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…

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? 🙂

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!!

Where has the time gone?

Hello All.  Happy sunny Monday to everyone!

I have really let the ball drop on my blogging.  I have been SO VERY BUSY!!!  I am going to try to be more consistent again.

I hope all of the mothers out there had a wonderful Mother’s Day.  I enjoyed a wonderful lunch with the family, celebrating my beautiful mom. 🙂

Workouts

My workouts have been going pretty well.  I haven’t gotten up early lately to work out before work. 😦 I need to get to it again, but have been up late doing some work and getting up that extra hour would kill me. LOL.

I have been consistently going to boot camp and BodyBlade.  I am really loving BodyBlade.  It’s definitely not as hard as boot camp, but you can tell it’s working some wonders on the arms! 😉

Eating

So, a friend and I are doing a plan our trainer gave us.  It involves a LOT of eating (good… I like eating!).   I actually started this plan back in August, but after about 6 mos or so was not as strict with it.  So… due to the fact that summer is rolling around soon, my friend and I decided to get more committed to our “eating right” again.

The Plan – You eat every 3 hours – This is intended to keep your metabolism going.  You are eating a TON of protein (your weight, in grams of protein) per day.

Here’s kinda how a typical day works:

• 5:30 am – protein & complex carb
• 8:30 am – protein & complex carb
• 11:30 am – protein & complex carb
• 2:30 pm – protein & veggie
• 5:30 pm – protein & veggie
• 7:30 or 8:30 – protein & veggie

You don’t want to eat anything two hours before bed.  You also get a CHEAT DAY!! 🙂  YAY!!!!

Sometimes it’s hard to stick to the every 3 hours, there’s days when you just simply cannot eat at your “allotted time.” That’s okay… but for the most part, you stick with the plan to keep the fire burnin’.

For me, this involves a lot of egg whites!  I hope my friends will tell me if I start bawking like a chicken! 😉

(Source)

The meals are very simple to plan (seriously think egg whites and whole grain toast or turkey sausage and a sweet potato), and easy to do…

It can get a little boring, but oh well.  It really is a healthy and clean way to eat.

So…

Questions of the Day:

• If you are a mom, how was your Mother’s Day?
• Do you follow some type of “eating plan” and if so, what is it?

 

 

 

Flax Bar

I came across my new favorite snack!  I was visiting The Better Health Store on Saturday (they have coupons for 15% off on Saturdays).

They had some samples there for an amazing and healthy, snack bar.  It’s called Flax Bar, it’s by Live Smart.

The chocolate one is my favorite! 😉

This bar is full of the good stuff (all ingredients you can pronounce).   It’s made with organic flax & oats.  It is vegan and wheat free.  It has up to 100% of daily omega-3 fatty acids.   AND… very low in calories!

I also LOVE the fact that it’s made in the USA, and only about 20 miles from me! 😉

 Last night’s workout

Last night’s workout was quite the challenge.  It was a “free night” at our gym.  We had a full house.  It was fun, we were doing some photos and such for the website.

First I did the boot camp class, which seemed harder than normal (maybe because I ate a semi-big dinner beforehand), and then BodyBlade.

It was fun to see new people give it all a whirl.   Some of us “regulars” were actually doing a bit of whining because they kicked our butt extra hard (probably for the photos – ha)!  All I can say is, my photo better look good or it ain’t goin’ on no website! 😉

I hope you all are having a fabulous Tuesday!

Grossness!

Happy Friday!

I’ve been meaning to post all week, and I have been soo busy!  But… I wanted to tell warn you guys about a NASTY health drink.

I was talking with a lady at the health food store who thought I may be eating too much animal protein. So, I decide to try some vegetable protein. I was at a different health store talking to the owner, and she gave me some free samples.  I thought, “Great!”

Oh my gosh…. this drink was AWFUL!!!

I was at work, so I didn’t have any almond milk or anything to blend it with…

 It was so think and slimy seeming…. and it smelled like grass, and seaweed, and just YUCK!

I simply wanted to vomit.  However… I really wanted some protein prior to my boot camp workout, so I tried to make it work.

I went to the vending machine in search of juice or something I could add to it…. Thank goodness they had this!

 

Fuze to the RESCUE!!!

I poured that baby right into the sludge…

I gave it another whirl…

It was not great… but it was bareable… barely.   I suppose?!?!

It may be healthy, but it taste so bad it practically killed me! 😦

I’m sorry Garden of Life… I like you, but this Raw Meal is just GROSS!

Try at your own risk!