BOO!

I hope you all had a great weekend!  I did!  We got a lot done, have a plan, and are ready to tackle the whole finish-up-the-house-projects-we-need-to-do-before-we-sell-it list!  That makes me very excited as it isn't as much as I had built up in my head.  It's quite a bit of work, don't get me wrong, but it's not a horrible amount either!

P90X

I really enjoyed the workouts I did with P90X.  I plan to continue through the next 12 weeks with the program, but with my own tweaks to the schedule.  I will be doing the legs, back, chest and upper body routines every week.  I would like to do the yoga and one of the cardio based workouts each week, so I will have either the plyometrics workout or the kenpo workout, not both.  I would like to continue running and biking and know that if I try to do all 6 workouts each week plus the other things I already enjoy, something will be missed.

I did the leg workout yesterday again because I knew I would be running Savannah this week and did not want to have tired legs, so I knocked it out yesterday.  Today or tomorrow I will do the plyometric workout because that is also heavy leg work and I want fresh legs Saturday, I just have to see how I feel when I get home today.  I'll report on it every now and then and see what kind of results I get at the end of it!

My favorite breakfast

This breakfast is so simple and tastes almost like eating apple pie!  All you need is an apple, cinnamon and vanilla yogurt (greek or regular, whatever your fancy).  Core and cut up your apple, sprinkle with cinnamon and put in the microwave for 1-2 minutes depending on the size of your apple (your apple should be soft but not too soft).  Then top with yogurt and mix!  I love it!

Have a safe and Happy Halloween!  

  

Back from Christina Land

This week has flown by for me.

I've been in my own little land of trying to get through work, my workouts, dinner and sleep this week.  

And healthy eating.  

And you know, I've done pretty darn good.  Not one thing of sweets.  I don't know who I am.  I'm sure that'll change soon.

It is Halloween Monday.  And we have some delicious candy for the kiddos in the neighborhood.  

Reese's Cups.  

The big kind.

I feel like I haven't hardly seen John because he's been working late, we've been eating dinner around 8 and then going to bed shortly after.  

The week has been a blur.  

I'm tired.  

I need to clean my house.  

It's a mess.  

Thankfully we've knocked out a lot of laundry this week.  

I've gotten to the kitchen, cleaned out the fridge and most of the downstairs, but then there's our room.  

I have tons of work to do up there.  I have clothes everywhere!  At least they're clean, right? 

Right.

I've just been focused on getting things done.

That's literally been my week.  

Now, it's Friday!

Time to relax.

Get things done.

Have fun.

Enjoy fall.

Run.

Oh, and my workouts?

I ran.

It didn't hurt.

Happy dance!

I've kept up with P90X.
I had to shorten one day, but it was just a little bit.

I'm sore.

It's pretty darn good.

Still have 2 days left to complete the workout for the full week though.

Honestly

After this week 

I'm happy I made it through them!

Have a great weekend!!!

Good Eats and Exercise

I am exhausted.  The weekend trip wore me out, P90X kicked my booty last night and I have a full schedule tonight.  I'll start out by saying P90X is hard.  They're not kidding when they tell you that.  Oh and I have no chest strength.  So I'm sore today.  Whoa.  I'll give more of a recap next week after I've kicked my own butt all week.  Tonight, I have the plyometric workout for P90X, a short run so I can test out my shin and a bike ride.  We'll see how that goes!

Fortunately for me, I planned chili in the crockpot tonight, so as soon as I'm ready for it, dinner will be served!  I figured I would share the recipe I used, but I will tell you that every time I cook chili it's a bit different.  This recipe normally is a thicker chili.

I start by browning ground beef and chopping part of an onion and green pepper into very small pieces.
Then, I add them to the crockpot with the following ingredients:
1 can tomato paste
1 large can tomato sauce
1 can diced tomato
2 cans chili beans
1 can kidney beans
1-1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon red pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Dash of cinnamon (sometimes I trade that out for sugar, takes the bitterness out of tomatoes)

Put in the slow cooker on low for 6-8 hours (although today I think mine will be cooking longer) or 2-4 hours on high and it will be done!  Enjoy!

Say It, Do It

Last week was an utter disaster workout wise.  I basically got in shoulders, triceps, back and abs...that's all I remember right now, but I was pretty discouraged about the pain while running mixed with an extremely busy and shortened week.  I think my shin is feeling better (I hope) so I'm taking it out for a test run to see.  Fingers crossed.  Anyway, onto this week.  I'm going to be trying the P90X program.  This will be my first try at this workout program.  I watched a couple clips from it and I think it might be something I will like, so I am basing my workouts on P90X:

Monday: Back and Chest, Ab Ripper X
Tuesday: Plyometrics
Wednesday: Shoulders and Arms, Ab Ripper X
Thursday: Yoga X (I need flexibility!)
Friday: Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X
Saturday: Kenpo X (from what I understand, sort of like a kickboxing/cardio workout)
Sunday: Rest

As I said before, I am going to try to get in a couple runs if my leg is feeling ok, so Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday are run days if I'm feeling well.  I'm going to also try to get on the bike once or twice this week.  Hopefully this isn't too ambitious and hopefully I like P90X.  It looks like it has the potential to be a great program.  I'll report back on my findings.  At this point, I'm not committing to the 90 days, I want to try out a week or two before I go all ball to the wall on it!  Look at that...I'm learning!

What's your workout plan for the week??

48 hours up and back...

...to North Carolina.  It was a beautiful time to go up there and we had a great time.  Here's the breakdown of our weekend:
18 hours of driving
12 hours of sleeping
3 hours of sightseeing
15 hours of hanging out with friends and family
We were busy...and we're exhausted today!

We went to Mount Airy which was the inspiration for the Andy Griffin show.  I haven't ever been into the show, but it was neat to see.  We were in the Blue Ridge Mountains where there are apparently a lot of vineyards.  Who knew?  So, I got to knock something off my bucket list!  The wedding was in the middle of a vineyard and the reception was outdoors which gave us a beautiful sunset and an awesome time!  This is probably one of the prettiest weddings I've ever been to...check it out:

 John with the groom.  Not sure why the picture isn't cooperating!

 The bride arrived in a Mayberry Police car!

 Such a beautiful place for a wedding!

The Newlyweds driving away!

 In the vineyard

What did you do this weekend??

Booty Kickin' Workout?

Helloooo Ladies!

I'd love to report that I ran my 10 miles on my schedule for the week but, I have not.  My shin is still shooting pain every time I try to run (or try to use the stairs at the house...fun fun).  It makes me a bit sad, especially considering the race is a mere 17 days away.  Boo.  I needed to get that last long run in, but that hasn't happened.  I'm taking it easy because I don't want to hurt it more.  Hopefully another day or two will help.

In other workout news:
I'm thinking about trying to do P90X.

My dad bought it and hasn't used it, so I figured it's free...why not?  Has anyone gone through the full 90 days?  It seems like a lot of time to put into the workouts which would probably make trying to find time to run and bike a bit much, but those I refuse to give up.  I know I could just use them as supplemental workouts, but I was just curious of the results I would get if I actually did the whole thing.  Anyone with any experience out there??  It looks like each workout is between 55-90 minutes when you add the ab ripper into the mix.

Lottery Winnings

Oh, I didn't win the lottery?  That was one awesome dream last night then.  The Powerball is up to $124 million right now.  It'd be pretty awesome to win that!

This weekend was much appreciated.  Friday was a pretty rough day all around.  It started with my run (or lack there of) and the Dunkin Donuts being closed so I couldn't redeem my free iced coffee after my run and it really went downhill after that with some real stuff, not just a bad-run-and-no-free-coffee kind of thing.  So end of the day Friday, I was ready for the weekend like whoa.

Besides celebrating a friend's birthday and seeing a few fun friends, it was mostly a work weekend, but felt like one of the most enjoyable ones in a while.  I think that shows I really needed the weekend ha.

This weekend, I:

• missed out on my regular sleep durations (Friday-Saturday I was up for 22 hours straight ahh!) to wait for friends to arrive and then take friends to the airport, they went to Costa Rica and I am jealous!
• helped my parents with a project on their condo...manual labor...woo!
• cleaned like a mad woman
• planted more of my seedlings into my garden.  I can't wait to eat the fresh veggies!
• moved sod from one part of the yard to the other by myself (it's not as easy as it looks when John does it).  St. Augustine roots are beastly and sod is heavy!

I'll take pictures of my little garden if the seedlings don't float away by the end of today.  Apparently we're getting another couple days of straight rain.  Thanks for the heads up weatherman!

Oh, and the poor Gators played a pathetic excuse for a football game Saturday.  It was rough to watch, but expected.  Congrats to Melissa for her Auburn win.  Thankfully, we had some good company to console our loss and yummy food + cupcakes!    

I ended last night feeling very pleased with the break I got from work this weekend.  I felt relaxed.  That's always happy, but makes work a lot harder to gear up for the next day.  That about sums up my weekend.  Hopefully this week will be great!

How was your weekend?  Do anything fun or productive??

Say It, Do It

Here are my results from last week:


Monday: 5 x 1000m @ 5k pace with 200 recovery job between each interval.  Abs.
I did 4 instead of 5 due to a time crunch.  My dad was coming over to take a look at our leaking house.  Felt good though.Tuesday: Biceps, back and legs. 2-3 mile run, slow.  Abs.
2 mile run.  10.5 mile bike ride.  Shoulders.Wednesday: Tri's and shoulders.  4 miles, hills (read: overpass, it's Florida)
9.5 mile bike ride.  3.1 miles of hills.  I got a horrible cramp at mile 2 and pushed through until 3.1 and decided to not push it any further.  Abs.Thursday: ~15 mile bike ride. Abs.
Rested.Friday/Saturday: Rest one day, 10 mile run the other day.
Realized I had to run my 10 mile run Friday because of a laser hair removal treatment, so I got up at 4:20am to get in the run.  I ran less than a mile and had pain shooting up my calf and shin.  I thought I just needed to run it out and I'd be fine.  No such luck.  I ended the run at 5 miles so I didn't hurt myself.  It still hurts :(  The race is in less than 3 weeks.  Lame.  I'm going to attempt 10 again tomorrow if I feel up to it.  Also did some major abs to work out my frustration of not completing my run.  Boo.Sunday: REST
Rested.


Total: Ran 13.75 miles, Biked 20 miles, shoulders, and abs.  Not so stellar week.  I'll do better this week hopefully.


This week:
Monday: Abs, shoulders and tris.  
Tuesday: 10 mile run (please please pleeeaaseee!) 
Wednesday: Biceps, back, abs.
Thursday: Speed work of at least 3-4 miles depending on how the legs feel.
Friday: 10-15 mile bike ride.
Saturday/Sunday: Wedding time for friends!


Hopefully this week goes better than last!  

The Truth About Friendship

Say It, Do It

I saw this idea on Fit Chick in the City, so I figured it would probably be a good idea to join in!  It's basically the planning out of your workouts for the week and hopefully saying it out loud and planning it out will help with the follow through.  Here goes.

Monday: 5 x 1000m @ 5k pace with 200 recovery job between each interval.  Abs.
Tuesday: Biceps, back and legs. 2-3 mile run, slow.  Abs.
Wednesday: Tri's and shoulders.  4 miles, hills (read: overpass, it's Florida)
Thursday: ~15 mile bike ride. Abs.
Friday/Saturday: Rest one day, 10 mile run the other day.
Sunday: REST

There you have it.  I'll give an honest report next week on how it all shook out!

The Weekend It Rained...

1.  It rained all weekend.  You would have thought it was at least a tropical storm, but apparently it just formed too high in the sky for the weather men to consider it a tropical storm, so we just had a ton of rain, wind, and a little overflow of the bodies of water in the area.  

Here's the pond at my parents house

2.  The only productive things I did this weekend involved cleaning and hanging out with the hubs, which I consider productive!  Oh and some relaxing...rest, in a sense, is productive...

3.  Our house leaked from all that rain.  It made us very unhappy.  

John has owned the house for 3 years.  It's not like it's a new house.  First it just came in through one of the sliders and by the end of the weekend, it was coming in everywhere. Stupid housing boom and your crappy construction.  Hopefully it's an easy fix and thankfully all but one room downstairs is tile.  We'll find out today since the rain finally stopped!

4.  I spent some time with the girls Saturday night for dinner, fondue and fun!  It was good night.

5.  The Gators lost again.  You'd see my big sad face if you were here with me.  I expect it for the rest of the season now though.  I'll still cheer.  Go Gators!

6.  I won my first giveaway!  It's the prettiest necklace!  And it's from one of my favorite bloggie friends!  Thanks Melissa! 

How was your weekend??

It's OK...

...to be in a foul mood for no particular reason.

well, there's a reason...it's more like nothing in particular happened that set me in that direction.

but, I'm working on it...

...to get in a bit of extra workout time today because it's been a "fat week" by doing jumping jacks and squat jumps every time the opportunity for a bathroom break or water cooler run presents itself.

200 jumping jacks and 40 squat jumps and counting...

and yes, I'm at work

hoping no one catches me

that would be awkward...

...to only want to eat PB&J and an apple for lunch for the next week.

reliving my youth?

...to feel that the only cure for my foul mood is a ride on my road bike later.  

it better not rain

...to 'dislike' facebook.

...to plan dinner as 'whatever's in the fridge' because all you want to do is grab a hot shower after bike ride and lay on the couch with the fuzzy blanket catching up on the dvr. *modernfamily*

...to realize tomorrow is another day...and you can be nicer then!

Go link up with Neely & Amber!

Easy Chicken Enchilada Soup

I made this easy soup recipe last night.  If you're looking for something quick and yummy on a cool evening for dinner, look no further!

Chicken Enchilada Soup

Ingredients:

1 can nacho cheese soup
1 can cream of chicken soup (I used the healthy one)
2-1/2 cups of milk
1 can of enchilada sauce (10oz)
1/2 small can of green chilies chopped
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast cubed

Cooking Instructions
-Cook chicken however you prefer.
-Combine soups, milk, enchilada sauce, and chilies in a pot and bring to a boil.
-Add cooked chicken and reduce heat to a simmer for about 15 minutes.  Cook longer if you prefer a thicker soup.


A few tips from my experience last night:
We ate the soup with tortilla chips.  I also bought a spicy enchilada sauce and put in most of the chilies and it was a spicy soup.  You could tone it down by just using mild enchilada sauce and fewer chilies.

Also, the cheesy soup gets really hot, and if you spill some on your finger, it will still burn like fire the next day.

Enjoy!

One Month From Today...

Today, marks one month until:

I'm ready to run it.  My goal is to break 2 hours.  I want to be a rock-star like Megan!  Hopefully I can kick up my training a notch for the next month and rock Savannah!  

So...I realize I have not talked about running much lately.

A couple Saturdays ago, I ran the Miracle Miles 15k.  It was a horrible race for me, minus meeting Paula & Michelle.

The race didn't start until 7:30.  In Florida, that's no good.  We ran directly into the sun, it was humid, hot and after mile 5, I wasn't feeling it. at. all. Florida runners just aren't made to run more than 4-5 miles when the sun is out March-December 15.  It's just a fact.  I don't do well with the whole heat and humidity thing when it comes to running anyway.  I ended up averaging a 10:00/mile throughout the race.  A couple years ago, I would have been thrilled to be able to do that and run 9 miles.  Now, I am not.  I have to run 9:00's and under to reach my 1/2 marathon goal.  I know bad races happen...I've had a few, but it bummed me out and I felt like all my training did nothing for me.  I know that's not the truth, but it's how I felt.

We look happy here, but that's because I knew where a good friend of mine was going to be taking pictures haha.

So...that's why I haven't talked about running in a while.  I'm over my pity party now thankfully!  I had a good speed workout on Monday and am doing a tempo run today, so I'm back in the saddle again!  The weather has been much more kind to us this past week and being outdoors is bearable, and shall I even say, enjoyable??  Hopefully I didn't jinx myself saying that.

Dear Savannah Weather on November 5th,

Please cooperate for this race.  If it could be in the high 40's-low 50's at start, I would love it (and you) very much.  You might become one of my favorite cities if I PR there.  Just sayin'...

Yours truly, 

Christina

What are your ideal race conditions?

What races do you have coming up??

Fall Lineup Lovin'...

If you remember here, I wrote about some of the new shows I would be watching.  I've given them a couple weeks and now it's time for a review...

I wanted to like it.  I really like Christina Applegate.  It has some funny parts, but I just can't get into it.  I feel like I'm just burning daylight watching it.  Ditched.

Love it!  I really like Zooey and think the shows pretty funny.  John & Christina give this show two thumbs up!  Keeping it!

I thought the first episode was hilarious!  The second one was funny, but it was not near as good as the first episode.  I'm keeping it for now, but if it doesn't go back to episode 1 standards, it will be getting the boot.

I really like the show.  I love seeing how different flying was back in the 60's.  There is also a pretty good storyline going on with one of the girls.  I don't want to give too much away in case you haven't watched yet, but I would recommend it!

I wasn't sure about this one from the beginning, and I'm still not sold.  I watched the first episode only, but I think an hour is too long for this show.  I don't think that I will be getting into this one.

I thought the first episode went a bit slow, but after watching the second one, I think this show is going to be awesome!  Don't give up after the pilot...give it one more week, I think it's worth it!

Whitney is pretty funny!  I think it's fun to watch shows where there is real life stuff going on with people versus extreme drama that a lot of shows are based around.  I'm keeping this one too!

What new shows are you loving or hating??

Mixing Up Mondays

I'll never complain about it being October (it's my favorite month) but, where did the year go?!  I cannot believe that we're in the 10th month of the year already!  Goodness.  Before you know it, we'll be talking about Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Walmart has skipped Halloween and Thanksgiving and already has their Christmas stuff out.  Really?!

This weekend, we spent all day Saturday on the lawn and garden.  The day included two trips to Walmart and Home Depot, oh the horror joy!  It was time to mulch to the flower bed, replace grass from a certain incident that happened a few weeks ago and get a little festive for fall.  Oh, and plant a garden!  I'm excited for fresh veggies!  Thankfully, the weather was perfect for spending some time outside...and that really got me in the mood for fall goodies!

Pumpkin recipes anyone??

My first favorite pumpkin recipe is from Joy the Baker.

These pumpkin cookies are now a fall staple at our house.  I make myself wait to bake them until a little further into October because once I start baking them, we eat the whole batch and then I bake more and we eat more and it becomes a vicious cycle...until I loathe the thought of eating one more cookie.  I think they're that good (so does John).  They're the consistency of muffin tops (win!) and are so yummy.  Joy recommends butterscotch chips, which are good, but I experimented with white chocolate chips and like that much better!

Pumpkin bread is another favorite.  I'm going to share a family recipe with you for this one.  My grandma has been making this bread forever and it's yummy!

Ingredients:
1 cup oil
3 cups sugar
4 eggs, beaten
1 can pumpkin
2/3 cup of water
3-1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon nuts
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Cream together oil and sugar.  Add all remaining ingredients, mix well.  Add batter to greased loaf pan and bake at 350 for 1 hour.  Yields 4 loaves.

I hope you enjoy the recipes!  They're two of my favorites for fall!