Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Filler post

This is just a crappy little filler post until I can manage to get my butt to our home computer and upload the pics from our trip. 


Yesterday, despite my plethora of motivation earlier in the day, ended up being kind of lazy. I'm definitely still catching up in the rest department and actually still feel a little run down today. I did go to the gym, and I did get in 45 minutes of cardio (30 minutes stairs and 15 minutes elliptical) but after that I was spent. I called it quits and headed home for some R&R. Scotty was feeling the same way. After working until 6:30 he decided to skip the gym all together. I whipped up some baked chicken for him, but went vegetarian for myself. I threw together some shredded lettuce, onion, tomatoes, green pepper, chick peas, black olives, salsa and shredded cheese. It was a pretty delightful little salad (ok, it wasn't so little) and the perfect dinner for a hot day. I skipped out on my weight training and walking the dog, so I really have to get it together tonight.


Breakfast this morning was eaten on the go, like most days- a protein bar. I had a banana for a mid-morning snack. I was rushing to get out the door this morning and completely forgot to bring anything for lunch, so I headed across the street for an egg-white, turkey sausage flatbread from Dunkin Donuts. Afternoon snack consisted of a handful of almonds. Dinner tonight is my favorite tomato soup with chick peas (I'm addicted to them) and some deli chicken (Boars Head Golden Classic- the best!) to squeeze some protein in there.


I've got a short run on the agenda. Since I haven't run in a few days I don't want to overdo it. My long run will probably be on Sunday (long for me, that is). I also desperately need to incorporate my upper body weight training this evening, and a walk for the pup. Her annual vet appointment is this Saturday and it's an important one! Last year when she had her shots and blood work they let us know that she'd be better off about 5lbs lighter. So we've been working really hard on not giving her people food and monitoring exactly how much dog food she is getting. In her older age she isn't quite as active, so we need to start paying more attention to these things. I think it's really paid off and I can tell that she's a little slimmer and has lost some of that pudge. But, the real test will be Saturday!


Signing off for now...I'm going to do my best to get those pictures posted this evening, so check back!


Ta ta!
Whitney

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

It's Over Alreadyyyyy?

I can't believe how our little trip flew by! It's already Tuesday morning and I'm back to the daily grind. Anyone else find it particularly hard to get back in the swing of things after you've been on vacation? Even though this was just a little mini vacation, I'm finding it really difficult! But I'll survive. One thing that is making it a little easier is knowing that it's only a 3 and a half day work week! I promise a full recap of the trip a little later, but let me just sum it up by saying it was all about weddings, baseball and babies! I had assumed that wedding dress shopping with my sister would be an all day event...boy was I wrong! She ended up putting a deposit down on the 3rd dress she tried on. Not to brag or anything, but I picked it out! It is STUNNING if I do say so myself. Saturday afternoon's baby shower was a hit. I had a blast just enjoying good company of friends and family...and I guess the home made ice cream didn't hurt either ;) And to top it all off...my little brother is a baseball stud! His team came back from being down 2-7 in the 4th inning, to win the game 8-7! So exciting and I'm pretty sure I made a complete fool out of myself cheering. But no matter what he says, you could tell he was eating all that attention up! And finally, Sunday afternoon we attended a good friend's wedding which was absolutely beautiful. We didn't know that it would turn out to be an all day event, but arrived at 2:45 for a 3:00 ceremony and didn't end up heading home until 12:30am! Long story short: the bride is Indian so the couple opted for both a Christian ceremony as well as a traditional Hindu ceremony. I had never seen anything like it (or been to a wedding that lasted that long!) but it made for a very beautiful, interesting wedding. As expected, the reception was a blow-out party with plenty of food and booze. I ate Indian food for the first time and loved it!


Needless to say, I ate WAY too much of things that I would usually NEVER eat (sweets galore!) and only ran 1 time. I had so much fun though and don't regret one single minute of it. However, I do admit that I am glad to be back to my normal routine and can't wait to fill up on some healthier choices and hit the gym this evening! 


Off to lunch now! Ta ta!


Whitney

Thursday, June 16, 2011

I'm just like butter...

On a roll! Last night was mucho productive. I decided to be an adult and get all of the "must do's" out of the way first before working out. Plus, this is what I saw when I was driving home from work.

That is not exactly my ideal running temperature, especially when it feels like a sauna! So instead I got 1 and a half papers written. The remaining half will be completed on the plane or in between flights this evening, I mean what else am I going to have to do other than annoy Scotty? I got lots of laundry done, packed all my stuff (in 1 carry-on I might add!) and straightened up the house. By the time I was done being a responsible adult, I looked at the clock to see that it was almost 8:30 and I hadn't done any sort of physical activity, unless you count folding clothes. So I jumped into some gym clothes and hit the road. Unfortunately it was way too late and dark outside to run- but oh how I wish I could have. The temperature had cooled down to this...
And I'm no meteorologist, but it felt like very low humidity as well. Such a rarity around here. Instead I completed just 30 minutes on the elliptical and a killer ab workout, I am feeling the burn today! Not a lot, but better than nothing. Unfortunately life calls sometimes and you can't fit in everything you need to do. That is something that I'm working really hard to accept!


I'll be heading out from work around 2:00 this afternoon instead of working the whole day like I originally planned. At first I was a little upset about that because it seems like a waste of vacation time, but arriving here this morning I realize that I'm soooo excited to leave early!
Excited face!

Breakfast was picked up from my second home, Dunkin Donuts, in the form of a turkey sausage, egg white flatbread sandwich- hold the cheese! And a large refreshing iced tea.
Yum! Yum!

And my last exciting news for the day- the scheduling worked out so that I will get to attend my cousin's baby shower while I'm visiting my family. So, I went baby shopping yesterday! SO. FUN! I picked up 2 packs of 3 onesies and a pack of 3 bibs...
All for $4.99 each! I love finding bargains! And they're so cute!

Well, I am signing off to complete my work for the day and then I'm leaving on a jet plane!  I might be MIA for a few days, so I'm wishing you all a happy weekend in advance!

Ta ta!
Whitney

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Smooooookin'

Goodness gracious great balls of fire! Literally! Yesterday was a scorcher! I set out for a 4 mile run at around 7:20pm. I try to leave the house as late as I can, still being able to fit my full run in during the day light. Not that I live in a scary neighborhood, I just don't feel comfortable running alone at night. Cha never know what can happen man! I swear, just a couple weeks ago this would have been the perfect time to run! Last night however, and this whole week really, it has been MIS-ER-A-BLE. The humidity is killing me! The air is so thick that it's hard to breathe. I toughed it out though, with a quick water break after the 3rd mile- thought I was going to choke without it. I followed up my run with a 2 mile walk with the doggy dog. Strength training was skipped (bad girl!).


 Hot & Sweaty Run! (please excuse the mess behind me)


Another pet peeve besides the ridiculous heat, one of my biggest ones ever? Gnats! Is it just the weather or is there something in the Florida air??? It is so annoying when the little turds fly in your eyeball (ok that sounds completely gross, but you know what I mean!)...especially when they don't die and then you can feel them crawling around. Eek- it gives me the heebie jeebies just thinking about it. Well, that has happened to me on my past 2 runs. Not to mention approximately 20-30 more that were stuck to my skin and shirt!

On a different note, there are many, many things that I love about my man Scotty. He's ambitious, fun, handsome, loving, protective, etc. One flaw he has? He is extremely absent-minded and forgetful at times! He had me in a near panic attack yesterday afternoon. I left booking our airline tickets for our trip tomorrow in his hands. He asked me what times I preferred to leave and come back, yada yada yada...and I didn't ask any more questions. I just knew the deal was done, nothing to worry about. WRONG! My mom asked what time she should pick us up at the airport tomorrow night and I told her that I'd check with my little crazy Scottster and let her know. When I asked him to forward me the confirmation email (which I should have done A LONG TIME AGO), we discovered that he must have trashed it because it was no where to be found. Also come to find out, he had no idea what airline he booked the tickets through. NOT GOOD. It took all night for us to figure it out and luckily when I called this morning (thats right, if you want something done the right way you must do it yourself!) they were able to send a new confirmation. Phew! The bad news- we leave much earlier tomorrow than I had originally thought. So looks like now I'm going to be leaving work early tomorrow too- that's all fine and dandy except that my vacation time is slowly but surely dwindling away. Oh well, it will all be worth it!


I just enjoyed a delicious chicken, lettuce, tomato, olive, onion, pickle and spicy mustard spinach wrap. To die for- love me some Publix deli! I've got a 6pm spin class and a long walk with the pup to tire her out for the dog sitter (hopefully) on the agenda tonight. Then it'll be more paper writing, house cleaning (it's bad enough for me to see my house in a disaster, but no one else will!), and packing. 


I'm off to take the rest of this work day DOWN! Have a great afternoon!


Whitney

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Is it Thursday yet?

I think that my pending trip to visit my family this weekend is seriously making this week draaaaaag by. I feel so unproductive and anxious and antsy and unable to concentrate! Oh and I am also a liar. Why is it that at the beginning of the week I plan out my workout schedule, but then rarely end up sticking to it? Last night I had planned on the stair mill and a quickie run with upper body weights following...didn't happen. What happened instead? A much longer run, followed by 3 miles of walking, followed by the strength training. Still an excellent workout, just not what I had planned. I think I am more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kinda girl instead of a planner. I am just really going to make sure that I focus on getting 4 days of running in, in order to be prepared for the half marathon, and then cross training can be whatever I feel like and fill in those gap days (except for the occasional rest day of course!).

Instead of putting the insulation installation off until a later date like I had thought he would do, Scotty got busy last night. My job? Handing him the big slab of fluff to push up the attic stairs. That stuff is seriously gross. It makes you all itchy and gets in your eyes if you don't have the proper equipment. Needless to say it wasn't the hot and sweaty run that made me shower and wash my hair, it was the insulation!

After the gym tonight I have a paper to write, boo. But I want to get all of my school work for the week done before Thursday so I have the entire weekend to spend with the fam, no stinkin' school interruptions!

I've got a delicious looking beef tenderloin and potatoes cooking in the crock pot for dinner, served along with a side salad. It's making me hungry just thinking about it! Lunch today was a veggie sub on whole wheat bread, filled with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, pickles, olives, a little oil & vinegar and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. Just what I needed to hopefully gain some concentration and power through the rest of this workday!

Have a fabulous Tuesday folks!
Whitney

Monday, June 13, 2011

Recovering from the weekend

Sooo…the weekend plans changed quite a bit. We'll start with the good: Friday night. We watched X-Men and it was great. I highly recommend it. They did an awesome job of incorporating and giving reason to so many things that happen in the sequels. And the popcorn wasn't too shabby either :)

Saturday morning started out with an awesome spin class, a long walk in the heat and lunch at Ruby Tuesday with the Scottster. I had a bowl of broccoli cheese soup, a side of grilled green beans and a side of tomatoes with balsamic vinaigrette. We then parted ways because I had a monstrosity of a grocery list to tackle and he had a fun-filled trip planned to Lowe's for insulation supplies. Considering he hates grocery shopping and I don't know the slightest thing about insulation, we headed out on our own to tackle our to-do lists. My trip to Publix was a success, albeit expensive. But I couldn't hold a candle to Scotty. I was shocked that he beat me home, and also that I couldn't see into our garage. It was completely jam packed with huge containers of insulation. I guess I didn't realize how much we would need to cover the attic…turns out about $1500 worth…boo :(  Let's hope it lowers the electric bill and is worth all that moolah!

Since the supply shopping didn't end up happening until mid-afternoon and it was like a bazillion degrees outside, we decided to scrap the project until early Sunday morning. We had every intention of waking up at the butt-crack of dawn and knocking it all out with plenty of time left in the day for some afternoon boating. This did not happen. We forgot that UFC was on Saturday night. We debated buying it and watching at home, heading out to a bar or going over to one of our friend's friends house to watch. We settled on the latter but then came to find out that these people had changed their minds and weren't having people over…how rude, you mean we actually have to pay money for it now?!?!?! haha

Plan B included driving to Hooters for it. Our friend that we went with is moving away this coming weekend, so we won't be seeing him for a good long while and due to this fact, we randomly decided that we should have an all-out-drink-fest in this honor. Not a good idea. Very, very bad idea.

Beer (and chicken wings) at Hooters, more beer and several shots at a club, and after-hours drinks back at his house= not a good Sunday morning. I haven't had a hangover like that in YEARS, and I plan on making it several more years before it happens again. Maybe my 30th birthday? lol

So, the bad news is our garage is still jam-packed with insulation and our attic is not. I got absolutely nothing accomplished yesterday because the mere thought of moving made me want to hurl. And the Heat got put away by the Mavs. All in all, not a great day.

But today is Monday and I am in a terrific mood because I only work 4 days this week and then Scott and I are off to Missouri/Illinois to spend some time with our families. So excited :)  Can't wait to see what type of wedding dress my sister settles on. And I desperately hope that she finds it on our trip this coming Saturday because I REALLY want to be there! I'll probably cry a little if she finds it when I'm not there( But I'm being optimistic that Saturday will be the day!)

Since Saturday night was a total failure on the fitness and nutritional front (and it even boiled over into Sunday), I am planning on getting a great start to this week. Tonight I've got a short run planned, followed by some time on the stair mill, upper body strength training and a walk with the puppy. Come to think of it, I wish I could get outta here and get that started now! Unfortunately this little thing called "work" is standing in my way! Hope everyone has started off the week on a positive note!

Whitney

Friday, June 10, 2011

Everyone has a bad day...right?

So, by the time I made it home from work around 2:00, I decided to nix the gym. I left work at 12:30 but made a pit stop at the Tropical Smoothie Cafe for a mid day snack- a Hawaiian Breeze smoothie, blended with Splenda and whey protein= delish! I also nabbed a Peanut Paradise smoothie, blended with banana, peanut butter and whey protein for the Scottster and surprised him at work. I think he was happy :)


Back to the workout- I was in the mood to run, I really was. And although it was 95 degrees and probably like 105 with the humidity, I decided to give it a go......Worst.Idea.Ever. I had to cut even my "short run" short, not good. I ended up doing a little less than 3 miles, not good enough. But I was beginning to feel dizzy and shaky and I was still a good mile and half from home, cell phone-less as well, so I decided to take it easy and walk just to make sure someone wouldn't have to call an ambulance for the passed out girl on the side of the road. 
What? You don't think the "I'm about to have a heat stroke" look works for me? Me either.


Lesson learned: never run outside during the hottest part of the day again. 

Another downer- I took off my shoes to find this:
Sorry for the graphic picture, but don't worry, I also texted it to my Mom and grossed her out as well. Not sure what's up with this, but I have one in the same spot on the other foot as well and on the end of my second toe! And I wear good socks...any advice? It's pretty friggin' painful.


Admittedly, I was disgusted with myself and I knew that I wanted to get a better workout in than that today. So, I came inside and downed like 50 ounces of water and did some upper body strength training. Followed by a ridiculously long walk, like 6 miles, which would have been beyond boring but I talked to my grandma (aka Mimi) for a long time because today is her 68th birthday and then Scotty joined me for the last couple miles. So, all in all, not a complete failure. 


Now I guess it is time to get these stinky clothes off and get ready for my hot date with this guy:
To the movies we go...to bad you can't take dogs to the movies. How cool would that be?


Hope everyone is having a wonderful start to the weekend!


Whitney

I am alive, I swear

Hola friends! I've been beyond slacking on the blog front. Not to worry though, although I haven't been posting myself, I've still been a dedicated reader! Reading blogs is one of the best parts of my mornings. You all inspire me with your hardcore workout posts and drool-worthy food pics!


I won't spend toooooo much time updating you on what's been going on in my world, but here are some of the highlights:

1- If I do say so myself,  my classes are kicking butt. I think I've made A's in the last 4 and I'm not slowing down until it's over! I'm on track to finally finish this degree off at the end of the year! That just might be the best day of my life!
2- My sister is getting married! As a matter of fact, Scott and I are flying up to visit our families and we will be wedding dress shopping next Saturday! How exciting is that?
3- Lots of pool time, beach, boating and general fun in the Florida sunshine!
4- Half training is kicking my boot-ay, but I'm learning to love it. It's really hard to find the time to fit it in on somedays but I'm going to continue to try and make it work because this is something that I really want to do...hopefully a full is in my future at some point as well!
5- Enjoying lots of delicious summer foods: smoothies, grilled veggies, salads and I think that broccoli slaw might just be my new best friend.


My office practices "summer hours", which means that Monday through Friday we work 9 hour days in order to only work a half day on Friday. This makes for one happy girl on Fridays! Today I'll be leaving at 12:30 and hitting the gym for some light cardio and upper body strength training, then it's home for a quick run outside and a little walk with the pooch. Tonight we have big exciting plans to go watch the new X-Men movie...but the real fun starts tomorrow (sarcasm). We will be putting insulation in our attic! Fun, fun! The joys of being a homeowner and the joys of having an electric bill that is through the roof! Enough complaining- I love being a homeowner and today is going to be a great day! 


Have a FABULOUS weekend!


Whitney