Before...

Before...
Las Vegas May 2011

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

3 Days, 3 Different Workouts

Another day down in the history books. It's been a great week. Had some of my favorite people visiting this weekend, cooked a big ole dinner -- including dessert, yes, dessert. Rocky Road Brownies -- but I only had a small piece. On Monday, I made up for it and I went to the gym for the first time this year. I planned to do my usual 30 minutes on the treadmill and figured I'd do the weight circuit. Well, once I got to 30 I thought I'd keep going to 45. Then I hit 45 minutes and set my goal for an hour, and I did it while watching HLN and listening to my iPod -- alternating my speeds between 3.0 and 3.5 -- just a nice fast walk, no jogging. Also, I played with the incline between 0 and 3.5. I felt great when I got off -- but was also starving so I skipped the weight circuit (it was full of ladies by this time anyway) so I went home and made some left over sloppy joes with ground turkey I had made a few days before and put it over some lettuce and caught up on my Ellen. Speaking of -- she has another contest to win two tickets to her birthday show. I wrote a pretty funny essay and sent in the Halloween pic of Molly and me dressed as Tony and Ellen -- which I got a little hate comment from a few blogs back. A, as in single -- and to that person, please go read the rest of the comments on that blog if you didn't and you will see my point along with others on that subject. Hopefully we'll hear something!!! Would be so great to get out to L.A. and see her show.

Last night was our second week at Zumba! It was the same play list with one other song we didn't do last week. And since nurse Molly took the splinter/pine needle out of my foot, I could really jump around and get the heart rate going. And since I was in a dancing band in high school, I could pick up the moves pretty easily -- except for two songs where I still have no idea what was going on. Maybe I'll catch on in a few weeks. Maybe.

Oh, I forgot to mention -- after all, it is weigh-in Wednesday -- no change again. BUT, at least I'm getting my butt up and moving again.

Which takes us to today....

I worked and then went to church *gasp* for the first time in quite a while few years. Sorry to all my die-hard Catholic family members out there. More apologies in that I felt a fool and couldn't remember any of the prayers except for the Our Father, Who Art In Heaven one. Can I get an AMEN for that at least? Anywho, as you all know by now, I am a Godmother to the cuteset lil thang so I have to go. And not that just I *haaaave* to, but  I should *want* to go. Mind, body, and soul, right? I just feel out of place in the Catholic church -- probably because I don't believe in half of what Catholics do, especially when it comes to gay marriage. I have so many gay friends and it hurts me that they don't have the same rights under God's eyes that we do. Separation of church and state, no? This topic could be a whole other blog...

After getting lost trying to find my way out of the church parking lot (no lie), and with my parents laughing hysterically on the other end of the phone, I made my way home and popped in my Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred DVD. Oh did I dread pushing play, but I knew I'd feel better and wouldn't hear the wrath of Marc for "falling off the wagon" again. (Speaking of, you better give me some credit now lol.) So I pushed and pulled and kicked and punched my way through it and took a nice relaxing shower. Now I sit here and collect/distribute my thoughts to you. After my three straight days of getting back at it again, having that great, tingly feeling all over, my butt feels tighter and the love handles have receded a tad, just a tad.

I feel it's only appropriate that today's quote be from my favorite TV host..

"Laugh. Dance. Love." -- Ellen DeGeneres

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

A New Year Is Here



Hello my long, lost readers! Well, I suppose I was the one who was lost. Yes, I'm still here and doing okay after the holidays. Not going to lie -- I kind of fell off the wagon with going home. I did go for several 3-mile walks during my 10 days in Florida. But yeah...those Nieman Marcus $250 cookies my mom makes every year -- I had my fill of those with a nice cold glass of milk. I gained two pounds when I arrived back in Happy Valley, but I have lost that 2 again so I'm still even at 230. Woof. I had really hoped to lose more by time the wedding I'm in comes along in 3 weeks. I still have time to drop a few pounds. At least my dress will still fit and not fall off? But nothing else made me feel like writing when I was home -- in between working (Yes, I work from wherever I am) and then visiting with friends and family so I used that time to dedicate to them. 'Twas the season after all. Here are some pics from my holiday adventures!

Dad, Mom, Heather, Me

Dad does a great job every year!


My 1-day-shy-of-his-2-month-birthday Godson, Camden Christopher





Went to my first Zumba class last night with good ole Molly and her sister-in-law, Michelle. (Oh yeah, Molly moved in! Sister is down at her internship and visits us on weekends. Molly is working at an undisclosed place at undisclosed times making an undisclosed amount of money.) Boy, did we have fun! Well, I was at probably 85% fun since last week I stepped on a pine needle (twice...with both feet) in my apartment and didn't realize part of it was still stuck in my foot until Molly did some surgery on my foot today and got the rest of the needle out...using, oddly enough, a needle -- and toenail clippers. (TMI?)  Anywho, this page just froze as I tried to put a picture of it so if you're that curious at a pretty funny pic of her laying the lamp on the couch so she could see better, it's (say in Andy Cohen voice...more of a joke for my sister) here on my Facebook page.

I was ready for dinner the other night and wanted to use up some stuff here in the house. I knew I had some cans of chicken left over from football season so I figured I'd make some chicken salad. But, I wanted it to be healthier. So, I took a peek around the kitchen and saw some avocados. And my wheels got 'a turning. "Avocados are creamy -- wonder if I could use them instead of mayo? Sure, let's try it!" Now, I grew up working in my family's restaurant since I was 5 years old so I tend to know my way around the food groups and spices. I swear, my family MUST be Italian somewhere along the line. Here's what I did:

--drain 3 cans of 4.5 oz chicken, put in bowl
--cut open 2 avocados and squeeze the stuff out of the shell into the bowl
--3 celery sticks, washed and diced
--(here's where I stop measuring, FYI, and I'm just going to guess what I used) 2-3 tbs frank's red hot sauce
--few sprinkles of garlic salt
--dice up some jalapenos. I don't remember, a tbs or 2?
--some of the jalapeno juice -- probs a tbs or 2
--relish.  3-4 tbs??
--sprinkle some oregano
-- sprinkle some red pepper flakes (If you can't tell, I don't mind a little extra spice in my life.)
--few turns of fresh ground pepper
--a tbs or 2 of lemon juice so the avocado doesn't turn all brown

Then just stir that sucker around until it's nice and mixed. Heat up a few pieces of bread until it is lightly toasted. Slather it up on the bread with some lettuce and you have one amazing sammie. For lunch the next day, I put it on top of a salad with some carrots. Today, had it on a sammich with a piece of cheese. Amazing. And really nothing bad there. The bread I used was made by Fiber One so it's not the worst kind out there. But if you eat it on a salad I can't imagine there are too many calories. Any nutritionalists out there, feel free to weigh in. Ha, get it? Weigh in?  You know you laughed. I hear ya.

I think you're all caught up for now. Until next time...here's your quote thanks to my friend, Chad!



"The person who gets the farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore." - Dale Carnegie