Drive-by

I’ve realized that I have been extremely neglectful to the blog. I know that it is a product of all of the changes going on. Sometimes its very easy to get stuck in the bottom of the barrel and feel sorry for yourself when things aren’t going the way you might hope. You forget to appreciate and acknowledge all of the little awesome things that happen in between. 

SO..with that being said, I’ve planned a little drive-by of some of the recent awesome-ness.

1. Amazing dinners

Mashed fingerling potatoes (with buttermilk- OMG), Braised pork chops with fresh sage, granny smith apples and red onions, and prosciutto (I have a love affair with salty pork products) wrapped asparagus

2. Rolling change.. ok, so rolling change for 2 hours isn’t exactly awesome.. But that’s how it goes when you work at Dunkin Donuts and make change tips.. having some money (And by some I mean barely enough), that’s awesome. 

3. Snacks on the go

 Everyone eats frozen raspberries out of the bag in the car, right?

No red dye #40 here

 And yes, I ate the whole bag in one sitting. 

4. Walks/Runs with my favorite mutt. This past week we did one of each. We ran 4 miles together around the neighborhood one day, and took a super long walk through Providence the next day.

 Needless to say, I succeeded in tiring him out

 5. Lamb

I can’t believe I was ever a vegan/vegetarian.. I kind of feel bad about eating animals sometimes, especially baby ones.. But my god, they just taste so good and make my body so very happy. 

6. The domestic man’s pizza crust.. This is the third time I’ve made this crust and I LOVE it. G even requested it… We made a pear, goat cheese, and prosciutto pizza and it was AMAZING!

7.Working out, HARD. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve been a little slacking in the workout department. It’s nice to work out like a beast, sweat your ass off, and be proud of yourself for working out even when you didn’t want to.  And hey, my body hasn’t completely turned into jello. 

8. Adorable Pitbulls dressed up ridiculously making me smile :)

9. Free coffee! As a pat on the back for hitting the gym so hard this morning, I decided to treat myself to a Starbucks coffee. I went through the drive-through and apparently they felt bad that it took so long and gave me the coffee on the house. 

 Not necessary, but appreciated!

10. Getting back to writing ;)

Making space + Best Body Bootcamp

April 

 Where is the time going? I’m having trouble keeping track of what day it is at this point.

BUT

Monday marked the first day of Best Body Bootcamp!

I am pretty excited about the next 8 weeks- I have been really slack-a-lackin with my strength WOs since I’ve been running more- and when I do get around to hitting the weight room, I’m kind of stuck in a rut with the same old exercises- and after making workouts for others, I start to lose my inspiration for keeping things exciting for myself.. Going by rave reviews of previous participants BBB is exactly the perfect fit! 

Since I didn’t have a chance to get the fit test done this past weekend, I started my workout with it Monday at home- and then headed out to the gym to complete the first workout. Honestly Tina’s workout was sneaky.. While I was completing it, it didn’t seem all that tough- I was wrong. Later Monday night I also taught class- and I knew then that I was going to be in trouble Tuesday morning because I was already sore! (And Hungry)

Luckily, I have the best husband- and he had dinner ready and waiting for me

New to us method of cooking Cod fish- Broiled with lemon zest/juice and walnuts with some spices. Seriously fantastic! (Loosely adapted from Practical Paleo) Along with Roasted asparagus and potato. 

We closed the night with a little Redbox movie. Chasing Mavericks- based on a true story and was a really good movie. You should check it out! 

Tuesday I woke up, had some coffee and a little breakie

Fage 2%, banana, chia seeds, walnuts and coconut flakes. 

While eating breakfast I snapped a picture of the boys

 Tuna has a very expressive face- it kills me. 

As it turns out, I was right about being sore.. my legs were like lead, but thankfully even though my training plan has me increasing to 4 runs a week instead of 3 (This week- and for the remainder) , I only had 2 miles scheduled for this day. It was super sunny out, and had been really mild the day before so I thought it would be a perfect time to get used to running outside. 

Ok.. it was a bit colder than I had anticipated! But I was done in 18 minutes, so it really didn’t matter much. 

I headed out to work at the restaurant- and put in my two weeks notice toward the end of the day. I’ve done the whole “Stay at a job you hate because you need money and its the responsible thing to do- and then hate your life each time you have to work” thing… I did it at Denny’s for years.. and I just can’t do it to myself again- life is just too short.. so this was the right thing to do. 

I felt so much better :)

Sometimes, you have to make space in your life for positive things by getting rid of things that are not serving you.. or letting go of things or people that have a hold on you. 

I’m open for new opportunities! 

HealthyFudge +Massage + Mrs. Doubtfire

Phew.. we are over the mid-week hump!
    Yesterday morning I made a typical green smoothie for James and I to share for breakfast

  (Ignore the huge bowl of dog biscuits..) I think I was still asleep when I put it together.. I put way too much in the blender and ended up with far more than we normally drink- Well I must have subconsciously thought we needed some extra greens!
     We have been working on this awesome puzzle lately- when James and I have our afternoon coffee after work.. “The doors of Ireland"

  (We finished it tonight.. but it was too dark to take a picture.. so you’ll have to wait until tomorrow!)

Anyway.. after breakfast and another coffee (I’m such a procrastinator) I fit in a little workout..

   I finished in 7:35 and those Toes to the Bar were killer.. Try it out! (Tell me how long it takes you!)

    I worked at the Restaurant and had a client- We went through one of my favorite types of workouts.. the “Deck of Cards WO”… I was pumped and ready to kick some client ass! (I love my job!)

      After my PT client, I ran over to Trader Joe’s to restock coffee (you do not want to see me in the morning without it) and grab a couple of random things.. I even grabbed a bottle of wine before heading home to finally eat dinner

    James was out, so I was my own dinner date.. Unless you count the cast of “Family Ties” that kept me company thanks to Netflix.

    

   I woke up this morning SUPER excited.. It was massage day!

  Ahhhh.. So much better.. Preventative medicine people- Massage is necessary when you beat your body up almost everyday.. My massage therapist is the best.. She is rough, goes deep and gets out every knot I didn’t even know existed.. I <3 her.="her." p="p">      I made sure to eat well afterwards

 Big bowl of broccoli and a grilled cheese on the Paleo bread..

   Oh so crunchy and fantastic.. I’m so impressed with this bread.. I know your sick of hearing it- but have you made it for yourself yet???

     After lunch I made the twins healthy pumpkin fudge- I modified the recipe and used sweet potato in place of the pumpkin.. and spiced it with cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg… All together now..

   It was some sticky stuff.. (I may have stolen some bites here..) But I managed to smooth it out

 They were right.. the hardest part about this recipe was waiting for it to set in the fridge for a couple of hours. The moment finally came and it was worth the wait.

   YUM.. thank you ladies for making my week! I have a feeling this will be a regular snack over here.
 
Remember the coconut soup from the other night? Well I thought it would be a good idea to add some protein to the leftovers.. so I had grabbed some fish at TJ’s the add to it

  I have never had Mahi mahi.. or have used TJ’s frozen fish, so I was really excited to give it a try.. Unfortunately- it didn’t turn out well.. I choked a bowl down but it wasn’t good.. I don’t know if it was the kind of fish, the fact that it was frozen, or cooking it in the soup.. but it was rubbery and kind of gross. Oh well… it happens!
    Right after dinner we went on an hour long walk, through the slush leftover from today’s snowfall which was kind of like running on the beach.. My ass was burning by the time we got home! Good thing I went to teach yoga tonight- all about hip openers!
    Now it’s about that time of the night where I grab another chunk of sweet potato fudge and watch Mrs. Doubtfire for the 100 time..

Goodnight!