It's a great day in American History

Hey folks. Just popping in to let you know that my blogging is going to be even more inconsistent than it has been, for the next two weeks. A lot going on, but I will get posts in! Just not every day.

First of all, I just want to take a moment to recognize and celebrate the leaps and bounds that we, as a country, are making towards equality. I also want to say that we are making history folks, we will remember these days forever. It seems silly to me, that these are even social or ethical issues. I wasn't raised to see the difference between different kinds of people and relationships. Frankly, these changes are overdue. I look forward to the day that "the gay thing" is no longer discussed, because it really is getting old. People are people, unique in every way, and anyone who takes it upon themselves to judge or enforce their personal agenda, is a fool. To clarify: believe whatever you want, but keep it that way. Your beliefs. Don't be ignorant to the enlightenment and ethicality of people who are different from you.

So, as you know, Jacob Jacob reunion began yesterday. I woke up, did some last minute chores and got a quick run in, then picked him up at the train station and we enjoyed a lazy afternoon.

Cozy guest bed.

Then a bunch of folks came over for a little BBQ and some Catch Phrase. It turned out to be a really awesome night. I didn't have my phone on me all night, so I didn't get any photos taken. It's all good though, there will be more fabulous photos than you'll know what to do with in the next week.

Jacob is still sleeping. I should have hit the gym before he woke up, but instead I'm going to propose that we work out together... we'll see how that goes. :)

Today is a girly day, going to take Jacob to do some shopping, but I think I will abandon him to get a mani/pedi. Then Rachel is going to come over, I'm going to put more purple in her hair and freshen up my roots before the Las Vegas adventure!

By the way, it's going to be over 115 degrees in Vegas while we're there. Shoot me now. Death by bullet sounds better than slow death by melting.

Anyway, I will be posting soon, and I promise to be taking pictures. Have a great Wednesday!

Monday grumbles.

I did not want to do ANYTHING today.

I was planning on doing nothing, but alas. I missed a weekend workout and I have all of you to answer to. So, what did I miss? A lift and elliptical day. I planned to do it, but it just got busy! I think my big problem, is trying to put things off. I didn't manage my time well on Friday, so I didn't have time to work out pre-boat on Saturday. I was up at 6:30a, but still not enough time. After the boat, I was full from dinner and sleepy from all of the sunshine, so I was going to do it yesterday. But Niki stayed the night, so instead of working out, I made french toast and sausage. Fair trade, right? After breakfast, E and I got ready and headed to Sarah and Kyle's wedding reception. Which was fabulous. They had a food cart come to feed the masses and chose Koi Fusion. If you haven't eaten there yet, you should! The tacos were my favorite, but the burrito was bitchin' also.... and the kimchi quesadilla. Anyway, it was lovely and the Bride & Groom were glowing.

Bridey-boo and I

E and I with massive photobomb from Mich and Tristan

Alright! Recap! Friday was date night. We did a little bit of shopping. Target, Powell's and Old Navy and then wit up Baja Fresh. I had the shrimp tacos. I guess I'm into tacos these days. Here's the promised pics of blinding attractiveness.

Spoils from shopping.

New books per friendly reccommendations.

So full!

Saturday, we coaxed friends Johnny and Rachel to go out on the boat with us. It was beautiful weather and everyone got sun burnt except me. :) Also! Great news! I found an at home spray tanner that's awesome! It's called SoBRONZE and honestly, I got it at the beauty supply so... good luck finding it. Or hit me up and I will grab you some. $17 and it's a big aerosol can. Anyway. We boated and gabbed and boated and watched E do the Sky Ski. It was relaxing and wonderful, and we got our 4th of July plans made! Did you?

Saturday night, Nik came over and her and I struggled to stay up and watch "ParaNorman" which was cute. She went to bed and I fell asleep in E's lap. Sleeeeepy.

Sunday we woke up, had breakfast, did some grocery shopping and then got ready for the reception. Headed there, drank too much wine. Sobered up around 6, went to bed around 10. I woke up this morning in a lazy and foul mood. I was really dragging my feet about everything. It was definitely a day, when I could have used a trainer kicking me into high gear...BUT THEN I GOT EXCITED. JACOB GETS HERE TOMORROW! So I cleaned the guest bedroom, washed the bedding, swept and vacuumed, bathed the pup, took him for a 1.5mile jog and then went to hit the gym. Did an hour of elliptical, some weights and abs, stretched out. Did more grocery shopping, cleaned the kitchen, paid some bills, took pup to get a nail trim. Then and only then, did I shower. I had a certain odor. Now I'm here, telling all of you about my less than riveting existence.

Life is about to get a hell of a lot more exciting though. Vegas count down 4 days. Beyoncé show: 5 days. Getting pumped!

I want to make a couple more commitments to myself and you all.
I will drink 24 oz of water at the beginning of every day.
I will only weigh myself once a month.
I will eat all of my daily fruits and vegetables (at least 2c. fruit and 2.5c vegetables).

Now to make bbq chicken pizza for dinner... mmmmmm.

because I felt pretty.

Happy Friday friends!

Helloooooooooer.

I'm very sleepy at the moment, going to take a little nappy nap in a moment, but wanted to pop in.

Yesterday I had a catch up sesh with a forever friend, Emily and her sweet baby boy, Nolan. I meant to take a photo! Don't know why I didn't. Just get distracted. It was great to see her, but my baby fever has been fed. Also, funny story, I take prenatal vitamins for my nails and hair and and keep them on a shelf in the bathroom. E got a call from his friend wishing him Happy Father's day on Sunday. Hahaha, guess I have to keep those concealed or men make assumptions. Women know! You all know that prenatals are good for things, other than growing babies!

After lunch with Em, I decided to head downtown and do some shopping. I went to Macy's because I had a dress to return (super cute gift from Rach, but didn't fit.). So I had $39 to spend at Macy's. Since when did if get so expensive? I also realized that I have no idea what looks good on me, nor to I hve an understanding of what's "in". So I have to try EVERYthing on. Pain in the ass. Oh well. I tried about 20 things on at Macy's and ended up getting a pair of shorts and a tube of my favorite mascara from Benefit.

Then I realized that I don't like to shop at expensive places anymore, it causes me a lot of stress. So I went to Ross. Think what you will, but if you are willing to take a little time, you can score. I got a couple of dresses a couple tops and 1.5 swimsuits.... still looking for a plain black top to go with a some great bottoms. I spent a total of $69 there. Feel good about it. I then stopped for a happy hour drink (or three) and headed to H&M in search of the black bikini top. I got a pair of black trouser shorts and a black strapless top for less than $19. I got a good haul at a good price.

Shorts, size 9/10; tops, medium; dresses, medium

Then I realized I had lost my keys. I guess drinking, shopping and wearing 6 inch wedges don't mix. Luckily someone found them and turned them into security, but not before I had searched every corner of the earth. My feet were screaming by the time I got home. Had a mellow night with E, bedtime early.

Today I woke up around 8, cleaned a little, got some laundry going, had breakfast in bed and went for a run. Decided to skip the hills and drove to a track. I did 3 miles and then walked 1 at the end. My ankles are still aching a bit from the heels yesterday, but not trying to be a whiner. My time was significantly better without the hills. Gal pal Amy is joining the running challenge, hopefully she, Michelle and I will be hitting the 10k in August and the Color Run coming up in September.

After the run I was famished. So I made a healthy and huge lunch of grilled rockfish with lemon, dill and lemon pepper, grilled brussel sprouts, onions and squash, and corn on the cob. I put it all on top of a salad of red leaf lettuce and spinach. De-lish and filling. Now I'm full and sleepy.

Tonight is date night. I'm not 100% sure what E has in store. But I'm pretty sure it involves Baja Fresh. Which I'm excited for. I don't think every date needs to be fancy and expensive... and since I think he's also taking me to do more shopping.... I'm not complaining. :) I'll make sure to take some photos of our blinding attractiveness tonight.

Peace out.

Not so lazy wednesday

Let's start with yesterday, I went for my run... it was not pretty. The terrain here is nothing like the beach and 5 miles on a flat track is one thing. Running up and down mountains is another.

Not my best work and I was beat. I did some intervals in the middle and there was definitely some walking. But you know? Gotta start somewhere. No matter the time, it was a great burn.

On the topic of burn and running: I love my Wahoo fitness blue tooth chest strap. I got it off of amazon for $70 and I love, love, love being able to accurately monitor my heart rate and calorie burn. As you can see from my stats, my heart was pumping. I think I was also a bit dehydrated, I'm sure that didn't help. But whatever, it will only get easier and faster from here on out.

After my run/jog/walk, I had this rehydrating "snack"

So excited that summer produce is coming around! This is a good melon, and E and I have no problem finishing a whole one before it goes bad.

Today, I had a very full day. Initially I was planning to do a little pre-vegas shopping (I need a swimsuit and some clothes for hot weather) and my friend, Nikki's hair, but instead I got my oil changed, went to the beauty supply, grocery shopped, worked out and had a wonderful dinner with gal pal, Amy. This is the first opportunity I've had to write! I almost put it off until tomorrow, but had a little evening energy.

For my workout, I did about 45 minutes of lifting and ab work, then hit the elliptical for 20 minutes, didn't have a lot of time today, but wanted to make sure I got both lifting and cardio work in, just cut it back. I want to show you some photos from my progress since I've started lifting weights. I want to preface with the fact that I thought I would see better results. I'm happy with the changes, but without changing my nutrition, this is as good as it gets. Here goes:

before 4/6/13

after 6/19/13

before

after

After a good work out, I headed to my friend Nikki's house to do her hair. We've known each other for about... 13 years? Holy crap. She has a beautiful daughter and 5 weeks ago had a little baby boy. He's super precious, but she was ready for a new do. So we did a little ombré and a cut. Love it, maybe my favorite I've done for her. Here's some pics:

before

after

She's so gorgeous, it really doesn't matter what we do with her hair, always looks bangin'.

Dinner with Amy was wonderful, she made this delicious whole wheat pasta with goat's cheese, sundried tomatoes, spinach and garlic. I couldn't get enough. Cut myself off. Then we went and picked up some 7 layer bars from a local spot and chatted a bit. So glad her and her husband are back from Hawaii. It's so nice having them close by.

So, that's a wrap. I think it's bed time. More tomorrow.

8 days off

8 days? Really? I can't believe I've neglected my blog love for so long!

Truthfully, I've just been working off the residual stress from finals week. My grades were good and I'm well on my way to PSU. I plan to take Fall and Winter term at PCC and to transfer to PSU for my degree and graduate program... if everything goes as planned.

So what have I been up to... Finals. Sushi. Sneaking into Rachel's gym because the one at school was closed... I went to Bodypump for the first time in a very long time and I went into it all pumped up and bearing as much or more weight than the instructor. The next 3 days were a harsh reminder of the difference between low and high reps. I cannot remember the last time I was so sore. You ladies know, that painful, "don't drink water, so I don't have to pee, because I don't know if I can get up off the can" feeling. So much pain. My work outs have been lacking a bit, but I'm about to get on the wagon. :)

E went out of town with all of his guy friends for the weekend, so I made plans to hang out with my sisters. Randomly they all ended up coming over, +1 husband and +2 pretty gal pals. We drank 6 bottles of wine in the form of Sangria and I grilled 2 NY strips, 2 chicken breast, over a pound of shrimp, too much zucchini, asparagus and corn. De-lish. It really was a beautiful evening, full of great conversation. I wish I would have taken photos all week. It's as if I was boycotting this blog. People kept saying "aren't you going to take a picture? For the blog?" You all were more on top of it than I was. Sometimes we just need a break, even from the things we love.

On Sunday, E got home and we were invited to a BBQ at Rachel's parent's house. They grilled beef tenderloin that was TO DIE FOR. So in love. Making it as soon as I can afford it! :) We sat out in the yard, talked and played with the dogs until about 8pm, at which point we went home and E promptly went to bed. I think he may have realized over the weekend, that he's not 21 anymore.

Yesterday I took Emily to the gym to introduce her to my weight room work outs, haven't heard from her yet, but hopefully she is sore! I was nice and sweaty. We came home after the work out and put together a bountiful feast for a day out on Sauvie's Island. It included: watermelon, strawberries, mixed veggies, grilled chicken breast, raw almonds and cashews, triscuits and corn on the cob. Clearly, I'm not the kind of woman that makes PB&J for the beach. I mean, I love PB&J, but I just think you should have the food that you want, no matter the setting. Yeah, it takes a little time, but it's so worth it.

So about my summer work out plan... I am hesitant to post this, because then I know I have all of you to keep me accountable. But here goes. My goals for the summer: Do 10 pull ups in a row, run a 10k without stopping and continue on with weight training. So, I should be fitting in at least 2 runs a week, including intervals, 3 days of weight training and one of the leftover days is for whatever suits me, hiking, yoga etc. and the other is a rest day. Soooooo, how should we break this down?

Monday:          Lift
Tuesday:          Run
Wednesday:     Lift & Elliptical
Thursday:        Free day
Friday:             Run
Saturday:         Lift & Elliptical
Sunday:           Rest day

As you can see from above, I have no weight loss goals, soon I will take measurements and give you a before and after photos of my progress from the weight lifting course. It's not hugely different, but honestly, I haven't even looked at my before photos, I need to wait for E to wake up... Maybe I will post them tomorrow. I'm still weighing once a month, so as far as I know, I am about 152 lbs. I will keep you posted on or around the 1st of every month.

Puppy got worn out on the beach yesterday and I'm pleased, but running without him is nice. No poop bags, no stopping to sniff pee. Not my favorite pass times. He is a great running buddy, and I love to take him, but sometimes a run without distraction is really meditative.

I hope you all had a great week and are just as excited as I am for the summer! The solstice is the 21st of this month. The longest day of the year. Hopefully it will be a nice, long day.

P.s. Jacob will be here in 9 days. Beyoncé in 11 days. Get ready for more fabulous photos than you'll know what to do with.

Beachy weekend

I had a beautiful weekend! My sisters, a couple gorgeous gal pals and I headed to the Oregon coast. the drive was lovely and we stopped at a berry stand for some fresh picked strawberries.

Photo from the drive, courtesy of Emily

The weather on the Oregon coast was nice and clear, still chilly, but beautiful just the same. On the first night, Emily, Paisley and I did the grocery shopping and stopped a great little fish market to pick up 6 lbs of steamer clams, 3 dungeness crabs and some smoked salmon. All very good and very fresh. I feel that people have some hesitation in making their own clams, but it's actually very simple.

My basic recipe goes as follows:

• 1 lb live manila or other steamer clams
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 6 oz chardonnay (little mini bottles are perfect for cooking)
• 1/4 c sliced onion
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Melt the butter, saute vegetables (aside from garlic) & season with S&P.
2. On a medium-high heat, add clams, white wine and garlic & cover.
3. Shake them up a few times and watch until the clams open, remove from heat and serve. Don't overcook! As soon as they open they're good to go.

This is very basic, but you can add whatever vegetables your heart desire that saute well: peppers, tomatoes & zucchini are good ones. It's also really beneficial to add some fresh herbs (parsley or basil) and/or lemon at the very end, once the clams have opened. Also, bacon is good too. :)

Lastly, if one of the clams doesn't open, do not try to force it open and eat it. If they don't open within a couple minutes, it means they've died and are not safe to eat.

Here's some pictures from our feast, including artichoke, roasted brussel sprouts and a baguette.

 And these are the clams I made for lunch, I used garlic, zucchini, tomatoes, onion, red bell pepper and basil to finish. De-light-ful. I made too many though, so I had one of my besties, Rachel come pick them up. They won't keep well, so only make as many as you can serve of eat. Usually a person will eat between 1/2-1 lb of clams. It's pretty low cal too, as look as you don't drink all the broth.

On Saturday, we spent some time out on the beach, playing ball with the pup and enjoying the ocean air. Here's a bunch of pictures, I consolidated them for your viewing pleasure.

Emily and Paisley (left); Emily and Erin (right

All the sisters together (Emily, Katie, Erin and I)

Puppy had a great time on the beach, Practically comatose today.

After some beach time we went into town for a yummy sushi lunch and some walking about. We stopped at a candy shop so I could get some salt water taffy for E. I cannot tell you how disappointed in America I was while in this candy shop. Chocolate covered deep fried twinkies, ding-dongs, bacon. Here's the real clincher though: 5 lb gummy bears. I looked at the nutrition label, there were 51 servings. But you know the person who buys that isn't sharing it with 51 people. So much sugar, so much excess. You know I'm advocate for eating what you want, but there are boundaries and these boundaries are being decimated. Please put your healthy hat on when visiting a candy shop. I was able to get out of there with just a 1/4 lb of salt water taffy.

Then we headed home and waited for my Aunt Lisa and future cousin in law to meet up. We had Papa Murphy's take-n-bake thin crust pizza for dinner, they have new flavors that are pretty yummy. Chicken, bacon and artichoke and Thai Chicken. I enjoyed both and was happy to have the thin crust. We stayed up pretty late chatting and then hit the sack

I woke up at 8:30, cleaned the house, made breakfast for the ranks and then really wanted to take a run. It was perfect running weather, sunny, 62 degrees, with cool wind. Ligo and I did a solid 5ish mile (Mapmyrun malfunction) run out on the beach and promenade and it felt so good. I think I have the running itch back, but I really don't want to over do it. My hips were pretty sore, but manageable.

Beach run

Then we went to the Seaside aquarium, pretty janky but the baby seals were adorable. Then we hit the road. Oh yeah, and I stopped for a small ice cream cone at the middle-of-no-where Dairy Queen. I have no regrets about my food choices, but I am cleaning it up for this week.

This morning Emily text me that she was going to a Les Mills Bodypump class, so I decided to join her. I used to go to these classes all the time. I really enjoy them. If you're not interested in the weight room, but still want to get your tone on, I encourage some research of these videos/classes. They work. High rep low weight. Personally, I feel that lifting heavy weight with lower reps has better and faster results, but to each their own. Bodypump was great sweat. After we went to the produce market and loaded up and followed that by Uwijamaya (japanese groceries). I like Uwijamaya because they have fresh and live seafood. They also have curries, dumplings, noodles and all kinds of other delicious things. But it is on the spendy side, so watch the prices. I indulged a little and picked up some ahi poke. I am going to try my hand at making this myself, it seems awfully simple and buying it for $17.99 p/lb is just not acceptable. When I give it a shot, I'll let you know how it goes.

For now, It's great to be home, be sore and have a kitchen full of delicious, healthy goodness. BUT, I've still got a lot of work to do before my finals on Thursday. So I'm hitting the books. I hope you had a great weekend too! Kisses!

Happy Friday

It's the last day of class!

Now that we've established that, I grilled this for dinner the other night. Love to grill. It's the best $150 I ever spent.

If you're looking for me over the next 3 months, I will most likely be on the back deck, eating, drinking or grilling something.

But not this weekend! As I've mentioned before, I'm headed to the coast for Katie's birthday. My little sister and her roommate Paisley, will be at my house by 2:30 this afternoon and we will hit the road no later than 3. I cut and packed some fruit and vegetables (and wine) last night and we'll be doing some grocery shopping when we get there. Katie requested seafood for dinner, so I was thinking of picking up some dungeness crab and steamer clams for dinner. I LOVE CLAMS. So excited... but I could use a nap.

My psychology professor brought in rice crispy treats, because she's nice and we're celebrating the end of the term. In 6 days I will be all done with my finals and ready to relax a bit, really not for long, because I still haven't filed my FAFSA for next term, and I will be registering for Fall term sooner than I'd like to admit. I'm raining on my own parade. Lame. It doesn't change that the summer is going to be full of friends, family, BBQ and sunshine. Anyway, I really like rice crispy treats and I had one. I could have 29, but I'll stick with the one. Also, the radishes I ate earlier totes gave me heartburn. WTF?

Yesterday I had my Body Fat Percentage tested and was put at 22.1%. As you know I was hoping for 19%, but that would require eating a lot less carbs and booze than I did over the term. I'm really happy with having lost 2.6% body fat. That means I lost 10% of the fat I carried before the class started. I DEFINITELY will continue lifting. Love how strong I am, love how I feel, love how I look. It's a good thing. Going to be putting together my summer workout schedule this weekend and I would like to be spending at least 3 hours a week in the weight room. I got the time to spare, so I will be tearing it up! Also need to get back into running a little, want to do a 10k in August. I'll let you know what my schedule will be once it's formulated and y'all can keep me accountable.

After weight lifting, my spotter buddy wanted to go to the beauty supply and then out for sushi, and even though I was sweaty and foul and had a lunch packed, we went. I really enjoy sushi, but I don't go very often because I have no control over how much I eat. I swear, I'm all "it's lean and healthy" so I proceed to eat until I need to be rolled out. Whole new meaning to sushi roll. It was delicious, but I was stuffed. Also, about the pie! That conversion chart I looked at was wrong, the pie is delicious! I went to the Stevia in the Raw site, and they say it's the same volume to sweetness as sugar so, 1 c stevia = 1 c sugar. It's a perfect little pie. Which is why I ate half a slice for breakfast and half a slice for after dinner dessert. Today when I get home, I'm going to throw together a marionberry cobbler for my sister's birthday dessert, I will use stevia in this also (Sorry to Emily and Pais, who are all paleo and won't be able to indulge!).

Truth is, I don't want to research stevia, because I don't want to learn that the processing is awful and I really shouldn't be eating it. However, I don't believe that any sweetener can be completely calorie free and also completely risk free. So... Until I run out of stevia at home, I don't want to know the risks. Ignorance is bliss.

Also, it's National Doughnut Day.

 

JUST SAY NO.

To donuts (doughnuts?) and drugs.

I'm not sure if I will get around to blogging this weekend, so I make no promises! If you don't hear from me, I hope you have a beautiful weekend. If you're fortunate enough to live in Oregon, enjoy all of this glorious sunshine.