Wedding invitation comes in the mail…

Addressed to Dan________ and guest.  2nd one in a year. 

Maybe i’m just being overly sensitive, or maybe Dan is trying to tell me something, lol!  What really gets me is both couples know I exist.  In fact, Dan and I have been together longer that both couples combined!

*Stupid rant over*

Tags

cardio, chicken, food, healthy, life, music, Run, running, texas music, travel, workout

“Yes, I’ve had a hard time
Keeping up with everything
But, I guess I’ve had a lot on my mind”

That quote and title from Adam Hood pretty much sums it up.  I’m behind because i’ve had a ton on my mind.

Friday:

In trying to get my lunchbox, purse, and 3 cases of Girl Scout cookies in the car before work, I put my cell phone on top of the car, because I had too much stuff. 15 minutes later I hear a thud on the back of my car. When I got to work, realized it was my phone!  I’ve never put my phone on my car before and I am not sure why I didn’t just make more trips out to the car.

Had to call Dan from work and ask him to log-in on Verizon and file a claim for me.  He wasn’t amused, he’d just boarded a flight to come home after being in Canada all week.

More tests being run.  2 hours at the imaging center Friday afternoon.  I was a grump afterwards, so I went to the gym, which actually helped.

At least when I got home, Dan was back from his trip and we had pizza night.  We hadn’t had pizza night in AGES! (mostly because I am still not really a fan of GF pizza, this time I made my own crust for mine).

Saturday:

Wasn’t sure if it was going to keep storming, plus I was in a funk from the stupid tests run on Friday.  So I drove down to the lake to run.  I’m not training for anything, but I thought it would be good for the soul.  It didn’t rain, but I got a nice 8 miler in.  It was super humid and gross, but the run was good.  Plus I hadn’t been to the lake in months, it was a nice change.

Later we made a roadtrip to Stephenville.  I’ve never even been to that area of the state before.  Good times.  Got to see 3 friends who came in from Fort Worth.  We ate at Hard Eight BBQ which was awesome.  Then we went to City Limits to see Jason Boland.  I’ve never experienced such wonderful people watching.  Wow, that was enough entertainment on it’s own (Boland was fabulous as usual). Great time, although I am still not 100%, mostly due to the after-effects of all of the damn smoke.  Smoke and I don’t get along.

Things that are not so fun?  Driving back to a hotel in town in a town you’ve never been to, without a map or GPS.  At least Dan was sober enough to operate his iPhone GPS, because otherwise, i’d probably still be driving!

Sunday:

My body doesn’t know that I stayed up WAY late, I was up at 5.  I took 2 different types of allergy medicine to try to make the breathing better from the smoke. At 7 I couldn’t take it anymore and I showered, got dressed, and hung out in the lobby until Dan was ready.  The hotel’s breakfast was kind of crappy, so we went out before we left to go home.

The rest of the day was groceries on the way home (insane Superbowl shoppers), laundry, nap, gym, and dinner.  We had some kick-ass beef chalupas for dinner.  I forgot to get cake or some sort of birthday dessert for us, so while Dan was packing for his work trip I had GF cookie, dark chocolate chips and ice cream.

Back to the quote and blog title being from Adam Hood, one of our favorite musicians.  Dan has known Adam since college.  I’ve know him since I have known Dan.  ACTUALLY, ha, funny story.  The day I moved to Austin I had an email from Dan that said, “Hey, my friend Adam is playing at Copper Tank tonight, you should come.”   No, I didn’t know Dan, I didn’t actually meet him until a month later through our mutual friends.  That show he emailed me about actually got cancelled because the bar shut down, so it never happened and I never went.  But yes, Dan was trying to get me to go see Adam even before i’d met him.   I was a fan of Adam’s immediately once I saw him live.  If you don’t know his music, check him out

Tags

cardio, cedar park, Run, running, workout

I either had an angel or was just darn lucky on Thursday.

We had a stressful morning at work, so a coworker and I decided to make the trek to the Arboretum to the Zoe’s Kitchen there for lunch.   As we were nearing the restaurant, I was doing about 45 on the road, someone pulled out across the road directly in front of me and stopped!  I am not sure how on earth my car stopped and how I didn’t t-bone the stupid guy.  It was such a short distance, I am shocked my car wasn’t totaled.  Really impressed with my car and the brakes.

Then later than evening, I went to run before going over to pick up my Girl Scout cookie order from one of the moms.  The last 2 weeks, while I was waiting for her to get home, i’ve run in the county park down the street (tons of sports fields and courts, not isolated).  Last week I ran the actual trail only.  This week I wanted to do more, so I ran on the sidewalk outside of the park first, then onto the trail, and then into the greenbelt.  Going into the greenbelt wasn’t my brightest idea because there are no signs and it wasn’t clear where the park boundaries were.

When I went pick up my cookies, my friend told me I shouldn’t be running alone and Dan needed to get me a dog.  This is a really nice and affluent area.  I didn’t ever think about something happening.

Thank goodness I ran the sidewalk 1.5 miles first.  Because something really bad happened WHILE I WAS THERE.  The same friend sent me this yesterday afternoon, with the note, “OMG Melissa, you were right there when this happened!)  m.hillcountrynews.com/mobile/news/article_51c17278-4e8f-11e1-91e1-0019bb2963f4.html

I spoke too soon, I’ve never really had a scare.  That was until now.  I am hoping the young woman who was attacked will be ok and I’m sending many prayers for her.

Tags

food, gluten free, healthy, pointsplus, snacks, Things I like, Thursday, vegetarian, weight watchers

Believe it or not, prior to this past fall, i’d never had a pistachio.  I’d only had pieces in pudding or other dishes. 

We now keep pistachios in our house for snacking.  Costco has great deals on them for plain or the addictive “salt and pepper” variety.  (pictured above)

Here’s some facts from the February 2012 issue of Muscle and Fitness (which  I buy for Dan and he doesn’t read)…

49:  Number of nuts in a single serving, which is around 160 calories.  More nuts per serving than any other nut.

6:  Grams of protein per serving

3: Grams of fiber per serving

13: Grams of fat, 7 g of which are monounsaturated, 4 are polyunsaturated

20:  Percentage of daily allowance of vitamin B6

5:  approximately Weight Watchers Points Plus value for 49 nut serving

Plus according to the article, 3.5 ounces per day can improve men’s functions down south…

Tags

ARC, Austin, Austin Runners Club, cardio, food, friends, gluten free, half marathon, life, Run, running, workout

This race is special to me, because it was my first half 6 years ago.  I’ve done it every year since with the exception of 1 and I really regret the year I skipped.  Not sure why I like it so much, it’s just a good local race that is always fun.

Course:  New course this year since Waterloo Park is under construction and that was formerly the finish.   The course was good.  Same start, different middle, same end until the last half mile, turned twice and finished in front of the Texas State History museum with a nice view of the state capitol.

The map looks flat, but there were some rises, including a really long one in the middle of the race.  There was a slight hill in the last .3, which people were verbally cursing.

I ran my sister and my mom both up that “hill” before they turned to run the last .1 and hit the chutes.

My mom was really stuggling.  She gave me a scare, I really thought she could possibly collapse.  She said her hip was giving her trouble but kept pushing on her chest.  And at one point she latched on to me to keep herself upright. ACK!  Scary.  I made her walk a little bit to regain her balance.

I knew she was fine after she finished, because she stood in line for a finish line photo, lol.

Crowd/music/cheering:  Was spotty, but that’s how it always is.  The only really empty areas were the first 3 miles, which I barely even noticed.  Not as much music as years past, but I wonder if that’s because people weren’t aware it was a new course this year?

Aid:  Water and Gatorade was fine.  Although Megan and I (we ran together from 6-9) arrived at mile 8 and they seemed to be short of volunteers and didn’t have enough people.  Not a big deal, I got my water, but later in the race, may have been an issue.

Swag:  Their packet is the best around.  Who doesn’t want a bag of useful 3M brand products?  I really love seeing what is new from them every year, they are a really innovative company and always have the neatest products and ideas.

My most coveted items?  Post-its and bandaids.  You can never have enough of either!  Also included were glue, knee brace, lots of scotch tape, sandpaper, giant lint roller, glue, post-it flags all in a re-usable cinch bag.

Like the color of the shirt but not really a fan of the design (it says “fast, easy, fun”), although now it’s an inside joke amongst our friends.  The key to getting the best loot is getting there early.  All of the bags vary with what products they get.  Mom’s was only slightly different from mine.

They had a semi-expo this year, which was lame.  I just picked up my packet and left.

Facilities:  Port-a-potties were plentiful.  Bag check was quick and easy on both ends.

Refreshment:  I got my banana which made me a happy girl.  They have really good post-race food, just stuff I can’t eat due to the gluten:  breakfast tacos, Tiff’s Treats fresh cookies, etc.

That’s ok, my mom ate my share.

Found AK after the race.  Never saw her on course, probably because she ran like a 1:36.  

Once all of the troops were in, we moved back up North to the start of the race to get our cars and our brunch on at NXNW Brewery.

I’m weird, I’m just am never really hungry after the race (usually catches up with me that night or the next day).  I make myself eat though.

Who eats shrimp cocktail for brunch?  Weird people like me I guess.  Some of the biggest shrimp I’ve seen.  I also ate majority of the fruit off of Dan’s brunch plate. (he didn’t come to the race, but joined us for food).

It was a perfect morning.

Perfect weather, wonderful race, and PRs all around. Everyone at brunch PR’d at the race.  My mom and sister had HUGE PRs.  I had a pretty big PR, one that will stay around for a while.  I don’t know that i’ll do any more halves in the near future, may be refocusing my priorities.

Tags

food, food journal, Food journal challenge, friends, gluten free, healthy, life

Girl Scouts, work, workout, eat, sleep, repeat.  That’s been my week.  And now my parents are in town, so it’s all of those things and entertaining them…

Cookie season is in full force, check out the Girl Scout Cookie Fiat.  I had to go to the Girl Scout store 3 times this week (good thing its REALLY close to my office).

We got 2 new girls this week, so they needed uniforms and all that jazz.  I need to go back Tuesday, because the store was out of American flags.  Really?  How do you run out of something that goes on every uniform?

I’m still keeping up with the journaling, always do.  It’s the blogging it part that i’m not so good at, lol!

Wednesday

B1: Morning Glory Muffin with coconut oil
B2: squash pie
S: cucumbers
L: vietnamese chicken salad at Le Soleil.  It was ok, I put a ton of sirracha on it.

S: apple, Adora disk
D: ultimate enchilada casserole with a twist (I used zucchini and mushrooms in mine instead of beans)
S: morning glory muffin with coconut oil, almonds

Thursday

B1: Morning Glory Muffin with coconut oil
B2: squash pie (recipe coming soon)
S: roasted vegetables
L: chicken with bacon and roasted veggies.  Odd combo but it was tasty and filling.  Not sure why I decided to throw bacon in there on my way out of the house, but glad I did.

S: pistachios
D: ultimate enchilada casserole (added extra zucchini and some spinach to mine)
S: cooked apple, raw mixed nuts

Friday

B: eggs, bacon, Adora disc
S: apple and pistachios
L: jerked chicken, sweet potato, broccoli
S: banana
S: celery and carrots and hummus
D: smoked stuffed pork tenderloin, fresh green beans with bacon, salad
S: GF morning glory muffin with coconut oil

Tags

food, healthy, life, questions, random facts, Run

June tagged me, so here you go….

The rules of this post:
1. Post these rules.
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself.
3. Answer the questions set for you in their post.
4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.
5. Tag those people.

Eleven random things about me:

-I have to have Q-tips
-I love lemons and will eat them out of my tea or water, the dentist told me to stop. Dan always hates when I do it anyhow
-Missy and Chanel, my kitties are both adopted, 1 year apart. Missy is 12 this year. I got them both in college.
-I am a Girl Scout leader and I don’t have kids
-I’m not sure Dan and I will have kids
-I was president of my sorority in college
-I never wake up wanting to run on race mornings, it’s the opposite. However on long run mornings, im usually pumped and ready to go
-I hate olives. Dan loves them
-I want a dog but we are too busy for a dog
-I have a scar on my shin from a botched softball slide into 3rd base. Tore my pants, my socks, and my leg apart because the base was buckled wrong into the ground
-I had a drill-bit in my hand for almost a week about 4 years ago, before it could be surgically removed

***********************************

1. Favorite Color: Purple or blue
2. What’s your favorite season? Fall
3. Do you have any pre-race superstitions? Superstitions? No. Rituals, yes.
4. Favorite food: Too many to name, lol.
5. If you could run a race anywhere, where would it be? Hawaii
6. Would you be doing a different career now, if you knew back then what you know now? Yes
7. How many states have you traveled to? Probably 20.
8. What’s one thing that scares you? That whatever is medically wrong with me is something major and just hasn’t been discovered yet
9. Where is your favorite place to workout? Outside near water
10. Would you want to live forever? No
11. What’s the best piece of advice you have received? That’s really hard to say.

**********************************************

Favorite time of the day? Sunrise
What is your favorite meal to make? Anything grilled, love grilling
Glass 1/2 full or glass 1/2 empty?  depends on the day/situation
Last picture taken on your phone? Girl Scout Cookie Fiat
If money was no issue how many races would you try to do in a year? One a month
Car, Truck, Van, or SUV? I have a car, but i’ve had trucks most of my life
Do you take part in any water sports ? Does tubing count?
If you’re walking down the street and find a $100.00 bill what do you do with it? Buy myself something nice unless I know who it came from or saw someone drop it
Favorite non sports related thing to do? family and friend time
Have Pets? Yes What kind? 2 cats
Last movie you went to a theater to see? Honestly it was probably a year ago.  I don’t like going to the movies because it never costs us less than $40 for the 2 of us to go.  That’s with me only having a movie ticket.

My 11 questions:  

1. How long have you been blogging?
2. Why did you start blogging?
3. Would you live in your hometown again?
4. Would you clone your pet if money isn’t an object?
5. What’s your favorite restaurant?
6. What is your go-to snack?
7. Hot or cold weather?
8. More muscle, faster runner, or weigh less? What would you rather be?
9. Favorite Girl Scout cookie?
10. Favorite drink?
11. Do you believe that everything happens for a reason?

I tag Nicole C, Heather I., Kristen G., Lindsay C., Lisa and whomever else wants to play

Tags

cardio, Family, food, gym, half marathon, healthy, Run, running, San Antonio, strength training, Things I like, Thursday, weight watchers

Congrats to my mom who is 1 year back at goal.  She didn’t keep the weight off the first time on WW, sidetracked due to the death of her mother.  She got back on and made goal Jan 24, 2011, which ironically was my grandmothers birthday.  The 2nd time, which stuck, was done in meetings.  Her total loss between 2006 and now is over 50 lbs.  (mine is around 40 lbs)

Her initial loss with Weight Watchers was on the old program, she lost by counting points and walking.  Her 2nd and final loss was right when Points Plus came out in fall 2010.  She lost by doing Points Plus, run-walking, strength training, and some cross training.  She still does everything she did to lose, just eating more P+ values.

She still tracks, works out, and attends meetings weekly, which I believe is key to her success.  She’s seen what works for me, is really the structure she needs in her own life.  Accountability is key.

Her first before and after is here. The before is December 2006, the first after is December 2007.

Here is a photo of us December 2011.

She’ll run her 3rd half marathon this weekend, which is also her 3rd in a year.  That’s pretty awesome.

Tags

cardio, food, gym, healthy, life, pointsplus, weight watchers, workout

Gold’s Gym tip/encouragement wall

My tip:

The Biggest Loser isn’t real.  You can’t workout all day every day, you probably don’t have a chef or a celebrity trainer.  Eventually you will have to return to real life.  Then what?  Real people don’t have the time to commit to that and why would you want to?

Don’t do anything to lose, that you aren’t willing to do for the rest of your life.  Make it a LIFESTYLE change

Don’t diet,  don’t excessively work out, don’t deprive or restrict.  Do what is livable.  80% of people gain their weight back.  Don’t be part of that group.  Change for the good in a way that you can stick with FOREVER!

Tags

food, food journal, Food journal challenge, gluten free, healthy, life, music, paleo, recipe, recipes, vegetarian, weight watchers

I’m not really a muffin person, but I was looking for something grab-and-go for the weekdays.  This fit the bill was tasty and healthier

Gluten Free Morning Glory Muffins

Source:  Food.com, serves 12

1 cup any type gluten-free flour (white flour works if you can eat it)
1 teaspoon xanthan gum (must use if not using regular flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 cup splenda (or other sweetener)
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut
1 cup carrot, grated
1/4 cup raisins
1 Mcintosh apple, diced (I’ve used different types)
2 eggs (or half cup egg beaters)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon orange extract
1/4 cup soymilk (I used coconut milk)
Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Mix dry ingredients.

Mix wet, then add into dry.

Fill cups to about 2/3 cup full. (I can’t follow directions, lol)

Bake for about 22 minutes. (I baked for 30)

The result is a snack that is packed full of fruits and veggies, could add nuts if desired.  Great with a smear of coconut oil on it  They aren’t pretty, but they sure are tasty.  I like this recipe because the muffins are almost all fruits and veggies, there is very little batter.  Not exactly like the ones my mom used to make, but close.  I’ve made this version twice already, think next time i’ll experiment adding different fruits and veggies.

These could  be made paleo if you use almond or coconut flour.  They also freeze very well.

1 muffin is 2 Weight Watchers Points Plus made with my modifications.  If you use different eggs, flour, milk, etc. your values may vary.

If using for a breakfast, i’d suggest pairing with a protein source to make it go further.  I’ve been using them for snack/dessert.

Food journal challenge-Monday

B1: Morning Glory Muffin (should have had protein source too)
B2: squash pie (recipe coming soon)
S: cucumbers
L: chicken and roasted veggies. Not enough food
S: apple
S: apple, almond butter, Adora disk
D: eggplant parm, spinach salad, green beans, chicken breast
S: morning glory muffin with coconut oil, almonds

Don’t usually do 2 regular size apples in a day, but I misjudged how filling the squash pie and my lunch would be.  Didn’t want myself to get too hungry and it’s what I had.  Gotta do, what you gotta do