One step at a time...

I guess that's gonna have to by my philosophy. I feel slightly better, the ear isn't quite making me want to die today. I tried some Benadryl last night before bed, advice from Dr. Mom, apparently anti-histamines dry things up while decongestants make things run out...the things you can learn from your mother. It seems to have helped a tad, so I'm going to stick with it. I wish I could've taken more this morning, but Benadryl knocks me out cold, so that probably wouldn't be such a good idea since I had to operate a motor vehicle this morning. Nothing too exciting happened yesterday...got in a good work out, ended up doing 30 minutes elliptical and 20 minutes stair mill. We did skip the 3 mile walk however because it was frigid outside...well, frigid for Floridians anyway. So after the gym I came home and made dinner...just threw together a beef, veggie and brown rice stir fry which hit the spot. I then snuggled up in the recliner with my coziest blanket and a mug of sugar-free hot cocoa and watched the Pats whoop up on the Jets. I don't really care for the Patriots, but I was glad to see them win because I picked them in our football pool and I really need to make up some ground, I'm getting spanked right now. Oooooh...I almost forgot- In between the gym and dinner I met Scotty at the new house to see how the work on the kitchen was progressing...

I was sooooo impressed...I knew that it would look great because I love everything that we picked out. But it is sooooooo much different to actually see it in the house versus little swatches in Lowe's. I can't wait to see the finished product! The counter tops look just like granite, and you'd think they were until you touch them. They are actually some sort of laminate, which was much less expensive. We were going to splurge on granite but then changed our minds because we aren't even sure how long we're going to be in this house...maybe next time ;)

Not much on the agenda for today...just work, gym, eat, watch TV, sleep. I made a pit stop at Dunkin Donuts for breakfast this morning...not donuts for me though. I had a turkey sausage, egg-white flatbread sandwich, minus the cheese and a large iced tea. I'm probably about to snack on a candy cane in a few minutes...what a snack, lol. Lunch is beef pot roast soup courtesy a la Progresso and a string cheese. Afternoon snack will be soy nuts and dinner is probably going to be more soup because it just makes me happy when it's freezing outside. Today is the first "running" day on my half marathon training plan. I'm using a "beginner" training plan that I found, even though I don't exactly consider myself a beginner. But, then again I guess I would be a beginner in "half marathon world". The plan goes like this:
Monday-Cross training (for me this will be intervals of elliptical/stair mill or spin class)
Tuesday-Short distance run 
Wednesday-Repeat of Monday
Thursday-Medium distance run
Friday-Rest
Saturday-Long distance run
Sunday-Recovery run


I'm about 13 weeks out from the race, so I think this will be a good training plan for me. Well, Happy Tuesday to all...ta ta for now!


Whitney

I've got the Monday Blues

Why? Probably because I STILL don't feel good. Maybe I should go to the doc...but I hate going to the doc. Some things are better, but some things are way worse. Today I feel like my head could explode and I can't hear out of my right ear. It feels like it needs to pop but it just won't :(   Cry me a river...seems like thats all I've been doing here lately. I slept in as late as possible this morning. My bed just felt extra cozy and warm and I would have done pretty much anything to have stayed there until at least 10am. But the real world calls, and I had to answer. I grabbed a Special K protein bar for the road, breakfast of champions. I snacked on a banana around 10:30 and now it's a quarter til 12 and I'm starving for lunch. Since I obviously didn't have time to pack a lunch, looks like I'll be hitting the deli for a whole wheat wrap loaded with veggies and maybe some roast beef, but I'm really craving mucho veggies right now. Afternoon/pre-gym snack will be a handful of almonds and a string cheese, since I already have those things here at work. Nothing too exciting, seems like I need to go grocery shopping yet again, imagine that :(   Yesterday was a fairly uneventful, yet fun day. I slept in (my favorite) and had a kind of large breakfast.

 Usually I'm not much of a meat-eater, but I was craving some turkey sausage links. And yes, I did eat all 6 of those...don't judge me, haha. They're accompanied  by some plain oatmeal sprinkled with cinnamon and honey. After breakfast I took Mercedes for a short little walk and then proceeded to get back into bed and watch some old movies. Lunch time came calling around 2:00 and like always, there wasn't much to choose from in our refrigerator/freezer/pantry. So I settled for a bag of Smart Pop popcorn in hopes that we'd be going out to dinner when Scotty got home.

And I was right...we decided on Ruby Tuesday's so we could watch football and eat at the same time. Food and football, I can't think of a better combination. We started with tortilla chips and salsa, and he had his version of a salad.

Thats right...spinach leaves, tons of ranch, sunflower seeds and shredded cheese...thats my boy. Hey, you gotta remember that he only started eating salads less than a year ago. We'll have to work on incorporating more veggies in there, and maybe a little less ranch...but I don't really think that'll ever happen. I ate a few bites of broccoli and cheese soup, but it was really salty and didn't taste so great. So, Scotty being the bottomless pit that he is ordered some chicken spring rolls...and boy was I glad he did. I ate a couple and they were pretty freakin' delish...he on the other hand ate 13...haha. We went home and listened to some tunes and then tuned in to Sunday night football to watch my boys...THE STEELERS, beat the Ravens, barely. Good game boys, and what a killer quarterback we have...thats you Mr. Roethlisberger. Playing through a fractured ankle and broken nose (that kinda grossed me out). 


I'm hitting the gym in about an hour and a half. Today's work out is 45 minutes elliptical, upper body weights and 3 miles with the doggy dog. Not sure about dinner tonight, probably another veggie pizza since I know I have all of the required ingredients...boo...I was wanting something more exciting, but I'll make do. Ta ta for now!


Whitney

Relief (sigh)....

Ok, so I guess I won't quit taking my vitamins. I really loaded up on them when I started getting sick and they didn't seem to help at all. But today I woke up and I feel quite a bit better. This is surprising because as I was sitting at work yesterday morning I gradually was going down hill. I ended up leaving work early, around 1:00. No workout for me yesterday, just to the grocery store (imagine that) and then home to rest.

Usually I despise the grocery store. I would rather walk across hot coals than grocery shop...ok, thats a little dramatic, but it is terrible. This is probably because I always find myself there at the busiest time of day, around 6-7pm when everyone and their mama is also there. Their all rushing around like chickens with their heads cut off. People will almost run you over with their carts and not even say sorry. It's just so hectic and people are so rude, I can't stand it. But yesterday was an exception. I actually enjoyed my time at the grocery store and it started when I pulled in the parking lot. There was an elderly man gathering carts and he was pulling one from the spot I was about to park in. He gave me the biggest smile and wave and just really brightened my day. Once I was inside I hit the deli counter. Another lady and I got there at exactly the same time and she told me to go first. I ordered "half a pound of sweet ham (Scott's favorite)"...and then the lady said "awesome! you might as well keep it out cause thats what I'm getting too!". So then we proceeded to bond over how amazing this ham is. And it really is, I say that I buy it just for Scotty, but truth is I sneak a few slices here and there as well. She wished me a happy holiday and I advanced to the other end of the deli counter where the subs and wraps are made. I had to wait in line for about 5 minutes before it was my turn. The lady at the counter thanked me for waiting patiently and then as she was putting my wrap together she told me that she was having a day from H-E-double hockey sticks. I told her that I was sorry and that mine wasn't so great either because I'd felt like poo for about the past week. But then she got really excited when she told me that she had Saturday off and it was the first one in a while. I put my wrap in the cart and we wished each other to have nice weekends. After I loaded all of my other goodies in the cart it was time to check out. The little old lady, who was very cute and a little pleasantly plump, rang all of my items up and as she got the last one, the December copy of Fitness magazine, she cackled as she looked at the cover and said "Well crap! They didn't tell me they were using me on the cover again!"...we both cracked up and the little guy bagging up my groceries thought we were a little crazy. But he also brightened my day a little. Not sure what sort of illness he had, but I could tell that he had difficulty speaking and seeing as well. Turns out he was due to get off work in 2 hours and he was overjoyed because a new episode of his favorite show "Smallville" was coming on last night. He proceeded to tell me just about everything that had happened this season thus far, and what was going to happen on last night's episode as well. It probably caused me to stay in the grocery store an extra five minutes, which on an ordinary day would've killed me, but I was actually having fun. If this is how the grocery store is every day at 1:30, I wish I could make it there at that time every time I go...but unfortunately I have a job.

Once I got home and unpacked all of my goodies I went straight to bed. I slept until about 7:00 and woke up starving. I discovered that Scott had brought me home a little side dish of my favorite pasta salad from Jason's Deli...

I sorta forgot to take a picture until it was almost empty, but this stuff is the shiznit. Rotini noodles, black olives, broccoli and red peppers in a light Italian dressing. I think I could eat it with every meal...probably not a good idea though. I also snuck a few slices of his favorite ham.

Then I went back to bed for a while longer and woke up hungry again. I usually don't let myself have dessert if it's a rest day from the gym...but I was feeling extra sorry for myself. We also don't really keep dessert in our house so I had to throw some things together and make the best of it...it turned out darn tasty too.

Thats a huge honeycrisp apple diced into cubes, drizzled with honey and brown sugar, microwaved for a couple of minutes...yum!

After dessert I read some magazines and then dozed off for the night (Scotty is in Miami with his buddy from San Diego for the night).

This morning I awoke feeling pretty darn good. Still coughing up some stuff that I won't bother to post a picture of, and my head is still fairly congested. But overall it's a major improvement. I took Mercedes out for her business first thing and then made myself a whole wheat bagel-thin topped with whipped peanut butter and sugar-free blackberry jam.

I didn't actually eat that banana but thought it made the perfect mouth for a smiley face :) I also ate another honeycrisp apple...I really have to eat a lot of these things before they go out of season, they're my favorite.

Now I'm about to head to the gym, here's the plan for today:
30 minutes elliptical, 15 minutes stair mill, leg presses, leg extensions, leg curls, calf raises, butt blasters, hip adductors and hip abductors.

Hopefully I can make it through that without making myself worse again. Tomorrow is morning spin class and then Monday starts half marathon training...can't wait!!!! Ta ta for now!

Whitney

Sleeping would probably help...

So, I don't want to jinx myself, but I think I might be feeling a little better. Just a smidge though, unfortunately. Scotty told me a few days ago that he thought yesterday would be bad for me but that I would notice a huge improvement today...he was right about yesterday being terrible, but wrong about the huge improvement. If anything it's just a teeny step in the right direction, and I can't even tell if it's even that. But anyways, enough of my whining. The good news is that I was able to get in a fairly decent workout last night at the gym. I scarfed down my protein bar on the way there and jumped on the treadmill first thing. Running is more difficult right now than anything...probably because it makes my lungs feel like someone literally lit them on fire and my nose starts running uncontrollably, which is very attractive, let me tell ya. I spent 20 minutes on the treadmill and then switched to the elliptical for 20 more minutes. And guess what...I actually got in my upper body workout as well. Three sets of alternating curls, hammer curls, dumbbell presses, skull crushers, lat pull-downs, seated rows and tricep press-downs. I was pretty beat after all that...not a normal day at the gym for me, but a definite improvement over my 2 mile walk the night before.


I was so looking forward to making myself a tortilla pizza, but unfortunately we were out of mozzarella. I swear to you, we are always out of everything in our house. I just stocked up at the grocery store on Tuesday and our refrigerator is almost totally empty. Scotty can put away food like no one else I've ever known. It's kind of amazing really. I think that I eat a lot, but I will never ever in life have to worry about eating more than he does! I always say, Where do you put all of that food?!?! And his reply is, "Whit, I'm a big guy." Being a big guy is a huge deal, he would probably cry if I told him he looked skinny. Thats so funny, girls love to be called skinny, but that is the ultimate insult to a guy, well to my guy anyway.  Here is a picture of my "big guy" wearing my tube top after a long day at the beach and probably one too many rum runners.

Nothing other than my pizza sounded good but I was starving, so I just settled for a can of soup and a can of hominy. I swear, I am so weird. I bet I am one of the few people who eats that stuff, but it's like comfort food to me. My Mimi used to make fried salmon patties, fried potatoes and hominy for dinner a lot...keep in mind I am from the mid-west, hence all the fried stuff. I threw a couple of chicken breasts and sweet potatoes in the oven for Scotty, but that just didn't sound appealing to me. He is definitely a meat and potatoes kind of guy...actually he only just started eating salads earlier this year, which is shocking to me. Other than that, he won't eat much green stuff...maybe the occasional green bean. His idea of vegetables are baked potatoes and overly buttered corn.


I know I've mentioned before that we have a temporary roommate. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. Our new house was supposed to be move-in ready, but you know what happened to that. And the roommate was supposed to be living in our condo. Well, due to the current situation we are all in the condo right now. And this is not a large condo, please don't think like penthouse suite...it's a 2-bedroom, 1100 sq. ft. condo. The roommate had 2 out of town visitors last night, in addition to Scotty's buddy who is here from San Diego. Well...these out of town visitors wanted to have some fun, nothing wrong with that I guess. So they went out and had some drinks and came stumbling home at around 2:30...keep in mind that I feel like a big pile of crap and all I wanted was sleep. That just wasn't in the stars for me last night. They were soooooo loud and disrespectful I just couldn't believe it. Scott asked them repeatedly to keep it down, but I guess you don't understand the meaning of those words when you are drunk. I couldn't go back to sleep until around 4 or 4:30, and then I had to wake up at 6:00 to get ready for work. I'm not sure if this is totally true or not, but I am sure that I would be 100% well if I wouldn't have been rudely awakened last night, after all the doctor says rest is the best thing for you when you're sick. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Due to my lack of sleep last night, I was reminded of an article that I read in the December issue of Allure magazine. 

 It talks about the top 5 reasons that we might get a less than acceptable night's sleep. I realize that I am guilty of 2 that were on their list. 

 1. Pets in the bed. We let our dog go and do pretty much whatever she wants. Scott loves it for her to sleep in the bed because she is so warm it's like having a little furnace under the covers. But Allure says that dogs snore and are constantly doing something to wake us up. This is sooooooo true. My dog has nightmares...she will be completely out and start making these crazy whining, howling, barking noises in her sleep. And of course it wakes me up and I have to yell at her to stop. She also finds it necessary to groom herself in the middle of the night sometimes....ugh, the things I put up with.
2. TV too close to bed time. I am guilty of this every single night. We have our bedroom TV on from the minute we are in there until the minute our heads hit the pillows. Apparently watching TV makes you more alert, therefore inhibiting sleep. I actually find this to be a little hard to believe. If Scott would allow it I would fall asleep every night with the TV on. I like to hear a little noise in the background, I think silence creeps me out or something.

I Heart Salads

I probably eat more salad than most families combined. And I love all sorts of salads with all sorts of toppings and all sorts of dressings. This has actually been a quality of mine since I was old enough to feed myself. I think that other kids probably thought I was weird when I was younger because I didn't have to be forced to eat salad and other veggies, I actually wanted to. I also got a lot of flack as I got older when ordering salads in restaurants...like "Wow, you must be dieting if you're ordering a salad." No, that's not it at all. I just really love salads. I find them filling, versatile and tasty. Here's the salad that I had last night.

Ahhhh-perfection! Romaine lettuce (I always opt for Romaine, or the triple hearts bag, because iceberg lettuce has no real nutritional value), a torn up tortilla shell, black olives, tomatoes, onion, red wine vinaigrette dressing and some sprinkled parmesan cheese. I always eat my homemade salads from this bowl and if I go to make one and I find this bowl to be dirty I get very upset. Not just because I hate washing dishes, but because this is absolutely THE perfect salad bowl. First off, it's huge, so it can hold a lot of salad. Second, it's the perfect depth. I hate using really deep bowls because all of the dressing just slides right off of the ingredients and pools at the bottom of the bowl (a salad-eaters nightmare, haha). Third, my Mimi gave me this bowl so that just makes it even better :) 


I find myself ordering salads a lot when we go out for food, so I thought it would be a good idea to post some of the worst ones. Keep in mind, not all salads are healthy. Just because there is lettuce in there doesn't mean it's a good choice. And although the following salads are delish, I wouldn't recommend ordering them on a regular basis.


1. The very tasty Oriental Chicken Salad from Applebees. It contains 1,310 calories and 93 grams of fat. Too bad because this truly is one of my favorites.


2. O'Charley's Southern Fried Chicken Salad...to die for. But it contains 1100 calories and 62 grams of fat.


3. Chili's Boneless Buffalo Chicken Salad...ok, I could eat buffalo sauce on just about anything. So when you combine that with a salad, it's all good for me. Unfortunately though it contains 1,010 calories and 68 grams of fat.


4. And worst of all is the Quesadilla Explosion Salad, also from Chili's. It contains 1,400 calories and 88 grams of fat!


Here are some tips to keep your salads more on the healthy side whether you're at home or dining out:
Always order your dressing on the side, keep the cheese to a minimum, choose vinaigrette based dressings versus creamy ones, always opt for grilled protein instead of the breaded, fried kind.


So, there's my nutritional guidance for the day, hehe. I'm still feeling crappy and it is really cold here today (45 degrees when I left for work this morning...brrrrr!). We had a cold front come through last night and we were absolutely dying while walking the baby girl so we cut our walk short :(  We probably made it about 2 miles and that was it. Better than nothing I guess. Today I am going to give it my all to make it to the gym. I just can't stand not exercising...I need it!!! The plan is to get mucho cardio in--stair mill, treadmill and elliptical today...and I still haven't done those upper body strength exercises I've been talking about since Monday, so we'll shoot for completing those too. 


Breakfast today was a pack of whole grain peanut butter crackers, on the run as usual. I also stopped at 7-11 for some fat-free french vanilla cappucino. Lunch is some Parmesan Tomato Soup courtesy of Progresso with a string cheese. I'll have a Strawberry Special K Protein Bar before hitting the gym...and dinner is still a mystery for now. That's all I have for today, but I will share this cutie-pie picture of my baby girl with you. She is not the most affectionate, cuddly dog in the world, much to my dismay. So when she jumps up in the recliner with me without me asking her to, it's pretty darn special. That would be Two and a Half Men on the TV in the background, Scotty's favorite show. Ta ta for now!


Whitney

Being homesick and being grateful

Sometimes I get really homesick living 1000 miles away from all of my family. It usually gets really bad when I spend time with them back in Missouri and then come back down to Florida and it's just me and Scott pretty much. We have friends here and all, but its just not the same as having family around. I'm asked all the time if I will ever move back to Missouri and I do think about it quite a bit. But the truth is that I probably won't. Eventually we will move back closer but right now there aren't many opportunities for us there. I think that Scott and I would both love to make a gradual move closer to home. If I had it my way we'd move from here to Destin, FL then to Atlanta, GA then to Nashville, TN where I could stay forever...I love that city. I feel like I'm constantly thinking about moving, but truth is I should start being more thankful for what I have. I mean, for crying out loud, people take vacations to where I live everyday. It truly is a beautiful place. So, with this post I would like to give a little tribute to southwest Florida because I honestly think I take it for granted all too often.

This is Scott and I doing what we do best...getting our tan on and chillin' on the beach.

I wish that the screen wasn't blocking this one because it was such a beautiful sight. We get a lot of full rainbows in the summertime, also known as rainy season. This was taken from our back lanai.

We also frequently see some crazy animals that us Missourians just aren't used to, and probably never will be. This was taken at a local park. Just a baby...but we saw mama gator that day too.

This was taken on Memorial Day at a local boater's hangout called "The Redneck Yacht Club". Party central with beautiful turquoise waters.

This was just taken on a beautiful day on the water. Love the way there is trees all around this hotel.

This was also taken while out boating on the Gulf of Mexico, love the color of the water in this one.

And this sums it all up. It was taken off the back of the boat. We have some of the most magnificent sunsets here.

Starting today I am making a vow to appreciate what I have and where I am. I'm not going to constantly think too far into the future. It's time to start enjoying the here and now!

Still feelin' like poo :(

AHHHHH...I HATE being sick! I feel so darn useless at everything. So basically I don't have too much to say today. I think I'll be skipping the gym tonight so I can try to get some rest and recover from this crap. Yesterday I couldn't make it through everything that I wanted to do at the gym. I got about a 15 minute run in on the treadmill and then 20 minutes on the elliptical. We did manage to take our dog for the 3 mile loop around the neighborhood, she reeeeeeeally needed it. And I'm hoping to be able to squeeze that in tonight in between all my sitting around doing nothing and sleeping. But that's it for me, not gonna try and push it until I feel better. Last night nothing sounded good to eat, so I just threw together some romaine, tomatoes, onion, black olives, parmesan cheese, olive oil & vinegar and a tortilla shell and called it a salad. It actually turned out to taste pretty excellent, so I had seconds. Then I split a ginormous honeycrisp apple with Scott. 

The other exciting thing that happened yesterday is that we got new carpet installed in our new house. I've probably failed to mention the tortuous experience that we've had with purchasing this house. We closed on it on a Friday back in September. We spent the following weekend painting every single room, Scott's dad even flew in from Illinois to help us. We got all of that complete on the following Monday...Scott goes to the house on Wednesday to find that a water pipe going to the refrigerator had burst and there was about 4 inches of water standing in every single room of the house. It was a total loss and we are still in the process of repairing/replacing EVERYTHING and it is December already. We're getting closer though. The new tile is down, we repainted everything, all drywall has been replaced and the new carpet was installed yesterday. You'll see a picture below, and you'll notice that we still have lots left to do. None of the baseboards are down and the kitchen is still gutted. This weekend it is having some plumbing work and lighting installed so next week the new cabinets/countertops and appliances can be brought in. Ugh...I always wanted to design my own home from scratch, but this project has made me think otherwise. However it is going to look really pretty when it's complete. Thank goodness for insurance!

Well thats it for me today. Hopefully I'll be more interesting tomorrow...if I don't still feel 100% like poo. Hope everyone is staying healthy! Ta ta for now!


Whitney