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…

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?

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!!

Vacation

My vacation starts today at 2 p.m.  Can’t wait!

What are you all doing for the Memorial Day holiday weekend?

How do you keep on track with eating right and exercise during vacations?  That is the question.

Here are some things I plan to do:

• Get up early in the morning and walk/jog
• Eat heathy 80% of the time (you have to allow yourself to cheat a little bit)
• Text my friends/accountability partners who are on the same fitness journey as me
• Throw in some crunches, lunges, push-ups, etc

Good thing the iPhone has this really cool ap called workout trainer.  It has a ton of different workouts, including timers, video instructions, personal trainer ‘voice’, etc.  It’s a great thing to use when you are away from your gym.

There is a free version, and also a paid version. I bought the paid version for access to more of the workouts.  It’s worth it! 🙂

Plant Protein

I was trying to switch up my protein intake from pretty much all animal protein to some plant-based protein.  I was at the Vitamin Shoppe the other day, intending to buy Sun Warrior, which I heard is pretty good.  Instead, I bought some Pure Green Protein because it was on sale.  Oh my…what a MISTAKE!  This stuff was totally nasty!!!  I bought the chocolate flavor and mixed some in with my Shakeology hoping that would help cut the “plant” taste.  Wrong.  It was so gross.  It totally ruined my Shakeology, and I ended up dumping half the shake down the sink! 😦

Do you guys know of any good tasting plant protein powders?

I’m thinking I will go back and buy Sun Warrior.  Have you tried it?  If so, what do you think? 

At least it has pretty good reviews.

Careful with the Hot Eggs

I got up early this morning despite going to bed late. That ALWAYS happens to me.  Ugh.  I guess I just am not meant to sleep in anymore! 😦

I decided to go do some cardio so threw on the gym clothes and headed to the gym for the elliptical machine.  I did about 44 mins and burned about 418 calories.  It felt good but I truly wasn’t feeling it.  You know some mornings you have all this energy and are ready to jump into your workout and other mornings it’s a total drag. This morning, it was a drag!

I headed back home and decided to do two slices of Ezekiel bread and egg whites.  It was SO good, HOWEVER I was so hungry I dug right in.  Well apparently the eggs were too hot (of course I guess, I started chomping ’em pretty much right out of the pan)!  So, I burn the roof of my mouth!  I hate that.  I mean I’m taking the kind of burn where you can feel that lil’ fragile skin dangling down with your tongue.  EWW!!!

Fortunately or unfortunately, it hasn’t stopped me from coming to Starbucks and drinking my hot coffee.  But every time I take a sip that tender lil’ area is not feeling to good.  Ugh.  Oh well.  Thank goodness our bodies heal!

Prayer

Speaking of healing, I am hearing some pretty disheartening news lately from friends regarding “junk” that’s going on in their marriages.  It is so sad to me. I mean these are great people.  You know they got something special and you don’t want to see them throw that away.   I feel like the spiritual warfare surrounding marriages is huge right now. Of course, Satan wants to tear down the first institution God created and wreak havoc on the family.

So, if you are a believer (and I hope you are) would you join me in prayer for marriages and families in general?  Thanks!

It’s so tough…the culture we are up against.  But we gotta keep fighting the good fight.  It’s worth it!

(Source)

Well…I’m off to church now!  Enjoy your Sunday everyone!  BE BLESSED!

Physical Therapy to the Rescue!

Chiropractors and Physical Therapists

I have this bad habit of sleeping on my stomach with my right leg out.  My chiropractor has told me for years – don’t do this!  I also used to have a REALLY BAD habit of sitting on my left leg.  You know… folding it up on your chair, underneath you.  Again, my chiropractor “called it” and knew I did that just by the issues with my hip.

I had stopped the habit, and was sleeping really good.  I was doing really well with all the workin’ out … and lately, I think I just got lazy with my sleeping and sitting.  I’ve caught myself, in the last couple weeks, sleeping on my stomach with my leg out, AND sitting on my left leg.  :O  Seriously, what is wrong with me???

Sure enough, my hip got off.  I didn’t really feel it in my hip as much as I felt it in my knee.  The last few days my right knee was really giving me some serious pain. I had a knee injury a few years back, and now I wonder if it was due to my hip being off… the knee was misaligned, and got injured (it happened riding a bike).

Yesterday I went to the chiropractor, and he said my hip was seriously jacked.  He does funky lil moves to check your range of motion.  My left leg/foot could turn in, my leg couldn’t.   If you are familiar with chiropractors, you probably also know the infamous “strength test.” This is where you hold up your leg or arm, or whatever they are testing, and they push down while you try to hold it up.  He did this to me yesterday.  My left leg did great, held it up, he pushed down, it didn’t drop.  My right leg however, wasn’t so strong.  He pushed it, and BAM… went right down.  The good part is, he knew exactly what/where to adjust.

He fixed me up… did a lil “cracking” here and there… and I was outta there feeling like a million bucks! 🙂

Then… I went to sleep. : (

Gosh darn, I screwed it up in my sleep again.  I was trying so hard to sleep “correctly” and follow all of the rules I was given. No sleeping on the stomach, pillow between the legs…  Apparently I didn’t do something right. Woke up again with knee pain and my knee hurt all day walking around.

Thankfully, I remembered how well physical therapy helped me last time I had this problem.

Last fall I went through the same issues.  My chiropractor referred me to an excellent physical therapist.  This guy is great.  He does manipulation and needle therapy. That’s right… NEEDLE THERAPY!!   Ouch.  Yes, it’s a little painful… but I’m telling you, it works.

What he does is checks the spine, hip, etc.  He makes sure you are in the correct alignment. If not, he will adjust you.  Then comes the needles.  The theory of the needles is that if you jam a needle into the tight muscle spasm, the muscle will relax.  They discovered this back when people were getting cortisone shots.  Basically, they discovered that the muscle spasm would respond to the “shot” even without the cortisone injection.  Just having the needle puncture the muscle knot was enough to cause the muscle to relax.

So… after I got adjusted, he pulled out about 6-7 needles and jammed that in my butt! GASP!  If that is not  a humbling experience I don’t know what is.

I pretty much laid there for 10 minutes and let them just chill out in the muscle. ha.  After a bit, he came in and pulled ’em all out… did some message work, and then sent the tech in to ultrasound the area.  Again… I got up feeling like a million bucks! Okay, maybe two million bucks today! 😉

Seriously – it works!  I am hoping this adjustment holds better due to also relaxing the muscles around it. This is something that the chiropractor doesn’t do (well, unless you also see a massage therapist there).   All I know is last fall when I was having this issue, a few trips to the Physical Therapist and I was all better! 🙂

I have another check up on Friday after work… crossing my fingers.  All I gotta say is Thank God for Chiropractors and Physical Therapists!

Also, if you are experiencing knee pain… seriously consider getting the alignment of your hips checked out!  It’s worth it!

Dinner

I came home and made a delicious low-carb, high protein dinner.

Egg whites, chicken sausage, spinach and green pepper!

I love al fresco chicken sausage!  It makes dishes like these super yummy and healthy!  Al fresco sausages are all natural and MSG FREE!  Yay, I can eat it!

 

Mmmm!

Dessert was chocolate chia protein pudding!

It was so good, I practically licked the bowl!

I’m thinking I’m gonna have to make this pudding my recovery meal from now on!  It’s MUCH MORE satisfying then just a whey protein shake! 😉

Recipe…

Chocolate Chia Protein Pudding

Ingredients:

• 2 TBS chia seeds
• 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1 TBS cocoa powder

Directions:

Put the chia seeds in a bowl, and add almond milk.  Let it sit in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes or until the chia seeds turn gel-like. Then, pull it out and add the protein powder and cocoa powder.  Stir it up good and Whola!  There ya have it.   Simple.  Healthy.  And satisfies that chocolate craving! 😉