C25K, Chill Night, Boutique Sale, Game Night

Hi Friends! I hope you’re having great weekends! Mine has been awesome so far! And thanks for your comments on my 7 random facts! To answer your questions: I don't still play tennis - but there are courts across the street so i'm considering it! I was taking fun, adult dance classes, but the place royally screwed me over (long story!) so it's been about a year now! On another note, I went to grad school for a Masters in Communication - good times! I was a graduate teaching assistant so I taught public speaking at Auburn University to get free school and a stipend. Sweet deal!

To back up – Friday was a busy one. Crazy, stressful day. I sadly gave into TOM and instead of going walking during lunch, I went back to Uncle Julio’s for chicken fajitas. I know! I will say it was yummy fabulous and I barely ate half of it (took the rest home to Austin!). The afternoon was busy, too, and I worked late. Then me and Stacy went down for 4.25 miles including C25K workout (Week 2; Workout #3!; burned 215 calories). I’m happy to say I did all 3 workouts this week – WOO! This one was hard. Between TOM and a tummy full of Mexican it was r. o. u. g. h. But I did it! Then I raced home hoping to go visit Shana, but I was BEAT. I got ready then sat down. And it was all over. Me and Austin watched a bit of conan and had a few drinks and that was pretty much it! I ended up at 2,417 calories, 263 carbs, 66 fat grams and 85 protein grams. Here’s what I ate. Disappointing – eek!

Saturday I popped up, got ready and headed down to the boutique sale I told you guys about! I didn’t have the best of luck, but did go home with two dresses and WONDERFUL stuff for Austin! I got him 4 vintage t-shirts and a new black coat. He’s been needing one but they were all either too trendy or too traditional… and $300+. However, I found one that met in the middle and the “trendy” part actually zips out for the office. How cool! It was a 7 Diamonds coat originally $300 (still $300 at Nordstrom!) half off - $150! And then the t’s were all 50% off so I got them for $14 each! Nice day for the Austin! Here’s the goods…

BB Dakota Dress $40

3+1 Audrey Dress $39 (hard to tell - but the bottom is green/black horizontal stripes; the waist band is a long sash that you tie in the back!

7 Diamonds Coat $150

The inside zipper/neck thing zips right out so it becomes a more traditional coat! I got in for Austin in black.

Hendrix t-shirt (Junk Food brand)

Miami t-shirt (Junk Food)

Run DMC (Junk Food)

Bears (Junk Food)

After the sale I headed home, made Austin try it all on – fit perfect, yay (!!!), then I got in bed for a nap. Yes, no gym. Grrr. I woke up, cleaned up a bit, then we headed to Target and bought two games for game night and a couple of folding chairs, then to radio shack and the liquor store. Hehe Then we met Mary and Scott over at our place for game night and shanigans. So good to hang out! We ended up playing Balderdash (one of my favorite old school games) and The game of Things (one of the new ones!).

They were both fun! Mary and Scott headed home around midnight, then played a few games of pool and were off to bed! I ended up at 2,071 calories, 218 carbs, 55 fat grams and 112 protein grams. Here’s what I ate.

Now I'm in bed watching Project Runway! (Austin has passed out - he didn't take a nap today!). Tomorrow I hope to: go to the grocery store, go to the gym, buy our new book club books, pack for Vegas, cook some meals for Austin and work for at least 2 hours - I hope I can get it all done!

What's your favorite "party game"? We like Balderdash, Loaded questions, Trivial Pursuit, Taboo, Apples to Apples and the list goes on - we're gamers!

Do you shop for your significant other? I just recently started doing it more and LOVE it!

Award, 7 Random Facts, More Harley Pasternak, A Few Recent Questions Answered!

So I tried my hardest to track the dinner from last night! I (think) I ended up at 2,010 calories, 196 carbs, 64 fat grams and 144 protein grams yesterday! Here’s what I ate (I think!).

Anywho, fun news! Staci over at Weight Loss Mama is such a sweetie- she gave me the Beautiful Blogger Award! I love her blog – that girl makes me want to run like no other! Check her out!

So now I’m to say 7 random things and pass the award on to 7 peeps! I apologize in advance if I’ve already shared these things, but here goes!

1. I used to LOVE tennis, take lessons, was on the highschool tennis team, etc. But then dance took over and I did danceline all through high school – loved it!
2. Me and Austin graduated from Auburn on the same day, but I stayed for grad school and he was off to Atlanta to start his job. We did long distance (well 2 hours/one timezone off) for 2 years. We didn’t miss a weekend and really worked to make it work. Clearly, I’m so glad we did!
3. Before our wonderful Shih Poo Reuben, I had two hammies. I got my first hamster in 2004. Her name was SJ and she would accompany me on said trips to Atlanta to visit Austin. I would strap her little hammy cage in the passenger seat and we were off. She was SUCH a little puppy (i.e. would bang on her door when you got home, would beg for treats; would sit and watch TV with you, etc.). Our next Ham was Miles. I loved him but he wanted nothing to do with us. Hehe They were both cremated and are both with us at our new home.
4. My high school had social sororities. We got away with murder and even had an annual promlike celebration (in addition to the regular prom). It was a huge deal, expensive dresses, hair/make up done, limo rides to eat at the beach, etc. We lived it up.
5. I’m half-Hispanic, took 2 years of Spanish in high school, took 2 years of Spanish in college and I still couldn’t speak it to save my life. However, I’m pretty good at writing it and reading it. hehe
6. I want to be a runner. I really do.While I’m not dissing my walking, I think running feels absolutely fabulous and like I’m really pushing myself! (as I’m sure walking at a higher incline would do but that never appeals to me!)
7. The town I grew up in is in Alabama and is freakishly close to the beach (little over an hour). I went to the beach I’d say 15 times a year – probably more? However, I hate sand and jellyfish and rarely went to the actual beach (even when the house I was staying at was ON it). We would just drive down, hit the pool and party.

Those seem random, right? Maybe a little heavy on highschool? Perhaps I’m thinking about my 10-year reunion which is this. year. Oh my – class of 2000 WAS 10 years ago!

On to my 7 peeps – I would like to give this award to:

Balance is Best

Aggie’s Kitchen

Healthy Hot Housewife

Southern Circle of Hell

Spice & Sass

Laura Dishes

Nifty Eats

These are all awesome bloggies that focus on everything from wedding planning and recipes to life happenings and restaurant reviews. LOVE them all!

On to today - blah - I woke up in a bad mood with some major TOM affects going on. Eek! TOM wanted carbs so by god they were provided! Around 10 a.m. I had pizza for breakfast. Why not? It was kinda brunch, right? Then around 2 p.m. I had chicken in tomato sauce with feta… followed by an afternoon snack of popcorn. I stayed busy then before I knew it was 6 p.m. – PEACE OUT! I got lots of work done but really felt overworked and exhausted. What to do?! Harley Pasternak workouts – woo!


I did two 20-minute workouts – the first one burned 73 calories, the second burned 64. Woo! I laid out my mat and got about ¼ through abs pilates, but then Monica came by to bring me some books and I never made it back to the mat! I did have fun visiting with her though! And then Austin came down and we had dinner – pesto pasta with chicken and mushrooms. And then we attempted to knock a goal off the list – hanging half bath shelves. Long story short – the screws were larger then the anchors so we have to start over. BLAH! So we moved on to the dining room project and made some great progress – woo! Then it was time to get in bed – I was beat – and already sore thanks to Harley. I ended up at 1,718 calories, 182 carbs, 66 fat grams and 102 protein grams. Here’s what I ate.

P.S. To answer a few recent questions: I have a Polar F7 HRM from REI. I was a pi phi at Auburn (Austin was a pike). I would LOVE to try running a 5K at the end of C25k - it will be major challenge since all of my runs now are on a treadmill. When I cook a bunch of food, I tend to keep most of it in the fridge (for 3-4 days tops). But if I make soups, sauces like spaghetti, etc. these freeze great so I freeze! I guess it just depends but I try to never cook too much in front as I HATE tossing things out! Lastly, i'm about 30 minutes from Lawrenceville, Ga.!

K - i'm OUT! TTYT!!

4 New Recipes, Q&A, , 10 Miles, Water Goal in Place

Thank you all for your support with my goals! You had lots of great advice on the ‘water’ front, and I’ve decided to drink 5 16-oz. bottles a day, or 80 oz.! I started today and, while I’m not finished because it’s only 7:30 p.m., I’ve already had 4.5 bottles. It’s much easier then I thought, especially when I drink 1 while walking! Also, I LOVE Erica’s idea of doing a month without goals… and just see what happens. Perhaps this will be December – I’m SUCH a rebel. Let me back up…

Yesterday was a pretty great day! I woke up to another yummy brunch pizza square thingie and got to work! During lunch me and Stacy walked 4 miles, then worked more, then I had Pasta in creamy sundried tomato sauce (minus onion; plus chicken) then after work we went back down for 2 miles and a chest/triceps workout. We decided to do shoulders with legs this week to break it up a little more!

I raced home HUNGRY and was craving a pizza I wasn’t supposed to have until tomorrow. Oh well – I had it anyway! Here’s the recipe for my new Four Cheese Pepperoni Pizza (recipe makes ONE serving):

4 oz. Trader Joe’s Pizza Dough
½ tsp dried basil
6 Turkey Pepperonis
1 tbsp reduced fat parmesan cheese
28 grams fat-free feta cheese
2 tbsp Trader Joe’s Spaghetti Sauce
28 grams Trader Joe’Fresh Mozzarella
30 grams Fat-Free Ricotta Cheese

Preheat oven to 400. Spread out dough. Mix together sauce and ricotta; smear on dough. Then top with feta, mozzarella and pepperonis. Sprinkle with parmesan and basil. Bake for 10-12 minutes until cheese is melted. Nutritional Information: 454 calories, 56 carbs, 11 fat grams and 23 protein grams. Um, loved it! Next time I may had 3 more pepperonis or maybe just some red pepper flakes. SO good though!!

After dinner I hung out with mom, watched some shows, read some of my book, played with Reuben – the usual! I also had snacks – trader joe’s cookies… the devil. I ended up at 1,760 calories, 201 carbs, 64 fat grams and 93 protein grams. Here’s what I ate. WAY too many cookies, reese’s cups, etc. Grrrr.

Today I woke up to a new breakfast – Breakfast Chilaquiles. I stumbled across a variation of this, did some research on what a chilaquile was, and then made this recipe! Makes SIX servings.

12 corn tortillas
Eight large eggs, scrambled
12 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 cup salsa
¾ cup fat-free grated cheese
3 tsp canola oil, divided
Salt, pepper and cumin to taste
Optional: 6 tbsp fat-free sour cream for a topping

Preheat oven to 350. In a nonstick skillet over medium high heat using 1.5 tsp canola oil, heat tortillas until both sides are crisp. (do two at a time using ¼ tsp oil). Once all are cooked, use fork and knife or pizza cutter to cut tortillas into 1-inch strips. Use the skillet to scramble 8 eggs, seasoning with salt to taste. Use the skillet one more time. Over medium heat, add 1.5 tsp canola oil, then defrosted chicken with a bit of salt, pepper and cumin. Cook for 3-4 minutes, then add salsa. Stir until chicken is no longer pink, then shred chicken with two forks. Get 9x13 glass dish. Layer tortillas, then eggs, chicken mixture and shredded cheese. Bake covered with foil for 20 minutes. Add sour cream as desired and serve. Nutritional Information: 351 calories, 34 carbs, 10 fat grams and 28 protein grams. I thought it was great, although you must forgive the shotty work picture! It was really filling and just different! I didn’t have sour cream (forgot it!), but did add a little salt to spice it up. Hot sauce or sirachi would have been good too. Anywho, I’ll definitely make this again, but may reserve it for weekends when I’m feeding more people as I think it would have been even better if I had been able to eat it after cooking rather than reheating!

After breakfast I worked more, went with Stacy to walk 4 miles, then had a new lunch: Spicy Italian Chicken from Fix it and Forget it Lightly. It makes FOUR servings:

½ cup fat-free Italian dressing
½ cup water
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder
½ tsp paprika
¼ tsp black pepper
1 pound chicken boneless, skinless
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp cold water
8 oz. penne, cooked.

Spray the inside of the slow cooker with nonfat cooking spray. Combine all ingredients except chicken, water and cornstarch. Add chicken. Turn to coat. Cover. Cook on low 4-5 hours. Remove chicken. In a saucepan, combine cornstarch and cold water. Add cooking juices gradually. Stir and bring to a boil. Pour sauce over chicken and them serve over noodles. Nutritional Information: 363 calories, 50 carbs, 3 fat grams and 34 protein grams. It wasn’t amazing but it wasn’t bad. It was like a B- minus. I don’t think I’d ever crave it. Sad. It needed something like a veggie, but I can’t think of a veggie that would go good?? Maybe just a can of diced tomatoes?? (like fireroasted or something like that). I’m going to give it a whirl with the tomatoes –I’ll holla back! And when I do I’ll post the picture!

After work I went straight home, hung out with the family and cooked dinner – Beef Tacos for FOUR servings. Very, VERY simple friends:



1 pound 96/4 beef
4 Mission carb balance tortillas
4 tbsp salsa, divided in 4
1 jalapeno, finely diced
1 package taco seasoning
3-4 tbsp of water
Nonstick cooking spray
12 cherry tomatoes, diced
1 oz. Kraft natural swiss/cheddar cheese blend, divided in 4

Spray a large nonstick pan with nonstick spray. Add beef, jalapeño, taco seasoning and water. Stir until no longer pink, then add to tortilla, top with salsa, tomatoes and cheese. Serve. Nutritional Information: 314 calories, 9 fat grams, 26 carbs and 32 protein grams.

Now I’m in bed watching TV and won’t be eating any more. OMG. I ended up at 1,791 calories, 222 carbs, 52 fat grams and 115 protein grams. Here’s what I ate. Way too much crap. Again. In my defense today was the Thanksgiving Potluck for my department. I didn’t participate and instead walked 4 miles. But I did give in later and have a chocolate chip cookie and, randomly 4 shrimp. Hehe After that I had another stressful situation that led me to the Hersheys. When WILL this treat season end? I blame myself – I forgot my gum- not good! Bygones…

K - here are some questions from my last post answered!

Why 113? Well when I first started losing weight the goal was 115. No reason – just figured I’d try to get there and if I got there I’d see what’s up. 115 felt great. My clothes fit great, I had high energy levels, etc. So I thought 113 was good to ensure I stayed at or just below 115. Well I dropped to 110. Not a good weight for me – I needed those few extra pounds to fill out my cheeks, clothes, etc. So 115/114/113 are my happy weight!

What exactly constitutes a "neighborhood" walk for Reuben? Reuben is tiny. He broke 7 pounds this month (we think it’s the exercise). He’s also a bit…. Hmm.. paranoid I’ll say. He does well on a leash but he’s not enjoying it. He spends the whole time looking up at me like still there? Still there? Still there? So, I want him to be happy on a leash and though a walk around the block (maybe ¼ mile) would be good for him to get more comfortable on a leash, get out of the yard/house, etc.

I'm so curious to know if there's any part of your life that isn't organized? Definitely! There are some things I simply can’t wrap my brain around. Like car maintenance. I’m AWFUL – rarely getting check-ups, checking my warranty, etc. Or really, even cleaning it. My car is my id fo sho and it’s something I need to tackle. Also, I’m working on getting our garage more organized as well as our downstairs hall closet. Lastly, our social events – we use Google calendar but I can be bad about RSVPing so I’m trying to work on creating an area where invitations go so I can refer back to them for registries, etc. These are just a few (of many!) areas I’m trying to really lock down so I can chill. I know it sounds weird but it’s how I am!

Now a couple of questions for you:

What do you do at "forced-fun work events with food"? Fight or flight?

What are your favorite taco toppings?

Fab Friday: New Outfit, Q and A, 4 Miles

Hola amigas! Happy Saturday of a holiday weekend. Heart! Yesterday I drove into work feeling MUCH better (thanks for the feel better wishes!). I had a great, productive morning, walked 4 miles during lunch, then I got an amazing email: Happy Labor Day – you can begin celebrating at 2 p.m. SWEET – it was already 1:15 p.m. and I hadn’t eaten lunch yet! So I had lunch, had a diet pepsi, wrapped up what I was working on and was OFF! I hit up the bank, liquor store and mall – I wanted a new outfit! Why? I don’t know –nothing expensive just something fun. I’ve been wanting a high-waisted skirt so I was a girl on a mission. I went to the usual suspects: Macy’s Forever 21, Black House White Market, Gap and H&M. These skirts apparently don’t exist. Sad. Just as I was about to give up I saw this gem tucked into the racks between shirts and dresses (of which there were plenty). I got the little white shirt and a couple of fun bracelets – woo!


From the side with bracelet!



hehe it's so tacky it's cute, right?!



And another fun bracelet - love!!

I got home to a squeaky clean house and a container of enchiladas I made the night before. Sweet!

We had dinner, rested up and then had a couple of friends over for pool/chill night. I had a few drinks but think I did pretty good! I ended up at 2,021 calories, 185 carbs, 26 fat grams and 101 protein grams – not awful at all! Here’s what I ate.

Today I’ve just been lounging around in bed. Love it! It’s after 2 p.m. and I’m still in PJ’s! I got up and had a Morningstar sausage/egg/cheese sandwich on a half a piece of toast.Yums. Then I watched some crap TV and had a little bit of pasta salad. Nom. Nom. Nom. Now I’m trying to decide what to do today! I have the whole day and weekend ahead of me – yessss. Today all I know I want to do is go got he gym and go over to Linc/Shana’s for some SEC football! For those who don’t know – me and Austin are Auburn fans/alumni/etc. – it’s where we met and where we go back home to at least 3-4 times each fall. We love it, love the city and are ready to kick off the season…. Even if it is with Alabama fans! Haha I hope you’re all having wonderful weekends!

One more thing – I got a couple of really good questions on my last post, so I thought I’d answer them here! And if you have any other questions ask and I shall answer!! Here are two questions from Kimberly: Where are you getting the workout calendar for post? Second question is a bit of time management... do you cook a bunch of meals up front and freeze them? Ration ingredients?

Answer: For the calendars, I make them! I actually use word tables and just copy/paste in exercises that I find online, in books, in magazines, on your wonderful blogs, etc. Then I use the program ‘snag it’ to capture a jpg image to post on here! I hope this helps – I’m happy to email anyone the template I use if you want it! For cooking, I’ve actually never frozen anything. On Sunday I cook most of the meals to get me to Dinner on Wednesday. Then Thursday I work from home so I use that lunch to cook lunch for Thursday, then food to get me until Saturday evening. Sometimes I don’t cook the whole meal – I just prep all of the veggies, mix the sauce, chop the chicken, etc. Or I’ll, for instance, put together the enchiladas but instead of cooking I just pop them in the fridge. If you guys want more specifics around this let me know and I’ll show you a sample week of what we do!

K –I’m off to read bloggies– bye friends!