Ex-Mole Woes, Banana Finds

And... it's Thursday again - for REAL?! I'm over these weeks just flying by! Not going to lie, my week has been pretty much dominated by two things: 

1. My ex-mole
2. My sickness (i.e. some nasty cold/sinusy thing)

This photo was NOT taken today - it was taken the last time I felt this bad. Differences: My bedding is now green, Add a poodle as we now have Remy as well (a YEAR last week!), my hair is longer and I weigh 2 more pounds today than I did here on October 23, 2009 (119 then vs. 121 today). Coincidence on the date? I think NOT - I always get sick this time of year and the blog proves it!

Yes, you heard it here first, I'm. Falling. Apart. Not to be whiney though - here's how the week went down:

Monday: Early start, 1.5-mile run, abs, then just work, work, work! We're interviewing at work so I met lots of new people that day and stayed BUSY.

Tuesday: a.m. spin class! Then work, working through lunch and off to my doctor appointment. I immediately found out that I wasn't to travel or exercise for 3-4 days. What?! Then they got to work with a needle in my face to remove the mole, for real (no surface). I hate that weird feeling where you're there, but you're not, and you can feel it, but you can't and it's like someone is threading your face up and tugging and pulling - UGH. Gross, right? Anyway, afterwards I felt gross, woozy and exhausted - home to PJs. (I get the sutures out next Tuesday; they will either be done or they'll recut and i'll have more sutures for another week). I'll keep you posted and can not thank you enough for your sweet comments and emails. It has meant SO much to me, and has made me feel a lot better about everything!! (especially those of you had similar experiences that turned out A-OKAY!)

Wednesday: I woke up feeling awful; didn't really sleep the night before (i'm a side sleeper who can't sleep on my side due to ex-mole - grrrr.) And I never sleep good on pain medication. SO, I was a real PEACH on Wednesday with no sleep and no workouts. I DID run a few errands during lunch, which led to MAJOR deals at banana republic. Enter a $50 shirt, on sale for $35 and $80 cropped slacks on sale for $35, with a $20 banana gift card SO $50 outfit - voila! 

these in black with...

This shirt in a charcoal gray

Add a $12 Target skinny black belt, black pointy-toe heels and my gray/silverish coach that i'm still obsessing over and I was golden!

Has some in SO much handy! When I got it I purchased a black one the same day and just KNEW i'd wear the black one more. Alas, this gray one has been my #1 buddy - goes SO well with all of my black clothes (of which there are many - it's my fave color!).

And on to today - headed in for interviews, walked 2 miles with Stacy and did very light arm work (Doc said walking was cool. just no running. or spinning. or heavy lifting. sad). Then it was work, work and more work - I actually just got done working!

Why I'm kind of down: outside of feeling sick/not sleeping well, I missed SO MUCH this week. Right now, i'm missing Katie & Cush's get together (they're in town visiting from Colorado). Last night I missed book club at Jackie's -  I SO wanted to go, catch up with the girls, have her Halloween-inspired meal but no luck. And this weekend is supposed to be an Auburn weekend for the Ole Miss game - a weekend with the Cardens and Veloti (even little Emma) but alas, i'm staying here. BOO. Maybe it's a sign? I must look on the positive and pretend that i'm choosing this "staycation" - right? Right.


Q: Do you get seriously stressed when you are told you can't work out? I was like um... uh-oh! That's how I get my stress relief. It's my outlet. Sigh.


Q: Are you sick? Is there at time of year you always get sick? Check your blog! LOL


Q: What are you up to this weekend? You know what i'll be doing - lots of casa-time.


On another note, I have THREE recipes to share - hope to post tomorrow - and A BABILLION posts in my reader - hope to tackle this weekend! And I hope you all are getting ready for fun, relaxing weekends!!

MIA & The Reason Why

SO, I know I've been pretty much sucking at bloglife. Where have I been? Why haven't you seen my comments on your awesome blogs? Well, long story short, three members of my team at work (my manager, senior manager and peer associate manager) left the company to pursue other opportunities. Just so happened to all happen within a few weeks of each other, so this meant much more work as only two associate managers, me included, were still there. Much, much, much more work. AND, I wanted to apply for one of the now open positions which would mean a promotion and a shift from being an individual contributor to a manager of four. SO, as you can imagine between my job, the new work, trying to get the new position, making changes to operate more leanly and then still the usual (cooking, working out, the leadership program, traveling, family, friends - you know - life) I have been crazy busy! Well, at times crazy busy or "fast-paced", other times completely under water, overwhelmed and spinning my wheels.

Well things are looking up. I found out on Tuesday following my interviews last month that I have been promoted to the manager of my team! Granted, right now it's a manager of one, but we have a new person starting Monday and just listed two other new positions today - WOO - it's happening. I hope to have a 5-person team  by late November/early December. I see the light at the end of the tunnel and while it's been hard, taken a lot of time out, etc., I know it will end up being great. Right? Yes! :)

So, a lot fell off the radar and while I was sad to see it go, I didn't have a choice! Only so many hours in a day. I haven't read a book in forever. Still have photo frames hanging empty. Have a list of new recipes to make. And my Google reader is truly frightening. But that's okay - because you can't do it all and can only do your best and nothing is worth driving yourself into the ground for. 

So that's why I've been MIA! Backing up real quick: Tuesday was forever long. Started at 7:30 at work, left at 7:30. Headed down to the gym, ran 2 miles and called it a night! Wednesday I got in early, ran a mile, walked a 1/4 mile and did legs - not too bad! Had a meeting over lunch, then just worked and actually went home on time to watch some episodes of The Good Wife with Austin! Then Thursday was all work & no workouts - did do a bit of cooking during my lunch break though! So not a bad week, just busy, busy, busy. No blog reading yet - hope to catch up Sunday!

Q: When's the last time you had to go MIA from blog life?

Q: What has been the highlight of your past week?! Any news I'm not up on?!

Where did My Week Go?! Missed you!

Yup, I'm just SO busy and important. LOL

Boo! I've been so absent - sad! I can't believe it's Friday already but MAN I feel like I deserve it! LOL This week in a nutshell:

• Monday: a.m. workout (3-mile run; 1-mile walk; biceps/shoulders) then SLAMMED at work - only day in the office.
• Tuesday: no workout; day 1 of training; crazy busy day learning more about coaching, meeting my leadership program and 2 others; cool stuff.
• Wednesday: a.m. workout (2.5 miles running; 1/4 mile walking); more training - OMG.
• Thursday: a.m. workout (45 minutes of a new class called Rip & Ride - a spin and strength training class). The class was insane - loved it - took the class with Stacy and enjoyed it. Then training, bad weather - ugh. LONG day.
• Today: NO workout; just training, presentations, insanity. Seriously! But good.

I LOVE training. I do. But 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. of nonstop with a few breaks; group lunches; essentially no alone time; no working from home and work piling up, not to mention the stress of what we were trying to accomplish in training (long story - don't want to bore you!) - and it ended with us being put into groups to work on an 8-week cross-departmental project assigned to research a business problem, build a case, make a presentation of recommendations, etc. Good stuff but wowza- I missed my family and poodles this week and got (clearly!) behind on life. But this evening is catch up, and tomorrow is chill, and tomorrow evening is friend time and Sunday is family day - WOO. :)

Q: How was your week?  What did I miss? blog reading tomorrow!


Q: What are you doing this weekend? forgot - also hoping to work out and get a pedicure tomorrow - fun!

When Life Gets Busy, Make a New Plan!

Found on Chris Pino via Pinterest

I terribly miss reading your blogs. So dramatic. It's not like I can no longer read. And it's not like I'm SO busy and SO important that I don't have time. hehe It's true that I worry my life is unbalanced right now and I recognize it and I'm doing something about it starting today. I think for me, when things get busy I completely remove something from my plate. This time, work was taking over. I kept workouts in, cooking new recipes, blogging, and audio books (and of course spending time with my family and friends - that CAN'T fall off) but reading just fell off. And not just your blogs, my books! I've found that BOTH of these things make me very happy. I knew that. But so happy, in fact, that I was honestly  in a funk due to the lack of blog reading/reading in my life. TRUE STORY.

Yesterday I picked up Water for Elephants (book club book). I had pretty much told myself there's no way you can read Water for Elephants by book club next Wednesday so I just won't read it. Yes, all or nothing! But Shana was like Kel - just try it, you''ll love it. I trust her. I was like maybe i'll just read 3 chapters. 100 pages later I felt better! I felt relaxed! I vowed to read blogs following that  and it didn't happen... :(

Today I looked at my reader. 1,000+. Efffffff. Instead of being totally unreasonable and saying I'll read all 1,000 or not at all, I just started clicking through one. at. a. time. Each of your posts, for different reasons, made me think, smile, pin it on pinterest, copy/save into my recipe file, or exercise-move-to-try file, etc. I've been wanting to start tracking calories again to REALLY lose this extra 5 pounds and Janetha's post was just what I needed to read. I left my reader (with still a lot of unreads, mind you) but I felt BETTER. I feel better when I read your blogs, thoughts, ideas. You inspire me and motivate me to NOT let my healthy lifestyle be put on the backburner when life gets in the way. I HAVE to make it a priority - no one else is going to do that for me.

So what does this mean? There's still only 24 hours in a day. I think, for me, when I get stressed I don't sleep as much. I'm stressed because I know i'm unbalanced, I'm not reading before bed (which puts me to sleep!), I'm not taking my lunch break and/or breaks at work which is when I read blogs or read i.e., take the break! It's a cycle, friends, and it's not making me happy. SO here are things I want to remind myself of, let's call it 5 To-Dos Until Things Slow Down. 

1. Take a lunch break. It's a break for a reason. You need it. Use it to work out. Or to read. Or to read blogs. Or to run errands. Or to see a dentist/doctor. WHATEVER. But do. not. work. It makes the day somewhat miserable and I feel stressed out/exhausted. I enjoy my work, but that makes me feel burned out.

2. Continue morning workouts. Sometimes it's the only way to get one in. Instead of packing a bag every night, decide all of my work outfits and gym outfits on Sunday and load the car up to keep it simple. (WAY too much work to do this every night - that 30 minutes a night could be reading time!).

3. Pre-cook on Sundays. Yes, trying new recipes is awesome. I love it. BUT I have a ton of recipes I can pre-cook to keep it more simple (no figuring out macros, buying new ingredients, not knowing how long it's really going to take, etc.). So, back to pre-cooking my tried and true "easy" recipes on Sundays until things slow down.

4. No two-a-days. Keep the heavy cardio in the a.m., but no walking at lunch if there are other things I need to do during lunch that DON'T involve working (i.e. errands, doctor's appointments, etc.). Use a weekend workout for heavy ST. Basically, work out smarter to get things in, but still allow time for other things!

5. Establish adult bed time. hehe It's TRUE though. I'm like I need to be asleep by 10, 10:30 at latest. I just DO. This doesn't mean race around the house packing the car, doing laundry, working, etc., until 10:30 then trying to go to sleep while my brain is still active/stressed. I'm setting a 9:30 p.m. cut off time. In bed, TV off! LOL If I sleep, great. If I read, great. But no working. No, no, no.

I think this is just my way of saying, "It's okay to not do it all. BUT, it's not okay to just completely cut out things that make you happy. Fit it in. Make it work." Ideally, when things slow down I can add back in two-a-days, whip up new recipes at the pace I was before, and focus more on my other goals. But for now I'm on a 'keep the lights on' strategy FOR SURE and that means all of the lights are dim... rather than totally shutting off some!

Q: When your life gets busy, do you make a new plan? I don't know why I didn't think of this before. Instead I was driving myself crazy still trying to do it all. Time to adjust instead of feeling guilty/funky/sorry for myself. LOL


Q: What time do you go to bed? 


Q: How do you make time to do what makes you happy?


Back to normal programming tomorrow, which thanks to my new plan, involves a review of Water for Elephants. :)

Dang Fibular Sesamoid! Dang Delayed Flight! Dang Car Battery! My Own Personal S*%# Storm

Thanks, friends! I REALLY had a blast there and am enjoying catching up on all of your blogs! And yes, I’m also enjoying my new coats and boots – SO fun. They’re going to come in SO much handy in Colorado. Can’t believe I’m going to be skiing in like TEN DAYS! We are going to have so much fun with Austin’s fam – they are a blast to travel with. Speaking of travel - here are another couple of pics from Chicago!

Outside the comedy club

With two fellow communicators Hannah and Kate

So let’s see. Wednesday I woke up in Chicago and my foot hurt. BAD. The foot that I hurt a couple of years ago (fun fact: the last time I visited Chicago in September 2008 I was in a medical boot due to said foot). Anywho, he diagnosed me with Bursitis, and found a fracture of the fibular sesamoid.

See the one labeled #15 – that’s the fibular sesamoid – mine was not a little kidney bean like in the photo, it was split in half (hence a fracture). After being in a boot, doing what I was supposed to, not wearing heels and even being more careful working out/running – all was good. Until now. Maybe it was the cold weather? Maybe because I’m not on a consistent running schedule my foot has reverted back to it’s old self? (bratty, uncooperative, weak) Who knows? All I knew was that I needed to stay off of it – so I did. I just went to Giordano’s for an insane slab of Chicago-style pizza and read my book. Then I walked a bit around town before calling it a day, heading to the airport, finding out my flight was delayed and then flying home… where I realized my car, which had been in the parking deck at the airport, had no juice. Yes, I had left my lights on. Enter a helpful courtesy staff who jumped me off and sent me on my way. WOW. Not my day you guys! I got home and went to bed.

Thursday I woke up – same deal. Pain in foot – down for the count. I DID hang with the fam, visit with the pups, catch up on work, etc., but I did not get to work out, cook or do anything I enjoy but read. Sigh. Thankfully, my co-worker’s dad is my podiatrist – so they got me in Monday. Wish me luck! I hope it’s nothing serious that will hinder my ability to ski!!!

Q: Do you ever have foot problems? Mine didn't start until 2008 - it's been there ever since, lingering, but it's definitely prominent now! :(

Q: Any fun plans this weekend? I plan to chill! I have a birthday party and holiday party - but mostly i'm just going to chill with Austin and hopefully whip up some recipes and rest my fit - no running but I hope to walk a lot!

New Pup Update, The Mondays, And The New Pup's Name is...

Thank you all so much for the name advice and poll votes... the winner is Remy!!! Here's a pic of our new little Tiger!

(both the poll winner and the one we felt suited her best!) She really is the sweetest little thing and I think both names would suit her. (For those who asked in the comments, she is a malti-poo - maltese/poodle mix; Reuben is a shih-poo - shih tzu/poodle mix). I did feel awful last night though - we are kenneling her while we sleep until I trust her and Reuben to be alone together while we're sleeping. So she's in the kennel and she's crying. A lot. Like more than she did her first night. I tried to be stoic and not give in. This a.m. I went in to get the little bundle and she had gone #2 in there - poor thing! She was SO upset. You know pups hate to have to use it in their "den." So we cleaned it and now we'll just have to make SURE she's empty before bed time. Honestly, it could have been the shots - we thought she was empty! Anyway... it's all good in the hood!

So yesterday was just one of those days.

• We get up to RAIN. Like dark.... monsoon. This means the dogs can't go out and it will take me over an hour to get in.
• I have to stop at Publix on the way in for a birthday card for work... I have Austin's umbrella. It's huge. It opens but it won't close so i'm fighting it... it wins.
• I realize there is a spider on the umbrella. I've transported it from the garage to my CAR. Oh my.
• I get in... late... work sucks. People are stupid. I want to slap folks.
• My external copywriter of four years on a HUGE annual project I do ever year quits.

Other than the above, I skipped my lunchtime workout - needed a vent/chill sesh with Stacy instead at Uncle Julio's. After work I raced home, grabbed the new pup and we headed to the vet. Clean bill of health, and we did shots and then back home by 8:30 p.m. to pretty much chill with the pups and go to sleep. I was SO tired yesterday - blah. Definitely ready to get back to my routine today!!

Q: How was your Monday? I know, in perspective, mine wasn't bad, just annoying. LOL

Q: How do you feel when you get out of your workout routine? I haven't gotten to work out since Friday - I feel anxious, bloated and overall just blah.

P.S. I finished Undone today so i'll post a book review tomorrow, I have a new recipe to share - yum!, and I hope/plan to do a photo shoot tonight!

Pity Party, No Workouts, Kitchen Organization

So this week has not gone as planned, which makes me a little sad! Let me back up… So Wednesday I was super pumped to do C25K, all was good, etc. Then some drama went down at work went ate up my lunch break… I did get away only because I was crying and had to go dry it up so I went to my happy place: TJ Maxx with a side of Bed, Bath and Beyond. Armed with my list of nice-to-haves, I purchased the following:

4 silver serving spoons

1 silver serving fork

5 drawer organizers

20 16-oz glasses

1 new OXO palm brush

1 ladle

2 serving spoons

I know, I know – not the most exciting stuff but these are things I noticed I was lacking as I’ve been cooking even more and having peeps over! And I’m SO sick of regorganizing the drawer every time I run the dishwasher – those days are over! Other things on the list I didn’t get? A condiment set (Crate & Barrel), new oven mits and an oven mit magnet for the fridge (TBD), new sauce pans/pots (BB&B WITH my coupon – didn’t have it on me!) and a silverware caddy (Crate & Barrel)! Yes, I need to go to Crate & Barrel!

After work I went straight home to mope… which turned into meeting friends for drinks. We ended up at 5 Seasons Brewery with a couple of couples which was a lot of fun for St. Patty’s and I’m glad I went – just a little disappointed that I didn’t work out. But Thursday was another day, right? Wrong!

I woke up Thursday mopey, anxious and with a slight hangover. I felt so behind at work (due to said drama from the prior day) so I worked through lunch, only stopping to toss a soup together in the slowcooker, and worked until 7 p.m. No workouts. Austin had a work thing so I just stayed home with Reuben and, I kid you not, organized the kitchen drawers. I’m a loser! Haha

So now it’s Friday and I had a work breakfast and I have a team lunch – grrr. BUT – no matter what, after work I’m going down to the gym to do what I wanted to do so badly on Tuesday – the C25K Week 6 Workout 2!!

I’m sorry this post has rando pictures – I forgot my camera cord! BUT I do have pictures of St. Patty’s and of my drawers (I know – you’re waiting on the edge of your seats for those! Haha).

Oh stats – Wednesday was at 2,136 calories, 240 carbs, 29 fat grams and 91 protein grams. Here’s what I ate. Thursday was high too – eek – at 2,019 calories, 290 carbs, 56 fat grams and 79 protein grams. Here’s what I ate. I’m officially declaring the pity party o.v.e.r. It’s bad enough to have a bad day at work but to gain weight over it? Not gonna happen! :)

When stuff gets you down what do you want to do first? Exercise or Eat? (or something else?)

It’s Friday –what are you pumped about?! I’m excited – we leave tomorrow for B’ham to visit with Austin’s family and celebrate his brother, Eliot’s, 18^th birthday! He’s Eliot Patrick born on St. Patty’s! here’s a pic of the b-day boy!

Brothers: Tyler, Austin and Eliot!

St. Patty's Beer Fest, OOT Company, Range Issues

Thanks you guys! We're super happy with the trees and really think they make a positive difference. I need to get back to the tree people to see what happened with the height - either way, we're happy, but hopefully they'll grow in to the height we want! How was your weekend? Ours was a bit of a whirlwind again - so nice to have Friday off! Here goes!

Friday I got up, ate, took medicine, napped, then cooked about 8 recipes for the St. Patty’s party! Austin got home, we chilled, cleaned, did things around the house, then Forrest and Teresa got in town for the weekend with their pups Cassie and Daisy! The four of us hung out, talked, had a couple of drinks, then called it a night – needed to get some sleep for the next day’s festivities! I ended up at 1,710 calories, 206 carbs, 41 fat grams and 86 protein grams. Here’s what I ate.

Saturday I slept in until 10 – woo! Then it was up, prepwork, Publix, shower and party time! People started coming over at 3 p.m. We had some weather issues early on but it never rained during the beerfest! We got to taste lots of new beers, hang out with friends, play cornhole/flip cup/beer pong and just chill – so nice to do a ‘day party!’ I think the food went over well as well as the prizes (shots and ladders boardgame for the highest scoring beer bringer; a regifted leftover dirty santa gift for the lowest scoring beer bringer). So good to have friends over and enjoy St. Patty’s! Here’s some pics.

beer winners!

chillin' it got cold outside!

los chicos

me and stacy

las chicas

gotta love the tents in the background - Teresa brought AU; Stacy brought UGA - thanks you guys!

outdoor eating!

I decided to let my green socks show - why not?

Me and T - so glad her and Forrest came over!!!

Me and Austin!

T & F!

The puppers - Cassie, Daisy and Reubs!

Sign in!

Love the festive table!

Food shots.....

nom nom nom

drink station - love my mom's little ice bucket!

more food shots!

yummy!

St. Patty's cookies - me and T bought these at Publix (I couldn't make one more thing! LOL)

close up

first picture taken - getting set up!

We provided the domestics! This was layer 1 of Miller lite in the new cooler which worked out great!

losing flip cup team

winning team

good times

who doesn't love flip cup?

hehe

I had a hard time tracking – I didn’t really eat any party food but did drink on and off all day and ate at odd times (i.e. breakfast of stuffed shells at 11 a.m.; slice of homemade pizza at 2:30 p.m.; my easy Thai curry at 11 p.m. haha). I estimated here at 1,783 calories, 154 carbs, 21 fat grams and 76 protein grams. Here’s what I ate.

Today I got up early (8 a.m. before spring forward so 9!). Everyone was sleeping so I started my new book club book. I still want to finish The Beach Trip, but don’t want to go to a meeting again without having read the book – just not as much fun and it makes me feel bad! :( Once everyone got up we ordered some pizzas, started cleaning and then the range was delivered! Lots of issues: they called and said it had a dent in the side. No one would see it once installed. Did we want it? They’d give us another 10% off. We asked for 15% off. They said okay and brought it. They went to hook it up and the gas kit was missing a piece. So we had to go to Lowe’s. Grrr. Then we get the piece, they come back and they install it but it won’t sit flush against the wall. We need to have a plumber come out to adjust the gas line so it will. Double grrr. I will say that I LOVE it – I’ll take pics once the microwave and DW are in – and hopefully we can get a plumber here soon (and hopefully it won’t cost a fortune…).

What was the highlight of your weekend? Mine was definitely the party – SO fun!

What are you looking most forward to this week? I’m off tomorrow – so that’s exciting, but mostly I’m ready to get back in the gym. Tuesday will be a whole week off – I’m ready to get back to walking!