, but this one holds the most interest to me!

Steph @ Kitchen Kilometers - I think that Steph has been blogging for a while, but may qualify for this by the followers # stip. I had to include her because she is local and has a pet named Claire as well - although hers is of the canine species. She has a collection of great recipes like Curried Lime Shrimp and Mochaccino Cake (anything mocha or cuppaccino is a direct line to my heart!) Steph is a teacher and has made time to train and participate in two triatholons! Steph lost her mother this week, so make sure you go give her lots of <3 and show her the blogosphere is emotionally here for her!

Rachel @ Runner's Tales - Another Tampa local, what can I say? Whenever I see Rachel post, it's always full of so much HEART. I haven't even met this girl yet, but I can tell she's got a giant heart made out of Disney gold! She has been training with NROLFW and is running the Iron Girl Half Marathon on April 22!

Amy and Kristina @ Ollie and LaBelle - These are two sisters that are friends of mine back in Memphis who have quite the eye for fashion and trends. Amy is a wonderfully talented photographer. Their awesome color and pattern coordinations keep me coming back to see what outfits they've brought together. Keeping budget friendly pieces with a few splurgy items makes their outfits attainable! Check them out!

Jenn @ Happily Ever Faster - I love her humor! And brownie points that she is from my homestate and one of my favorite cities. She blogs about everyday life and her running journey. I like her blog's design and it's easy to navigate. Go leave her comments about the insane delicious looking burger from her recent date night.

Adrianna @ Military Money Chica - Adrianna blogs about her family, day to day life, and shares her professional wisdom how to make ends meet on a normal income. She shares all kinds of saving tips and ways to keep a few more pennies in the pocket (which I definitely find useful). She is one hot mami! I found her blog through the Tampa Bay Lady Bloggers site and now visit it daily. Go see some ways to save some money for yourself!

Five things you didn't know about me:

1. I share my birthday with Jesus. Yea, I know it's probably the other way around, but who's judging, hmm?

2. I spent my elementary and high school years practicing the french horn roughly 5 hours a day if not more. I am a big music geek and in high school traveled to England to play in the Queen's New Year's Day parade - this little event made me an official U.S. Musical Ambassador and even the opportunity to audition for college in the UK. Funny how life goes a different route! I can play pretty much anything you put in front of me, BUT I can make some serious melodious music with this.

3. I can drive a 6-speed sports car in a pair of 5" stilettos. True story. My current car - the civic is the only automatic I have owned out of the 6 cars I have owned since age 18 (past ten years), and the only one in the past 4 years with less than 300hp! Cars was my previous passion/hobby, but it is $$$$ yo.

4. I lived in three states and drove my car from the Pacific to the Atlantic ocean in the year 2011.

5. I am most likely diagnosable OCD (I don't go to find out because I don't want to know the ugly truth), as in everything on the table must be perfectly aligned/not crooked/evenly spaced, before I leave the room.



Whew. I will update more, but I wanted to get this up today!

No more chocolate cake?

Monday night Mike and I went on a 4.4 mile run. We ran to Publix to return a movie!
It's been a while since he has joined me for a run. His presence forces me to push myself just a little bit harder since he is a lot faster than me and I want him to feel like he got a decent run as well. I always feel like I have such a good run when he is next to me singing rock songs and running circles around me. I keep telling him we should just run to the gym and back (2.2 miles each way)... He hasn't agreed to yet.

Today I got home from work and finally got around to a little task I had assigned myself during the weekend.
MAKING THE TASTIEST, CHEAPEST SNACK EVER. And it only took about ten minutes.


Homemade Healthy Pita Chips

What you need:

• 1 bag of whole wheat pita chips =$1.94 at Wally world
• EVOO and a basting brush
• Garlic, pepper or salt, chili powder, Italian seasoning, cayenne pepper (whatever you prefer)

Preheat oven to 375F

1. Cut the pitas into smaller wedges and peel the two layers apart. 

2. Brush a little bit of evoo onto each piece

3. Sprinkle with the seasonings

4. Bake for 5-7 minutes or so. Keep an eye on them. I like mine crispy to the point of almost being burnt so I top out at 7 minutes.

Batch of chili powder and garlic salt pita chips

Top: Cayenne Pepper Middle: Italian Seasoning
Bottom: Chili powder

Chili Powder with hummus

These babies are beautiful!! Sorry Stacy... I can no longer justify buying you unless I'm in a jam.

My first batch I made with garlic salt and chili powder, the second batch was garlic salt and italian seasoning, and the third I kicked it up a notch in hot and spicy Beka fashion with a little garlic salt and cayenne pepper.

Mike grabbed a good handful and enjoyed his with Spinach and Artichoke hummus, while I dipped the cayenne ones into Sabra supremely spicy hummus. 

Tonight was BodyAttack class at the gym. I'm slightly bummed because this class will really kick some cardio ass.... Really. Although the routines are slightly cheesy, I usually have a good time and giggle at my extremely non coordinated self for an hour. Because of low attendance, it might get canned. I hope not.

Today I realized how much I DON'T miss junk food or eating heavy portions. Sure, I still like food that is tasty, and it is a treat to have, but I am quite content with my new healthy eating habits. I don't even have the desire to eat chocolate cake every day. Black Cherry Chobani yogurt with 1/4 cup serving of granola and dried fruit/nuts hits the spot.

Speaking of (and slightly negating my last comment) - this past weekend, Publix had Breyers BOGO so Mike (who is the ice cream king) and I decided to indulge a little. We bought the Oreo Mint and Ms.Fields Chocolate chip cookie dough. I didn't like either.! Both tasted like a mouth of full of chemicals and the flavor was just not there. Hmmm.

I'm also going to try really really hard to not over indulge myself on the cruise in 17 days!

Do you or have you made your own snacks at home?

What is your favorite ice cream brand and flavor?

Do you participate in any group classes at the gym?

Weekend Wrap Up



Saw this at TJ Maxx ... appropriate? Yes.



As a matter of fact, that is what I am doing just this instant! Oh work, I loathe thee...



Egg scrmable with spinach, green pepper, tomato, sharp cheddar, and sriracha sauce

 Look tasty? Oh it was. Breakfast this morning - for a Monday, this was unique. I didn't have to be at work until 10:30a and I rarely have time before making myself half way recognizable as a member of the human species presentable before work to make myself anything more than a bowl of oatmeal. I thought about a run at 7:30a, but instead I made food. (let's mentally revisit picture number 1)


Whole wheat pita, Sabra Supremely Spicy hummus, spinach, red pepper, muenster cheese, and tomato



We can go ahead and add this to the list of favorite veggie-only foods that I've been eating lately. I put this little gem together on Friday afternoon before my late shift.

Also on Friday night, I discovered a new favorite chip.

I generally don't like chips and I don't eat them often. But I inhaled these so quickly that I was surprised when I reached for more and they were all gone... sad face.

Major sad face.

Mike took me on a "day date" on Saturday afer I finished one of my best runs of recent. Saturday morning, I woke up and decided to run a "5k" and see if I could beat my current time. Surely by now with as long as I've been running, a few minutes could be shaved off. And they were. In December, my first 5k time was 29:38, just barely beating my goal of 30 minutes. Giving about 90% I managed to run home in 25min. Including running uphill the last mile. I hate this hill. It is a slow, gruesome hill with no shade. Good for training at least. I plan to pump out a major PR at the Ybor race this coming up wekeend. Especially with how flat the course will be.

We used a gift card we received for Christmas for lunch and had unlimited soup, salad, and cracksticks breadsticks from Olive Garden.

 Good thing we had the gift card for lunch, because afterwards we went to see 21 Jump Street. Good lawd the movie theatre is expensive these days. I may have to sell some more clothes to Plato's Closet if I want to go again anytime soon. Afternoon matinee movies run $8-10. What happened to $4? The movie- I thought it was pretty funny. Suprise guests towards the end. If you watched the tv show, you'll get a kick out of it.

Remember that awesomest boyfriend I mentioned? Well, he is still making moves to keep that title. I woke up on Sunday morning to a half-asleep "go look on the counter, I got you an easter present".

I was secretly hoping for a giantuan bag of coffee(more about this in a sec). 

Instead, I found something better! Peeps. Not just any Peeps, but the original yellow ones.

Something about blue pink and purple ones just doesn't seem right. Maybe it's because there is no such thing as a real blue, pink, or purple chicken and that is the marshmallow-carnivore in me coming out? According to Mike's dad, finding yellow peeps was a 2-3 store visit process.





Frozen cherries, strawberries, banana smoothie



One of the best presents I have ever received was my food processor last year for Christmas/Birthday.

Good job, Mom and Dad.

You made me a healthier person by investing in something that I had originally intended to crank out some serious gourmet (aka artery clogging) dips and meals with. Instead, I make smoothies with it.

I. LOVE. IT.

This one is simple: frozen cherries, strawberries, and a banana witha splash of skim milk.

Fresh habanero/tomatillo salsa is also the bomb with this thing. So easy. And I can make it sweat and tears, make your colon cry hot like I like it. Jar salsa is never hot enough.

Easter Sunday Mike and I went to church, then took Claire over to Mike's parent's to get her associated with their cats and home for when she goes over while we are on our 7 day cruise. (she hated it) We ate a family Easter early-dinner of a huge spiral ham, sweet potatoes, scalloped potatoes, biscuits, salad, asparagus, and of course carrot cake and cheesecake for dessert a glass of moscato wine AND A BIG CUP OF COFFEE.

I gave up coffee and alcohol for lent and managed to not give up after the first ten days like most other years. Today I stopped by Dunkin Donuts and ordered a large vanilla iced coffee with skim and splenda to enjoy all morning long. And oh I did. I don't know if I would double challenge myself again next year. I am a much more tolerable person with coffee in the a.m.



Did you eat any easter candy?
- Just these Peeps and a handful of starburst jelly beans and dark chocolate m&ms

Have you seen any movies at the theatre lately?
- I saw one last year, and then this past weekend. I don't go often.

Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks?
- Starbucks, but Dunkin' is cheaper and faster.

running under water?

How I felt today on my run! (Paralympic swimming star Jo Jo C.)

The hardest time to run (to me) in FL is right before a rain. Had I of checked the weather radar before I pumped out a pretty quick 3.2 miles, I might have waited. Out the door, too late! 1/4 mile in I knew I was going to torture myself with the 100% humidity and 86F. About 15 minutes after I got home.....

DOWN POUR!

Oh Well.... it was a good run, and a good pace, despite my inability to breathe under water.

There have been quite a few recent posts across the blogs about shoes and their deaths... I'm starting to :'( up a little. (not really - I love new shoes) 

For my birthday, aka Christmas, my parents bought me my first pair of running shoes as I'd expressed an interest in starting to run.

Asics GT2160

After my first couple of break in runs, these were light years better than the Nike Vomero +5 for me. But now that they have about 500 miles on them, my toe is starting to poke through the top :(

I can squeeze a few more miles out of them before I have to retire them permanently.

Now you see it!

Now you don't!

Definitely going to go to the running store and have an analysis done for a recommended shoe.  Although these have carried me through my first half marathon, and lots of runs in between, I never felt like they are "the shoe" for me. I have very high arches, tend to over-pronate a bit, and am a heel striker.










Time to gloat a little.  MY BOYFRIEND IS THE BEST!

I came home from work to this yesterday. Little things like this make me thankful for how attentive and sweet he is.

All of our new furniture is together! Mike spent the past few days in the mornings building our pieces and rearranging our bedroom and removing the old stuff. I helped with the bed on Sunday. That was the extent of my furniture building.

I feel so much better after sleeping in our new heavenly mattress, and even better now that we have "OUR" own furniture now. It is only the first room of the house to decorate, but it is a start!


If anyone local is interested in buying some really great condition Thomasville bedroom pieces, let me know.



Here are some shoddy cell phone pictures. Hopefully, I will have a nice new camera soon!

New 3 drawer chest

Framed picture of us from our last cruise in Oct '11

There are still quite a few little decor things I want to do, like recenter/reframe the pic above the bed, and put something over the bigger dresser.

I love this lamp!

How about that tv from 1999?

I love this lamp that was left from his grandmother's things. It is very shabby chic, but I am going to replace the shade with something dark and more modern. Maybe repaint the base from the marble to a dark color. It also has a bulb under the shade too.

Eventually, if this tv ever dies, which doesn't seem to be anytime  soon, we will replace with a tv from the 21st century.
And if you think this is bad, you may die if you see the behemoth of a picture box in the living room...




Nothing exciting on the food front this week. I've been carrying the same meal routine through this week, but plan to throw some new meals/recipes to the test over next week.


Have a great Good Friday everyone! I will unfortunately be at work until midnight tonight, but will get to enjoy my weekend off and Easter Sunday with Mike's family.


Has anyone ever done the pool/under water workouts? Did you like them?
- Nope I haven't tried them!


Do you enjoy running in the rain?
- A nice drizzle is very cooling.

Anyone else slaving  working on Good Friday or this weekend?
- I'm luckily off Sat and Sun.


What do you have planned for Easter weekend?
- Saturday is "date day" with Mike, a little bit of shopping in the evening.  Sunday morning Easter church service and lunch with M's family




P.S - I now have an About Me page and a Blog Roll page! My blog is growing slowly!