Tag Archives: nrolw

Mammogram, caffeine and a pleasant surprise!

Okay, here is proof that caffeine is not to blame for my sleeping troubles.  3 days without, and last night was one of my worst sleeping nights in a while.  Couldn’t get to sleep and couldn’t stay asleep.  Finally got out of bed at 6:30 and went for a 2 mile walk.  May as well exercise, right?  It was good 9/11 reflection time, too.

It was so hard to not grab a prewalk snack – I was starving!  I somehow made it to the test without eating.  My blood draw was at 8:30:

arm

Nice thing about blood draws versus donating blood is the size of the needle.  Much smaller for the draw and easy peasy!

Off to brekkie and I couldn’t wait!  John biked and met me. Samantha’s is just a couple blocks from the hospital.

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I love the atmosphere here.  Very eclectic and made for sitting and chatting.

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I had the fruit bowl and muffin, which included watermelon, blueberries, grapes, honeydew, strawberries.  Delicious!

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I love that they served this in a vintage bowl!  Perfect for pictures 😀

Mixed berry muffin, which actually wasn’t at big as it looks here.

muffin

Very good and tasty since I was so hungry.  Not pictured is  the decaf I drank with this.  It was so nice to lounge for breakfast, and I love going out with my hubby.

After breakfast was a stop at the library to browse, which is one of my favorite things to do (inner geek shining through!).

Then a stop at one of my favorite consignment stores.  This place is jam packed with stuff, although it is a bit hard to find things since I think they need a better categorizing system.  If you ever need a formal dress – this is the place to go.  Gorgeous, gorgeous stuff!

consign

I can spend forever in here.  Oddly enough, I didn’t find anything here that I wanted to get.  Then it was time to walk back over to the hospital for the mammogram.  You hear a lot of horror stories about how it hurts or pinches or is really uncomfortable, so I was a squidge nervous.

Meet the machine:

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Can you believe I took a picture? I’m such a dweeb. LOL!  I did it while the curtain was closed when I was supposed to be putting the gown on. 😀  The tech was very nice.  She explained everything and then I had the mammo done.  *squish* They did 2 views, and honestly it didn’t bother me at all.  There was some pressure, but it didn’t hurt at all.  I just rolled my breasts back up and put them in my bra 😉

I would choose a mammo a thousand times over a Pap, I’ll tell you!  She let me view the images afterwards and noted that there was a lot of pectoral muscle in the image, which meant I must work out!  Yay NROLW!

Then it was sprint time for a latte!

My beloved caffeine, how I have missed you!  Plus some “on the go” lunch of a chai Luna bar:

luna

Off to a different consignment store, and I fell in love with a new place!  The deals were great and some awesome clothes.  Not nearly the selection of formals like the other place, but really – I don’t buy that much formal wear LOL!  This place also has a lot of other things like jewelry, shoes, books, CDs, etc.  I could spend forever here, too.  Anyway, I found a pair of pants that were an 8P on the hang tag, which is good, being a shorty and all.  I tried them on and they were a little snug, but the length was perfect.  I decided to get them, as losing 3 more pounds should get them to fit quite well (per my September challenge).  Not to mention that they were $4.80!!!

Here is my loot:

loot

1 top, 1 pants, 1 silk jammie set (which was new), a workout jacket, and a CD of celtic guitar music for a grand total of $22.83!!  Who loves a bargain???

The big surprise was this: I decided to take a picture of the inner tag, just to show the size and this is what I saw:

6

😮

No wonder they were snug, but I can’t believe I even got them on!  I had bought a pair of 6 shorts this summer, but I figured it was a total fluke of sizes, but I am almost a size 6!  If the hang tag had said 6, I wouldn’t even have bothered to try them on.  I had to laugh because when I showed them to John, he said you could see my muscular thighs in them.  Them’s biker thighs, baby!

Dang this has been a good day so far!

NROLW and beverages

Happy Monday!  Nice to see all the personal challengers for this month.  Let’s do this and reach our goals!  I might see if I can scrounge up something and pick a random participant at the end of the month 😀  I’ll do a check-in post once or twice a week so we can root each other on.

Chilly morning today as I biked to the gym.  It’s still August, and it was in the 40s last night!  I finished up stage 4 of NROLW today.  I will do 2 more days of random lifting though, as I want to have an even round out to the week (I am dorky that way).

  • Dead lifts:  1  x 8 55 pounds, 1 x 8  65 pounds, 1 x 8  75 pounds
  • Split squats 3 x 8  35 pounds
  • Underhand lat pull down  1 x 8  60 pounds, 2 x 8  70 pounds
  • Reverse lunge with forward reach  3 x 8  10 pounds
  • Prone cuban snatch 3 x 8  10 pounds
  • Crunches, reverse crunches, lateral flexion  3 x 8
  • Prone cobra  3 x 2 minute hold

I am very pleased to be able to do the cuban snatch with 10 pound dumbbells.  It took some time to work up to that!  After this week, 1 week off from weights and then stage 5!

I was thinking about PB2 this morning since I am going to order during their sale.  (I’m almost out!).  I decided to incorporate it into pancakes this morning.   I made my usual protein pancakes and made the following topping:  1 serving of PB2 made with an extra tsp of water, 1 well mashed banana.  Mix and microwave for about 20 seconds:

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I was going to put some cocoa powder into the pancake batter, but forgot – so I sprinkled on some dark chocolate chips.  This was quite good.  I think it would be awesome with real nut butter and not the PB2!

Work was a little slow before lunch, so I helped John with the business.  It’s amazing how much more activity I get doing that than sitting on my butt doing transcription.

Lunch was something different.  I decided on a tuna melt.  Topped with smoked cheddar cheese and put under the broiler.  Smoked cheese doesn’t melt really well, I think it is a bit dry for that.  Tasty, though!

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I love cheese!

Work got very busy after lunch, and I should get an early start tomorrow since there is so much extra!  Good thing as it is my niece’s birthday tomorrow and we are going down for cake tomorrow evening.

Quick turkey chili for dinner.  Put some coconut oil in a pan and sauteed some cumin seed with onions and green peppers, added 1 can of chopped tomatoes and 5 ounces of chicken breast, chili powder and a 1/2 cup of cooked mung beans.  Simmered for about 15 minutes:

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Very good.  Speaking of good – these chips are Food Should Taste Good Lime chips.  Perfect with the chili. I was happy to find those at the store!  So tasty!  Also there is a bowl of strawberries peeking out there. 😀

Went to K-mart tonight to get something for my niece.  It is really hard shopping for a 10 year old!  We feel totally inept since we don’t have kids.

It’s football night tonight.  Last night my sad Broncos struggled against the Bears.  Why they ever let Cutler go, I just don’t get it!

So it’s snack time:

nuts

Measured out into 1 serving:

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These are very good!  Yum, yum!

Regarding our trip, I think we might be leaning towards Cancun.  Ireland would be great, but probably not in January!

I had someone ask me what I drink other than coffee 😀

I do not like artificial sweeteners, so that  cuts down on the possibilities for me.  I drink a lot of water, and a lot of seltzer water.  I also drink hot tea in cooler weather. Plus ice tea if I am out at a restaurant.  I rarely drink juice.  I have found most restaurants that serve soda can give me a glass of soda water with lemon in it.  I really don’t think I could have sweetened drinks with meals ever again, I have really grown so accustomed to unsweetened beverages that it tastes weird when I try one.

Overall a good eating day.

Question:  Do you drink diet sodas?

NROLW, Chocolate Mill and vacation dreaming

Rainy, icky day here.  I actually slept until a little after 7am!  Yay! My gym opens at 8 on Saturday, so I went there this morning to do a little  lifting.  I was just doing that, so I didn’t snack ahead of time.

  • 10 minute warmup on the stationary bike
  • Barbell squat/push press: 3 x 8  45 pounds
  • Stationary lunge: 3 x 8  35#
  • 1 point dumbbell row: 3 x 8 25 pounds
  • Step ups: 3 x 8  30 pounds
  • Push ups:  3 x 8
  • Cable woodchop:  3 x 8  45 pounds
  • Planks:  3 x 2 minute holds

Yay on the planks!  Zipped on home.  I drove to the gym since it was raining.  Out of bananas, no pumpkin and I just had pancakes yesterday, so I made a different breakfast today:

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1-minute muffin topped with chocolate PB2 frosting!  It was quite good.  Not for those that are afraid of fat, but so filling and full of fiber!

After a Chobani yogurt with cereal lunch, we headed out to the library.  The library was recently redone connecting the old building with a new rennovation.  It’s lovely.

lib

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Stopped at a new place downtown called The Chocolate Mill.  It’s kind of an upscale chocolate shop/bakery that serves breakfast and lunch.  I don’t have many pictures of the inside as there were so many people.  I’ll have to be more detailed at a later point.  We waited in line for quite a while and I stared at these:

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so that’s what I got.  Plus a skim latte.

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I really loved the little cinnamon roll.  Small desserts always are so appreciated!  I do wish (as did John) that there was more than 1 size latte.  This was a smaller cup than we do at home.  The flavor was quite good, although maybe a bit bitter with the crema.  Definitely need another visit here to really make up my mind.

We sat with a few books while trying to decide on our winter vacation next year.

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We didn’t go anywhere together this year, and I only took a long weekend to New Orleans with my sister.  So, John and I need a nice long getaway.

Tonight went  to see the original black & white 1925 Phantom of the Opera movie with live organ music with my mom.  Fun!  Wish I could have taken a pic during the showing! This performer brought his own organ!

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Then we ended the evening at Starbucks and I got a “why bother” 😀

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Sleeping cuteness – I think she didn’t want me to take her picture!

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Talk to you tomorrow!

Question:  Do you go to the library?  And how many books on average do you take out?

NROLW and Bumble coffee

Nice and cool this morning – so refreshing!  I was so hungry when I woke up today.  Had the very last piece of Ezekiel bread with the last of the apricot jam and PB for my snack.  Tasty stuff.

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Here are some more stealth shots of my new gym.

cable

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I’m in in the last couple workouts from Stage 4 of NROLW.

Today was B:

  • Deadlifts: 1 x 8 55 pounds, 1 x 8  65 pounds, 1 x 8 75 pounds
  • Bulgarian split squats:  3 x 8  35# plate
  • Underhand grip lat pulldown:  1 x 8 60#, 2 x 8 at 70#
  • Reverse lunge with forward reach:  3 x 8  10# dumbbells (yay!)
  • Prone cuban snatch:  3 x 8  10# dumbbells (super yay!)
  • Crunches, reverse crunches, lateral raise
  • Back extension machine (instead of prone cobra) 3 x 8  at 90#

I decided to do the back extension rather than the cobra because I am tired of that one.  😀  I’m feeling strong and it feels so good!

Texted John (I can’t believe I have actually sent some texts recently!) to meet me and bike onward to breakfast!  Speed on the way there, just under 12mph.

Someone there wanted my coffee.  I love this guy – one of my favorite Christmas specials 😀

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And the brekkie!

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Biked home.  Speed on the way home hit 13.5 mph.  Think it was the bagel and the carb boost?  Indeed.

Light on work this morning, which is a good thing because I was meeting someone at noon.  Noon is lunchtime for me, normally – so it was an ‘on-the-go’ lunch.  Been a while since I have had one of these!

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Some cereal snackage when I got back (oooooppppssss…..).

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More delicious coffee after trying to get into a work rhythm.  If I didn’t actually see blood come out when I do donations, I would assume that my veins are full of coffee.

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John grilled steak for dinner – yum!  Haven’t had steak in forever.  I so love our local smokehouse.

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Usually I go and get a bunch of chicken (I’m cheap).  John went and came home with a $8 per pound steak!  One piece of meat that is really worth paying good money for is steak.  Never buy cheap steak.  Other cuts, yes – but not steak.  So good.

Dessert:

chips

So, I am feeling a little aimless without having a goal since I am not doing the half marathon, although finishing NROLW is a good goal!  I’m doing a couple 5Ks, but it’s not quite the same.  I saw a duathlon in the paper in October this morning, and I just  might go ahead and do that.  It’s 2.2 mile run/16 mile bike ride/2.2 mile run.  I think that might be a good way to send out the active season.  I had an odd desire to to a brick the other day (what was I thinking??), so maybe I should do it.

Or really, what I should do is buckle down and take off the last 10 pounds instead of dinking around.

MST3K from Netflix tonight!

Question: What are your lunches (or any meal) on the go?

NROLW and POM iced coffee!

Thank you all so much for the nice comments on my running story.   I didn’t think it would be so much of an inspiration.  Now – go get those sneaks on!  😀 Woke up to maybe a little less humid today?  Hope the humidity breaks soon.

Preworkout snack of Ezekiel bread with apricot jam and PB.

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1 piece of Ezekiel left.  Doubt I will buy it again.  It rained last night, but the morning was clear so I biked to my gym (love being able to bike there!).  I am getting more used to the gym, although still disliking the music.  Guess there are more people that want it than don’t 🙁

Anyhoo, did Stage 4a of NROLW today.

  • Barbell squat/push press:  3 x 8 45#  (can’t seem to progress more than this)
  • Step ups:  3 x 8  30# dumbbells.
  • Dumbbell 1-point row:  3 x 8  25# dumbbells
  • Push ups:  3 x 8
  • Stationary lunge:  3 x 8  35# plate
  • Planks – 3 x 2 minute holds
  • Horizontal wood chop:  3 x 8  40#

I was able to hold the plank all 3 times for 2 minutes without having to touch my knees down!  First plank easy.  2nd plank a bit harder. I thought I was going to die on the 3rd one. Serious breath hissing going on.  I probably got some looks, but I don’t care LOL!  Let them try it!  I am not sure why I can’t increase the weight on the push press – I have been at the empty bar for 2 stages now.  That one is very difficult for me, and I think it is the transition in grip between the squat and the press that is the problem. It’s just awkward.

Got on the treadmill for 20 minutes before biking home, and all I could think of was pancakes while I was walking!  So that is what I had for breakfast:

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When we went shopping the other day, it was at a different store so I was able to get my Cedars Lemon Hummus!  Yum!  It was part of lunch today mixed with tuna and FSTG sweet potato chips.

lunch14

A package from POM Wonderful came for me today to sample.  POM iced coffee! This has my name written all over it!  Yay!  There were 2 flavors in the box, Cafe au Lait and Chocolate.  Thank you POM Wonderful!

pom

I had the Cafe au lait for my afternoon snack.  It was very good and tasted a lot like one of those Starbucks frappucinos you can buy in the grocery store, only better.  Nutritionally a little shaky with a lot of sugar, but the Cafe au lait has 7 grams of protein, plus some pomegranate antixodant extract (patent pending 😀  ). I like that they use Rainforest Alliance certified coffee.  Nice touch.  This was a fun treat, but I don’t like to drink my calories, and don’t drink my coffee sweetened hardly ever.    It is nice to know that if I am out and that is in the cooler at a convenience store, I can get a bit of energy with protein without resorting to soda.  Hmmmmm….. I bet this would be good running fuel.  John said the chocolate one was really chocolately, so he was quite happy.

You know how I love those quick dinners!  We like to keep jars of different sauces in the house for things like this.  Kitchens of India has some nice jar sauces.  I have a mild curry one (for John…. wimp), which I used tonight.  This dinner took about 15 minutes to whip up.

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And yes – strawberries are back!  How I missed them during my blueberry (purple?) haze.

John bought a plantain the other day, and he decided to cook it with dinner.

It smelled very much like a banana here:

plantain

He sliced it up and pan fried it in coconut oil:

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I snagged one to try.

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mmmm….. GBD.  The verdict?  Interesting.  It did not taste like banana at all.  It was very starchy tasting and similar to a sweet potato in consistency.  It almost had a tiny hint of sweetness.  Not at all what I was expecting.  I don’t know if this is considered a fruit or veggie.

Question:  Have you ever tried plantain?  If so, how do you eat it?

NROLW and a humid day.

Lots of interesting comments on the Glamour photo.  Thanks!

It’s Friday!  I do have to work some today.  Well, I don’t have to work, but I will be picking up a couple hours to make up for Monday not working from Jury Duty.

Pre-workout snack:  Crunch!bisc

Went outside and it was like swimming – so humid!  I cannot remember the last time I felt this type of humidity (maybe Japan?).  Although it is not hot temperature wise, thank goodness.  Biked the 2 miles to my gym.

Here is a stealth shot of part of the free weight area.  The color is funny because all the equipment is purple, but doesn’t show.  It’s right by the big windows, too.gym

Did Stage 4B today:

  • Wide grip deadlift: 1 x 8 55 pounds, 1 x 8  65 pounds, 1 x 8  70 pounds
  • Bulgarian split squat: 2 x 8  25# plate, 1 x 8  35# plate.
  • Underhand grip lat pulldown:  2 x 8  60 pounds,  1 x 8  70 pounds
  • Reverse lunge with forward reach:  1 x 8  8 pounds, 2 x 8  10 pounds
  • Dumbbell prone Cuban snatch:  2 x 8  8 pounds,  1 x 8  10 pounds
  • Ab circuit (crunches, reverse crunch, lateral flexion)  3 x 8
  • Prone cobra:  3 x 2 minute holds

I tried to challenge myself today on a couple.  I increased the last set of the split squats to a 35# plate.  Then I used 10 pound dumbbells for the last 2 sets of the forward reach.  This is hard.  I then did one set of the snatches with 10 pound dumbbells.  Gosh that is so hard!  Funny how adding 2 pounds on each side makes a huge difference.  Then I walked on the treadmill for a bit and biked home.  I have to say that I love how close this gym is to home.  It saves me so much time, plus I get a bit of workout biking there and back.

Made protein pancakes for breakfast topped with maple banana topping:

cakes1

I used a frozen banana for this and it was runnier than than fresh, so not sure I’ll do that again.

Relaxed a bit and ate a somewhat early lunch.  Grilled chicken with Lauging Cow spread on a wrap (I just wrote warp LOL).

lunch12

Did a little work, then headed down to see my nieces in a sing/dance performance.  I can’t believe I forgot my camera!  I had it right by my bag, but not in my bag.  They were cute as buttons with the singing and dancing, too.  Storms blew through, but no relief from the humidity.

Came back and did a little more work before dinner.  John cooked up a couple burgers.

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We used Ezekiel bread for buns as we are out of sandwich thins.  I had mine open-face, which is weird for a burger, but oh well!  And an apple.  John is the apple king, but give me berries!  I can’t wait to go apple picking this fall.  I love tart apples, this one was too sweet for me.  John likes the sweet ones.  I love Granny Smiths and Pink Ladies.

Post dinner,we were going to stop at a new cafe, but they were closed when we got there.  John and I seem to have that problem.  Places always closed.  Have to wait on that, so stopped at Cool Beans instead for a coffee and a raspberry bar.  Yum!

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Now back home and I have Sweeney Todd from Netflix to watch.  Mmmm… feel like some pie 😀

Question:  Tart apples or sweet apples? Have a favorite type?

NROLW and green eggs, but no ham!

Don’t forget to enter the Fullbites giveaway! It ends tomorrow!

Went to my new gym this morning.  There were only about 3 people there, so that was nice to get used to a new environment.  It definitely seems much smaller than the Y (because it is, duh…), so it feels a little cramped to me.  At least it is clean, though and the people there were good about wiping down equipment (yay!).  I was also totally excited about the cable machine because it is adjustable!  The one at the Y, I could only to a reverse or regular woodchop because the pulleys were stationary.  Today I could actually do a horizontal woodchop, like is called for in NROLW!  Happy me!

Here is a video of the horizontal woodchops:

Anyhoo, the workout today.  Oh, I biked to the gym, which is a shade over 2 miles from home.

  • Barbell squat/push press:  3 x 8 at 45#
  • Dumbbell 1 point rows:  3 x 8 at 25#
  • Step ups:  3 x 8  at 30#
  • Push ups:  3 x 8
  • Static lunges with rear foot elevated:  3 x 8  with 25# plate
  • Cable woodchop:  3 x 8  50 pounds
  • Plank:  3 x 2 minute holds (dying!)

It’s going to take me a while to feel at home at the gym, I think, but I’ll get there.  I do have to say that I do *not* like that they play music.  What they play is not even close to what I want to hear.  At least it wasn’t blaring, so I could put on my headphones and not hear much of it.  Listened to Sweeney Todd!

John met me at the gym and we then biked for bagels!

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I was a little tired after the weight workout to do road biking, but I knew the end result would be worth it:

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New employee was a little skimpy with the cream cheese…

Then I had to bike home!  Total bike trip was around 11 miles, so definitely a good workout today.

I made something interesting for lunch:

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It’s a tuna pancake!  It was supposed to be a tuna burger, but I think I needed more tuna.

  • 1 – 2.5 ounce can of tuna
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons of oat bran
  • lemon pepper seasoning

Mix together and spread into a heated frypan.  Cook a couple minutes on each side until golden brown.  I served it on top of a bed of greens with a bit of feta cheese.  It was interesting, I’ll say that.  I was going for a tuna burger, but I think I needed more tuna as I could not form this into patties.  And… the last of the fresh blueberries (other than the ones I froze).

Work, work, work, then dinner!  I got a late start on dinner because of doing some stat files.  I continued the egg theme to dinner.  I sauteed up some broccoli, then minced it really fine.  Beat 1 egg with 2 egg whites, added the broccoli and scrambled it up.  It made my eggs green Sam I am!  Topped with some Laughing Cow.  This was excellent.

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After a late night of work, John and I went out for coffee.  Decaf skim latte (the ‘why bother’ drink).  With a touch of honey and nutmeg.

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It’s finally supposed to be cooler tomorrow!  I have been wanted to make some biscotti, so maybe that will be my chance.

Question:  Do like tunes when you work out?

Y workout and dining out

Today was one of those wacky food days, you know?  I didn’t sleep really well last night, which was actually okay because I had to get up early and meet my sister at her Y.

yIt’s pretty fancy – and the memberships are not part of mine, so I have to use a guest pass at hers.  Isn’t that weird?  I showed Colleen stage 1 of NROLW.  That was kind of fun to go back to the beginning again.   Then we ran a mile on the indoor track to end up the workoutl.  After we finished, we went to the Fortunate Cup cafe for breakfast.  I love this place – the interior is gorgeous.

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I wanted something more proteiny for breakfast, so I opted for an egg, bacon, and cheese grilled sandwich on a belgian waffle.  This was really good!

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Plus some costa rican coffee.  I love this mug, it is so beautiful.

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After I got home, I gave John a buzz.  I knew he would be on his bike.  He was almost at Lake George by this time!  We talked about me meeting him there for lunch, but I after jogging and lifting, I was not up for a 30-mile round trip bike ride.  We decided to just meet in downtown Glens Falls.  I am glad, because my legs were pretty tired.  John says I haven’t been the same since my 8-mile run.  Maybe that is true.  We decided to go to East End Eatery and have a bite.  This place has amazing calzones, but we decided to forego all the dough and get pizza wraps on wheat wraps.  With a super fresh side salad.

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Hot again today.  We went home and got the new air conditioner set up downstairs.  It’s nice.  Pixie was kind of freaked out about it.  She doesn’t like the fans either, she’s so silly.  She slept most of the day (like always!).

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Ever feel like just grazing for dinner?  I couldn’t even think of cooking anything.  John was making pasta, but I didn’t want something so heavy.  I opted for a Thomas’ mini bagel with some peanut butter and jam.

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Plus:

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I seriously need some kind of intervention with the blueberries 😀

Here is a picture of the biggest blueberry ever!  I put another berry by it to show how huge it was.

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It was yummy, too!

Question:  Is it hot where you live right now?

NROLW and Amazing Grass

Hope you are all having a great day!

Still muggy around here.  Today was the B workout of Stage 4 (not 5, like I said the other day) for New Rules of Lifting.  Preworkout snack was 1/2 of this bar  (I ate the rest with lunch):

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John brought me a couple bars back as a little present when he was away this weekend.  How sweet 😀  It was pretty good, like a soft granola bar.  Not much protein, but that is okay preworkout.

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The lifting:

  • Barbell deadlift: 1 x 8 55 pounds, 1 x 8 65 pounds, 1 x 8 70 pounds
  • Bulgarian split squat: 3 x 8 25# plate
  • Underhand grip lat pulldown: 1 x 8 50#, 1 x 8 55 #, 1 x 8 60#
  • Reverse lunge with forward reach: 3 x 8 –  8 pound dumbbells
  • Prone Cuban snatch: 3 x 8 – 8 pound dumbbells
  • Swiss ball crunch: 3 x 8
  • Reverse crunch: 3 x 8
  • Lateral crunch: 3 x 8
  • Prone cobra: 3 x 2 minute holds.

Now I feel tired holding the prone cobra for so long.  I actually think I felt something in my back, maybe it does do something after all.   Then I did some recumbent biking.

Got a text from John that he was biking to meet me – so off I went for Bagel Day, jr. (Sunday is official Bagel Day).

Now *this* is a cup of coffee!  I don’t know if you can appreciate how big this cup is that they gave me!

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Plus the star of breakfast.  Num.

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I am just feeling off today.  Definitely not radiant, and I’m not sure why.  I have gotten a headache in the afternoon for the last 3 days and I don’t know why.  I haven’t changed any eating patterns.  Maybe it is the heat.  I have been guzzling water, so I doubt it is dehydration.  But I am definitely a wee bit cranky, too.  Of course, that makes me snacky.

Because it was hot, I decided to try the sample of Amazing Grass  for lunch that I got from Annabel.  This stuff is flying around the internets.

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I used 1/2 of a frozen banana, 1/2 cup of milk and 6 ounces of water.

Ingredients as follows (if you can read it).

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I have to say, it didn’t look very appetizing.  Gray looking.  Not like the colorful spinach smoothies!

agrassAt first I took a sip and liked it, but then I got a very bitter after taste.  It was almost like a Splenda back taste, but there is no fake sugar in it.  Weird.  Each time I sipped I thought I liked it, then the bitterness set in.  Maybe it’s the kale?  Anyway, doubt I would be purchasing this anytime soon.  Although I am really glad I got a chance to try it!  I did like the bars, they were date bars like Larabars.

Afternoon snacky.  Instead of dealing with my crankiness, I ate this.

snack1

I laid down around 4:00 after taking some ibuprofen to get rid of the headache and dozed a little.  Not sure why it takes so long for stuff to kick in.  After an hour, I was tempted to take more, but just waited it out.  John offered to cook me a hamburger for dinner, but that was totally unappealing.  So I had a dinner of champions:

dinner5

Baked tostitos, salsa, and cheese.

Just finished up with work for the day.  Only 1 day left before the weekend!  Tomorrow is payday, too.  Yay!

I am feeling ice cream coming on tonight.  I mentioned it to John, and he is all for it, so probably will be going out for the real deal (no yogurt).

Question:  Have you tried any Amazing Grass Products?

NROLW and fruit day!

I wasn’t sure if I was going to take a whole week off of lifting, but since this is my last week at the Y, decided to get right back to it!

Had a preworkout snack of Ezekiel toast with cashew butter and some of my strawberry jam.  Sooooo good!

toast

This was stage 5 of NROLW:

  • Barbell squat/push press: 3 x 8 –  45 pounds
  • 1-point dumbbell rows: 3 x 8 –  25 pounds
  • Step-ups: 3 x 8 – 30 pounds
  • Pushups: 3 x 8
  • Stationary lunges: 3 x 8 – 25# plate
  • Plank: 3 x 2 minute holds (hard!!!!)
  • Cable woodchop: 1 x 8 – 50#, 1 x 8 – 55#, 1 x 8  – 60#

Holding the plank for 2 minutes was killer.  It was made doubly hard because I was so sweaty from jogging a mile prior to starting and the humidity that I was sliding on the mat.  I had to touch my knees down a couple times on the last set.  I love how the plank looks so innocuous, but is a killer total body workout.

Came back and made protein pancakes with the banana maple topping.  I think we are finally getting through all those bananas.  I did cut a bunch in half and froze them, though.

cakes

Lunch was a tuna and hummus sandwich with another of those incredible raspberry pluots.  I need to get some more of those!

lunch6

I got this in the mail – eek!

jd

Yay…. not……  Starts on Monday.  Maybe I won’t get picked to sit.

It’s really hot and humid today.  I  didn’t feel like cooking anything for dinner, so I had some yogurt, berries and cereal.

dinner4

Go to quick and easy meal.  I think I have had this for, what – 3 days in a row now for a meal?  It’s also light, so I don’t feel all bogged down with food.  Heat and humidity really keep me from being hungry, which I guess is a good thing!

I also snacked on some blueberries.  I may have to go again this weekend to pick, as they are winding down for the season.  Then I will have to cry!

It was quite the fruit-filled day!  (Oh yes, and a tablespoon of chocolate chips!)

Question:  Jury duty anyone?  Or did you get excused?