I Fought the Sun and the Sun Won!

Today I had a little unexpected visit to the dermatologist. Gotta love those right?!  The kind where they squeeze you in, so you end up waiting in the waiting room for close to an hour, and then in the exam room, and then whatever doctor is first available will “pop in” real quick.

I am grateful they could squeeze me in though ­– I should not complain.

Yesterday I noticed there was a mole on my left arm that had scabbed a bit. I thought that was odd, that it would be bleeding.  I am kind of pro at discovering “changes” in my lil moles.  God knows I have a lot of them.  I have had many “pre-cancer” they call them, moles.  I figured I better call the doctor and have them check it out.  Well, they couldn’t get me in for my full body scan until end of August (gotta love that too about doctors offices).  However, they wanted to get me in ASAP just to check out the lil “issue” on my arm.

Thankfully, once the doctor saw me it was a quick biopsy and I was FINALLY out of there and back to work.

Now I’m sporting this lovely arm bandage for the day and I continue to get asked what happened.

I call it my “battle wound” from my fight with the sun.

Seriously though, I’ve had MANY of these little battle wounds.  Small as they may be…they are a pain in the boo-tang. I think I will just plan on having little pieces of me chopped off every six months at least for the rest of my life! L

This is what comes with being fair with green eyes and strawberry blonde hair!  Thanks Grandma! 😉

This leads me to ask…what is a good sunless tanner?  Are they even safe?  I definitely know I do NOT like their smell.  (I’ve yet to find one that doesn’t smell putrid within an hour of putting them on).

Something makes me wonder about smearing or spraying chemicals all over your body.  Although, I guess you do that with sunscreen, lotions, etc.

I wonder if there are “all-natural” sunless tanners out there.

You know, I really don’t think about my whiteness (is that a word?), until I get a comment.  Ha.  Like when a trainer at the gym said (when I showed up the first day in shorts),”Dang girl, put some sun on those legs!”  LOL.

I then told him the story of how I will have to continue to “blind him with my legs” because of my history with pre-cancerous moles.  To which he quickly said, “Oh honey yes, you do not worry about that getting sun then.”

And honestly, I won’t.  I will be smearing on my sunscreen as I do now! Well…for the most part.  It is worth it!

The sad part is the damage is probably done.  I used to work at a tanning salon in high school and took advantage of the perk that I could tan for free every day. I also used to lay out with all those fancy oils to amplify the sun.  Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

Let me just say…Wear your sunscreen folks!!! (This shout goes out especially to my younger sister!!!) 😉

Talent

I have this talent.  I can eat the same thing, if I like it, over and over and over.  Hmm wait…is that a “talent” or really an “addiction”? 😉

My dinner tonight was my FAVORITE:  Chicken Fatoosh Salad from Plaka.

Maybe I should not admit this, but I had this for dinner yesterday, today and I will be having it tomorrow also as I’ll be picking up Plaka to-go to bring to my friends’ house for dinner.  hehe.

Perhaps I need MFAA (Mediterranean Food Addicts Anonymous), ya think? 😉

Questions of the Day:

Do you use sunless tanner and if so, do you like it?

Are you a “sunscreen-er” or a “baby oil-er”?

Do you have a favorite food you can eat over and over and over?

Of Possible Interest

The Best Sunscreens to Use and Lose

Sunscreen Reviews

How often should you see your dermatologist?

Are the ingredients in self-tanners safe?

Great American Chair Exchange

It’s the end of Wednesday!  Yay…that means tomorrow is Thursday.

Today was a good day.  The morning started off with P90X Arms & Shoulders with my friend.  We didn’t have time for the warm-up or bonus round, but it was a nice workout.  So far my arms aren’t sore.  Not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing?  Maybe I didn’t work it hard enough?

New Chairs

It was a special day at work today.  We all got presents – new chairs!!  Talk about excitement.  The place was packed with smiles; always a great thing!

We have had our old crummy chairs for years.  I mean YEARS.

They had absolutely no support, and they were super uncomfortable to sit in. Not to mention, if you are “shorter” like me, if you sat all the way back your feet would dangle and the edge of the chair would cut into your legs behind your knees.  So pretty much, you had to sit way at the edge of the chair and so you could never lean back and so you were constantly slouching.

We all “paraded” down with our old chairs, and dropped them in a line, and picked up our new ones!

It literally felt like Christmas! 🙂  It was wrapped and everything!  We were all SO EXCITED!

It’s the “little things” in life, ya know?!  Look at this beauty! Ain’t it purdy? 😉

Seriously though, better than its looks are its “functions.”  It has so many knobs and buttons.  It can do a million different things to fit a person’s body just perfectly.  Ergonomics are so important.  Many of us have had low back/hip issues that we partly attribute to the chairs, so this is truly GREAT!!!  Nice way to make a few hundred people extra happy on a typical work Wednesday! 🙂

Hummus

I am such a hummus fan!  As I’ve mentioned before, Mediterranean cuisine is my absolutely favorite.  Give me a chicken kabob, fatoosh salad and hummus anytime. I could literally eat this stuff every day!

I’ve found a new hummus that I am in love with.  It is all natural and gluten-free.  It is also very low-fat and low-calorie.  Most hummus has around 6-8g of fat per 2TBS with 100-120 calories and this has only 1g of fat per 2TBS and only 34g of fat. Amazing!  It is also very smooth and creamy.  Also, some of their proceeds will go to feeding a hungry child.  How can you beat that?

So very good and natural. I highly recommend it.  It made gave my lunch that “extra YUM” today.

Tuna with salsa, roasted red pepper Oasis hummus (I recommend that flavor too) and broccoli.

Lots of protein and low on the carbs and fat.  Perfect! 🙂

Well, it’s just about bed time.  Gotta go get some shut-eye…4:45 a.m. comes SUPER early!

Goodnight all!

Violin Playing Wolf

Happy Monday.

I hope you all had a great weekend. My weekend was jam-packed, but fun (and exhausting). I’m tired.

Friday night I met a friend in Ann Arbor after work. We enjoyed a healthy dinner at Jerusalem Garden and then got some fro-yo. It is not hard for me to get talked into a frozen yogurt bar. I intended to only get a coffee, but when you walk in and those toppings are staring you in the face it is pretty much impossible to say no!

I made a lovely creation of vanilla and peanut butter yogurt and with pretzels, waffle cone, chocolate chips and granola on top! 🙂

It is making me crave some right now! 😉

So, as I’m sitting there eating my yogurt and talking with my friend, I noticed at one point she was not really listening to me. She says to me…”I’m sorry, there is a wolf playing the violin behind you.”

Huh??! It took me a minute to process that…like, wait, that sentence does not make any sense.

I turn around and by gosh…she was right!

There actually was a wolf playing a violin!

Apparently if you give him a dollar, he will howl. Too bad I didn’t know this at the time.

Only in Ann Arbor!

Gone Fishing

Saturday morning was a Father’s Day fishing trip! It was great fun. My dad and I took a flat bottom boat out and had a blast chillin on the lake and catching…well, mostly lil pumpkinseeds and bluegill.

I did all of the rowing…you know, the least I could do for “Father’s Day.” 😉

Mostly I wanted the arm exercise! 😉

I of course, did not bait the hook or remove the fish. But I was certainly happy with casting, reeling-in and showing off my “catch.”

Good times!

Food Fest

Sunday was full of eating, eating and more eating. Going out to breakfast, going to a BBQ, going to get ice cream. Let’s just say it was not a good “diet day.” But, there is always the “next day” when you can start over…and that day is today! 🙂

I hope you all had a wonderful Father’s Day celebrating your dad, or as a dad.

Oh NO… It’s a total monsoon outside right now and I have to head back to work.

Ugh. Here we go…

Ouch…My Legs!

My legs are still so sore from Monday’s boot camp class.  I hadn’t actually done the boot camp class in a couple of weeks.  I’m telling you, once you miss for a bit, it is a KILLER going back!  Ugh…just gotta keep telling myself it’s the “good pain” right?! 😉

This morning my friend came by and we went to the gym. We did arms/shoulders on the machines first and then 30 mins. of cardio.  It was a good workout, but I’m tired!

Lunch

Lunch today was chicken sausage with a bell pepper and humus!

Very yummy!

Now I’m at Caribou eating my dark chocolate square and drinking my decaf coffee! 🙂

Gotta get goin’ and get to some research before I head back to work.  I’ve got some decisions to make and praying for God’s wisdom and discernment.

Be blessed today friends!!

Where’s My Phone?

I woke up this morning at 4:45.  This was a “little” early for me seeing as I went to bed after 10 p.m. last night.  I don’t do so well when I go to bed past 9:30 p.m.  Ideally, when getting up so early to workout, it’d be best to be in bed by 9 p.m. but ya know…that’s probably never gonna happen!  Especially in the summer, with the long days and sunlight shinning in your windows! J

We went to the fitness center and first did Ab Ripper X.  That was good to get us started.  Killer, but doable!  After that, we both hopped onto a machine, her on the bike, me on the elliptical. We did about 33 minutes of hard-core cardio. It was great.

I went home and went to text and realized I didn’t have my phone.  Eek!  I hate that feeling don’t you?  I looked all over my place, nothing.  I dug through the bag that I brought to the gym, nothing.  So I figured I had to have left it in the elliptical cup holder where I stow it while working out. I got in my car and drove up to the fitness center, and ran to check that cup holder.  Nope – not there.  Oh boy, now I was really panicking.  It’s one thing to lose your cell phone, it’s another thing to lose your iPhone which costs about $600 to replace!

I drove back home, looked all over again, searched everywhere and still could not find it.  And you know what stinks about loosing your phone, how do you even call or text someone to call you to see if you can hear it ringing?  You can’t!

I thought I must have lost it on the walk back from the fitness center (we had walked).  I started to head out and got half way there when I realized I didn’t have my key to let me in!  GRRRRR!!!  I went back home, grabbed the key and set off on foot again.  By this time I was really freaking out. I hadn’t showered, hadn’t eaten, was running late for work and couldn’t call to tell anyone, and didn’t want to go to work without finding this $600 piece of metal I had lost!!

This time I ran to the fitness center. I was scanning the ground, and could see nothing.  I kept praying, “Lord PLEASE help me find this thing!”

I got into the fitness center and just started scanning all over the room.  BAM! There it was, sitting on a weight machine I had never used right next to my empty water bottle!  DUH!  I remembered, I took it out of the cup holder and set it there when I went to clean off the elliptical.

Whew, I was so relieved.  I tell ya though…WHAT A MORNING!  My neighbors have to think I’m crazy for seeing me run back and forth, back and forth like a lunatic this morning!

I think I am considering this morning “two workouts for the price of one!” J

Lunch

For lunch today I tried something new.  Now it may sound a little crazy, but trust me…it’s good.

I took about approximately a cup of Trader Joe’s Healthy 8 chopped veggie mix with a couple of Tbsps of Trader Joes organic humus and a can of Starkist low sodium albacore tuna!

Mmmm!  High protein, low carb, and very satisfying!

Evening of Pie…or Not!

Now, I’m sitting at Grand Traverse Pie Company waiting for some ladies from church.  It’s our Women’s Ministry’s “event” tonight…meeting here for dinner, coffee, PIE. 😦  I will have to pass on the pie.  How is that possible when they look like this…

cherry pie

blueberry pie

 

coconut pie

I am thinking I’m in trouble!  Good thing I brought a protein bar (yeah right!!!)

Have a great Friday night all!!

 

 

I’ll Make Time to Workout Later

Summer is fast approaching, and we are already in shorts and T-shirt weather.  Now is the time, if ever, to kick it into “fitness gear!”  There are many reasons why people choose to not work out.  Or, I should say there are many excuses. One of the biggest excuses is, “I just don’t have the time.”

As we know, time usually boils down to priority.  It may seem like you have no time, but given the little amount of time it takes to reap some serious health benefits, it really isn’t a matter of time.

A study in Taiwan shows that just 15 minutes of exercise a day reduces your mortality risk by 14%.  Wow!  Now think about the different ways you spend 15 minutes per day.  You could spend fifteen minutes waiting in a drive-thru line or painting your nails.  Maybe 15 minutes standing at Starbucks waiting for your drink to be ready! 😉

The point is, it takes significant more time to overcome a debilitating stroke or heart attack, recover from a bypass surgery, or administer insulin for diabetes then it takes to get a little work out in.

If you have 10 to 20 minutes a day, you can fit in some exercise that is good enough to improve your overall health and add years to your life!

So which would you rather, spend that time waiting on a burger or spend that time adding “precious moments” to your life?

I say the benefits are worth the extra minutes, don’t you? 🙂

Not just my “lucky day”

So, I found out this morning when I got to work, that yesterday wasn’t just my lucky day.  It was my coworker’s as well.

He came over to see me right away this morning.  I was glad, because I was going to go look for him and see how his court appointment went.

So, he tells me that after I left, he got called into the Prosecutor’s office.  The Prosecutor said to him, “Do you know that lady?”  Of course, he meant me because when I came out apparently he heard me talking with him.  I’m not sure if you are supposed to talk or not, once you leave the courtroom but of course my coworker wanted to know what happened.  So, I talked to him a few minutes, then said goodbye.

My coworker said, “Yes, I know her.”  The Prosecutor said, “is that your girlfriend?”  He said, “No, she is a coworker.” The prosecutor said to him, “You’re dismissed.” WOW!! Can you believe that?  It was my lucky day, and then his lucky day because he knew me! 😉

I told him he can pay me back…I like diet coke, decaf coffees, etc.  HeHe.

Chocolate Protein “Brownie”

So, I decided the chocolate protein bars definitely taste more like brownies.  I just had the most fabulous snack.  My protein brownie with vanilla greek yogurt frosting and blueberries!

Mmm Mmm Mmm!

So good, it feels like you’re cheating — but you’re not!

Well, I’m off to get some work done!

Questions of the Evening:

• Have you ever “unusually” gotten out of a traffic ticket?
• What is your favorite “non-cheating” cheat snack/meal?

Dismissed

Today was a great day!  Despite having an icky stomach and horrible headache for three days now, I am grateful today.

I had my court appointment for my “red light” ticket.  I was really nervous about going to court.  Though I heard it was not big deal, I have never gone before, well besides when I was in school and I went to “report” on various cases.  I had never gone on behalf of myself.  I didn’t know what to expect.

(Source)

I have a friend whose father is a retired police officer.  She told him about my situation, and he said he would call the courthouse to put in a good word for me.  He called yesterday, and she told me that I would be speaking with a certain guy and that her dad said I should touch base with him.  When I got to the counter, I asked to speak with that person and they did not know who he was.  The guy had never heard of him.  I was thinking Uh Oh, I’m sunk.  But then I thought, oh well…I’ll just go in there and explain to the magistrate  how I misjudged the light (the truth), and that I would like to have the offense lowered as to not get points (I have a clean record, and was told by many, this would help).

So I left the counter and went and sat in the waiting area for the Magistrate to call me in.  Well, it felt like I was waiting forever.  I was talking with another guy there who seemed to be a pro at fighting speeding tickets, lol.  He was giving me a bit of the run-down.  He said I may get called in to see the Prosecutor first.  I was a lil freaked by that, but he said that was a “good thing” and that you could explain your case.  Often it was the prosecutor he said that would let you off, or lower your offense.

As I was sitting there, a coworker walked in.  Now that was funny, what are the chances that me and a coworker had the very same court times for our tickets. LOL.  That was humorous.

I got the call into the Prosecutor’s office, and he told me he received a call about me yesterday and that today was my lucky day.  He then asked me how lucky I wanted to be.  I, of course, told him VERY LUCKY!!!  🙂 He said, “Ok, I’m going to dismiss your ticket.”  I thought, really??  I was, and am, incredibly grateful!!  I don’t really consider it luck though, I consider it answered prayer.

This prosecutor showed me GRACE!  I deserved the ticket, I did.  But he let me off.  WHEW…thank the Lord.  Now I do not have points, and I did not owe a thing.  God is gracious, even when we are undeserving!!

(Source)

Workout

I made my way to BodyBlade tonight, even though I wasn’t feeling so hot.  It was ok, cuz BodyBlade is a lot lower key than boot camp.  It was a good workout, just what my arms needed actually. 🙂

After that, I stopped by Planet Fitness to check them out.  A friend and I are considering going there in the mornings before work.  This means, I would be doing more of my workouts in the mornings versus evenings.  This would free up some of my evenings for me, which would be good.  However, I’d still have to go to boot camp and BodyBlade sometimes, cuz I just love those classes!

Carrot Cake Protein Bars

I just made a batch of carrot cake protein bars.  Oh man, is it smelling good in here!!  I probably shouldn’t dig in because I already had two of my chocolate ones a couple of hours ago.  Bummer.  Somehow you think cuz they are healthy, and protein you can justify eating the whole pan. LOL.

Gosh, I’ll be good I guess.  I’ll just dream about them as my morning snack tomorrow.  The way it smells in here though, I think my mouth is going to water all night! 😉

Oh, and I will post the recipe soon.

Goodnight all!

Chocolate Protein Bars (CAKE)

Good morning!

Saturday mornings are great aren’t they?!  I decided to be a rebel and skip boot camp today.  I think I need to ease my way back into working out since that vacation.  I”m telling you, I can’t believe how four days of being off throws you.  My body feels like it weighs a million pounds. LOL.

I did get up and do the elliptical for 33 mins instead.  That even kicked my butt.  Oh well.

I came home and ate one delicious protein bar (which taste more like cake) with my recovery shake. 🙂

Jamie Eason Chocolate Protein Bars

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Oat Flour
• 4 Egg Whites
• 2 scoops Vanilla Whey Protein Powder
• ½ cup Stevia
• ½ tsp Baking Soda
• ¼ tsp Salt
• 8oz Berry flavored Baby Food
• 3 tbsp Baking Cocoa
• 4oz Water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix dry ingredients (oat flower, vanilla whey protein, baking soda, salt, baking cocoa) together in a large bowl.
3. Mix wet ingredients (egg whites, Splenda, Truvia, or Ideal, Berry flavored Baby Food,Water) together in a medium sized bowl.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix together.
5. Spray cooking dish with a non stick butter spray and add batter to dish.
6. Bake 20-30 minutes in oven.

Calories: 96 Fat: 1.4 grams Carbs: 12 grams Protein: 10 grams

Clean Carpets

After the elliptical and eating my my delicious protein breakfast I steam cleaned my carpets.  Ahh… so nice to have fresh, clean carpet. 🙂  Love that “fresh feeling.”

Bagel Friday

Yesterday I was so excited…it was “Bagel Friday” at work again.  Well this week, the guy whose turn it was to bring bagels (which I can never eat) actually brought a bunch of healthy almonds.  We had strawberries, blueberries, almonds, orange juice.  The “table of doom” never looked so great and I could actually partake!!

So yummy!  And felt soo good after a week of eating crap!!

Well, I’m off to run some errands.   Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

The Fact of the Matter

Forget everything I said in my last post about “staying on track” during vacation.  That was NOT the case.  The fact of the matter is – I Ate!  And I ate a LOT!!!

I did pretty well in the mornings.  My breakfast was greek yogurt with protein powder mixed in and a little trail mix on top.

 BUT…I also ate things like pizza (HUGE pizza)…

Desserts…

 BBQ pulled pork…

And chocolate…

 That’s what you’re supposed to do on vacation though right? Eat? 😉

Let’s just say tonight my first time back at boot camp since the trip was absolutely BRUTAL!!!  I cannot believe what taking a week off, and eating whatever the crap ya want (literally) will do to ya!  I definitely paid for it.

Oh well.

It was a wonderful vacation and I miss it already!

Now…back to reality.  Eating good.  Exercise.  Oh and work.  We mustn’t forget work!!!  😦

Hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day holiday and that you were able to enjoy the freedoms we’ve been incredibly blessed with in this country!!