Sunday Funday?

This week I didn't have Camp Gladiator! I definitely needed the break. Today, that all ended! We had not yet done our Spring Cleaning of our yard. We already had weeds sprouting up in the back yard.. okay so sprouting up was putting it mildly. There were a couple that were about 3 feet tall! So today we started by pulling weeds. Yes, ALL of them! We pulled every single one. After that, +Jimmy Ho  mowed front and back while I edged the front and around the entire back yard and house (Jimmy took over this for the last 3rd because I could not hold up the weed eater any longer). After all of that, we made a little flower bed in the front yard and planted flowers. The place we wanted to put the flower bed happened to have a fire ant mound. That was not great news for Jimmy. I think he got bit about 3 times, but we moved quickly. All of that took us about 4 hours. We fenced off the area where we are putting our garden, but did not have time to take out the grass in that area. That may have to wait for a couple of weeks now since we don't have time next weekend. Here's a pic of the little flower bed and of one of my rose bushes that is just waiting to bloom 2 new roses!

After all that yard work, we gave the dogs a bath!! They certainly needed it. We are about to go brush them in a minute, and I'm sure they will produce enough hair to make another corgi! They had a lot of fun while we were doing yard work. While I was weed eating in the back yard, Bentley actually ran up and BIT the weed eater! I freaked out and yelled. All Jimmy could say was "yeah.. they always do that." What?! I had to yell at him probably 3 different times to get away. I have seen dogs attack vacuum cleaners. Bentley has never done that. I guess the weed eater is his vacuum cleaner.

After all of that, I felt like I deserved a beer! Yeah, I did say no alcohol for a month, but I had a beer, and I did not feel guilty about it at all. In fact, I was pretty proud of myself. A few months ago, there is no way I would have been able to do everything I did today. I'm so excited to be getting stronger! Even though we worked really hard today, I felt like we had a really relaxing day. Who knew yard work can be enjoyable? So here's my beer.. and it just happens to be my favorite! Shiner Ruby Redbird. It has Ginger and Grapefruit in it. SO GOOD!

After we showered, had a beer, and relaxed for a while we went to dinner. A really fancy dinner at Subway, what what?! When we got home I decided to try out making ice cream in the +Vitamix. No, I did not have any. I just made it for Jimmy. It looks pretty creamy, and it smelled good. I'm looking forward to trying some after April It was really easy and took less than 5 minutes from start to finish.

Well time to go rest up for the start of a new week! Back to Camp Gladiator and working hard. Hope you all have a great week!

Hello!

I've been pretty quiet because not a lot is going on right now! It is my Camp Gladiator off week. I haven't not been doing too much, and my body really needed a break. I did a little yoga, but that is about it. I have kept up my dietary goals this month! I haven't had any white starches, no cheese, no processed sugars, and no alcohol! The weekends have been so beautiful here that I've really wanted to sit on a patio with a beer! Ahh.

So today while I was working, I was realize I had not been exercising in a few days, and I actually started to look forward to getting back into Camp Gladiator next week. This has NEVER happened. Who looks forward to exercise? Well, I'm sure there are a lot of you, but I haven't ever. Who knows if I'll still feel that way once I actually get started again, but hey, whatever.

Yesterday I +Vitamix(ed) a new smoothie. I used frozen blueberries, a banana, an orange, a little ice, and a little water. Really good!

This past weekend I got to hang out with our brother-in-law who lives in NYC that we had not seen in a YEAR! So good to see him. We also got to hang out with Chris who is getting ready to head out around the world. It was so nice to see people that are important to you and spend time with them. Chris used some app to take some pretty silly pictures of us and the dogs. Check them out. (Warning - Shrunken head on a big person is not too cute, but I'm sharing anyway!)

Tomorrow is Friday!! I am so excited that next weekend we will be heading to Lubbock to see my cousin get married and to meet Ginger's sweet twins. Can't wait to hold them!!

This weekend we are hopefully going to start building our garden. Prepping the ground WILL NOT be fun, but I am super excited about the garden. We have to buy new plants though because our little seeds died. I'll post pics of the things we do. First we have to kill the grass in that area. Have a happy Friday everyone!

6 weeks in...

Just a short blog tonight... So I'm almost at the end of my 6th week of starting to work out consistently. For 6 weeks I have continuously been in pain. My body hurts ALL over. Sometimes I think I'm sick because it just hurts so much. I start to think that this can't be normal, but how do I know what normal is? I've never worked out like this in my life, and I'm 30! Of course it is going to suck and be hard. Every day I think it is just so much easier to let it go and just be big, but I know that I don't want that. As much as as I sometimes think I want to give up, I want more to be able to live life in a way that my weight hasn't let me. I'm still alive after 6 weeks, and I can and will keep trying.

Tonight was my last night of my free month of Camp Gladiator, and this week was tough! I cannot believe how much we jump around. My knees hate me. I kind of hate them for sucking so much, but I suppose that is my fault for getting fat! I really wish I had like 15 or 20 pounds to lose. The sad part is that I need to lose what most of you weigh.. plus more! It almost feels impossible.. almost.

Well, I'm going to have to get use to being in pain. I signed up for 6 months of Camp Gladiator. WHAT?! I know.. I'm surprised myself. In the beginning, I honestly did not think I would. But I need to be told what to do. I need someone push me. I'm not strong enough to do it on my own yet.

Okay.. that's all I've got tonight. I'm exhausted. Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday. Oh! My black bean burgers turned out pretty well! I'll make them again for sure.

Meatless Monday

Today is Meatless Monday! +Jimmy Ho and I don't eat meat on Monday, and we haven't for over 2 years now. You may think it would be hard, but it really isn't. Sometimes I don't even miss meat and almost think I could be a vegetarian. I don't think there is any meat that I just love so much that I couldn't give it up. But I haven't.. I still eat meat, except on Mondays.

Tonight for dinner we had Freakin' Vegans. That's the name of a taco from Taco Deli (omg yum). The taco has refried black beans, guacamole, and pico. We eat them on wheat tortillas since I gave up white starches. I love Freakin' Vegans so much that I usually get one any time we go to Taco Deli, Meatless Monday or not.

Along with the Meatless Monday theme, I also made some black bean burgers today to have for lunches. I won't taste it until tomorrow, but it looked and smelled really good. I'm pretty excited. Preheat your oven to 375. So you take one can of black beans, rinse, and dry them.  Then you mash them up.

Then you chop up 3 garlic cloves, 1/2 bell pepper, and 1/2 onion. Throw them in with the beans.

 

In another bowl, mix up an egg, 1 TB chili powder, 1/2 tsp cumin, and 1 tsp chili sauce. Mix that in with the beans mixture, and add 1/2 c of bread crumbs. 

Not that pretty, huh? Haha.. Okay, so then you divide in 4 and make patties. Bake them at 375 for 10 minutes on each side.  Warning - make sure you really dry your beans and refrigerate the mixture before making the burger patties. These things have a tendency to fall apart, so be careful, especially when flipping. 

So I'll update about how they taste later in the week! Since I've cooking so much more at home and trying to eat unprocessed foods, I find myself shopping in the bulk bins all the time. The plastic bags in my pantry were starting to get out of control. I had to do something about it. I had wine rack that I bought a long time ago from IKEA that I haven't been using. I also had a ton of mason jars. So.. I made this - 

It's useful, and I have my pantry back! Love.

So last week this is what I ended up doing. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I did yoga. Tuesday and Thursday I walked and went to Camp Gladiator. I did not "work out" on Saturday or Sunday, but I went to races both days, was on my feet a ton, and did quite a bit of running around. I was ACTIVE, and that's what it is all about. So.. I'm going to keep that goal for the rest of the month. I can do it!!

Jimmy got 2nd place in the 5K he ran this weekend.. and he is running ANOTHER one this weekend. He is the definition of cray cray. 

Saturday was SUCH a beautiful day here. We had lunch outside.. ran around and then had a latte at Mozart's on Lake Austin. It was a perfect day, and I'm hoping to have more days like that before it gets too hot here. 

I love living in Austin so much. There is always something to do, great people to see, and funny things everywhere. When leaving lunch on Saturday, we saw these pipes painted to look like a dog lifting its leg on something. #KeepAustinWeird

And just because.. here is one of the dogs. They love rides in the car. Hope you guys have a great week!

Keep Truckin'

If I keep eating well and working out, I'm bound to get smaller, right? That's my mantra lately. I can't fail if I keep doing what I'm doing. So I keep truckin' or actually puttering along. And today, my face looked different. Jimmy says he can see it too. It isn't that it looks bad, just different. It isn't as round or maybe it is rounder but not as big. I don't know. Like I said, it is different. But, that gives me a boost to keep going.

It is April 3, and I still haven't set a strict goal for myself for this month. On Monday I tried Yoga! I'm doing the Biggest Loser Weight Loss Yoga DVD. I bought it a long time ago, tried it once, failed horribly, and moved on with my life. But I wanted to try it again. It still sucked, but I did WAY better than I did the last time. I'm stronger, and that felt good. And while doing it, even though it is really hard to get my body into some of the positions (yeah the easy beginner ones), I may have kind of enjoyed it? I'm not sure. Apparently I'm not committing to anything I say tonight, so bear with me. It is really hard to put yourself out there for the first time to try new things and decide whether or not you like them. Especially since I'm not able to do things well yet, it makes it even harder. I can say that the cool down was amazing. I felt so relaxed afterward I did not want to move. I had not felt that relaxed in a long time, and that feeling makes me want to go back for more. So.. after my food settles a little, I'm going to try to do yoga before bed! (If my muscles allow it!) I felt like I was as sore if not more after doing yoga than after a session of Camp Gladiator!

So yesterday I walked my mile AND went to Camp Gladiator. Whud up! I haven't exactly committed to doing this yet, but I think I would like to do yoga on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, do Camp Gladiator and walk on Tuesday/Thursday, and on Saturday or Sunday either walk or do yoga with 1 off day a week. Is that crazy? It might be.. that is why I haven't committed yet. I'm okay with not being fully committed to that schedule right now because I am staying active, and I may want to try to do Camp Gladiator 3 times in a week.. who knows? This blog is making me feel like I don't know anything!

Monday I ate a really good salad that had spring mix, garbanzo beans, cucumbers, black olives, carrots, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and a cracked pepper vinaigrette. I had the same thing last night after Camp Gladiator with a piece of grilled chicken. Yum. I've learned that you can eat things that satisfy your cravings that aren't bad. I.E. if you want something starchy, try garbanzo beans in your salad! They are the consistency of something that would be carbolicious. Want something sweet? Have a spinach salad with pecans, chicken, and raspberry vinaigrette. Here's a pic of the salad I've been eating a lot this week!

Today I made more peanut butter in the +Vitamix and had it on a whole wheat bagel thin. I love peanut butter so much and love that I can make it at home without all of the hydrogenated oils and sugar.. just peanuts.

Tonight +Jimmy Ho and I cooked together again. We made stuffed peppers! It is one of Jimmy's favorite things. I've always wanted to make it for him, but we just never got around to doing it. I used this recipe. We substituted a few things to make it healthier. We used brown rice instead of white, and instead of beef and pork, we used ground turkey and soy chorizo. Yes, meatless chorizo is awesome. If you like stuffed peppers, I would definitely recommend this recipe because it is pretty simple, but SO delicious. We will be making this again.

Preheat the oven to 350 (isn't is almost always 350?) So you start by cutting the top off, and taking out the seeds of 6 bell peppers. You then boil them for 2 - 3 minutes to soften them up. Then let them dry while you are preparing everything else.

You need a cup of yellow onion, 1/2 c of chopped bell pepper, 1/4 c fresh chopped parsley, and 1 T minced garlic. Saute the onion and bell pepper with some oil. Then throw in your meats of choice with the parsley, garlic, pepper, red pepper flakes, and salt.

Next you add in the 2 c of rice that has already been cooked and 8 oz tomato sauce. Stir it all up!

Stuff the peppers, and put them in a baking dish with about 1/8 inch of water on the bottom. Cook them in the 350 degree oven for 25 - 30 minutes.

Take them out, and let them rest for 10 minutes.  They are so flavorful! We both really loved them.

Today was an exciting day, and not only because of my stuffed peppers! My best friend Ginger had her twin boys today! Hudson, Hagan and mom are all doing well. I'm so excited for them, and can't wait to meet them in a few weeks!! Love her kids as if they were my own! Well.. I'm off to try to do some yoga. Namaste.

Goal 1: Exceeded!

Well I did it! I have exceeded my first goal of walking a mile 4 times a week. I finished my last walk this morning. I really did not feel like going this morning, but talking to a good friend while I walked helped get me through it! You would think that it would get easier, but this last week has been so tough! Even yesterday, the dogs were pulling me almost the entire walk! I think my body is starting to fight me because I really am trying to change, and right now, it doesn't like it. I think if I can keep pushing through, I will start to see results. I have to say, I thought I would be more excited about completing this goal, but I just felt kinda "meh" about it. I think it's because the scale isn't really going down yet. People say when you start working out you build muscle right? Let's hope that is what is happening. I do feel like the appearance of my body is changing, so I'm not completely discouraged! Here was my view during our walk yesterday!

I say I have exceeded my goal because in addition to walking I have also been going to Camp Gladiator which was not planned when I set my original goal. Camp Gladiator has pushed me beyond my comfort zone in many ways, physically and emotionally. Overall I think it's been a good experience, and I still have 2 weeks left of the free camp. I really like the trainer, and the people that go have become really encouraging. Yeah, I'm still last in everything we do, but I'm trying, and everyone sees that. We had to do broad jump thing this past week. You basically jump as far as you can, and you keep jumping from one point to another. Now, gravity I can't decide if gravity is my enemy or my bestie.. b/c I don't leave the ground without a lot of effort. So here I am jumping beside this guy that can get across the space in 3 jumps, while it takes me about 20. He was going to so much faster than me! At one point I looked over at him, and I said "well, I'm glad you're making me look so good!" He laughed and said "as long as you're moving.. everyone starts somewhere." So true! So I just kept trying to jump my tiny jumps, and I was happy that I was moving. Tiny update about Camp Gladiator - +Jimmy Ho and I now put our mats together. I don't feel like I need to be away from him to focus on myself. Even though he is beside me, I am still focusing on me, and I don't mind if he sees me struggle. We have even been partners for some of the activities, and I feel okay about it. Having him there has been good, and I don't treat him like a crutch.

I have now been working at home for 6 weeks. Crazy right?! Since I've been working at home, we eat at home SO much more!! It seems like we only eat out once, maybe twice a week. We have been cooking a lot, and through my +Vitamix experimentation, things have not gotten boring. Last night we made a different pasta sauce. We used this vitamix recipe.

We added 3 cloves of garlic instead of 1 because we really like it, but other than that we followed the recipe exactly. I'm not sure that I would advise trying this one in a blender because the finished product is really thick like a paste, and I'm not sure it would work well in a blender. A food processor might work though! Some things you can't see about the instructions are to first microwave the balsamic vinegar and the shallot for 1 minute. Then put everything except the EVOO into the container, mix everything up, and then add the EVOO while mixing.

We also added some ground turkey, but that isn't in the pic. We used the Smart Taste Noodles. This sauce was SO flavorful!! It tasted like something you may get in a restaurant. The vinegar added a bite, so you'll have to play with the recipe and adjust it to your liking. I think next time we are going to make this sauce,  we will add some fresh tomatoes to make it saucier, simmer it, and add some chunks of tomatoes and onion.

Because I'd like to see more progress, from April 1st - until we go out of town at the end of April, I'm going to be cutting out all white starches, processed sugars, cheese, and alcohol. Sad right?! I've done this a few times, and I always feel better.. so here goes! I've been trying to decide on an exercise goal for the month of April, and I just don't know what to do. I don't want to get bored, but I need to keep moving. I still have 2 weeks of Camp Gladiator, but what else should I do? Keep walking? Anything else? I saw a news report the other night talking about exercising for your blood type. I wasn't paying too much attention, but they said Type A's should do things like yoga and tai chi because we carry a lot of lactic acid in our muscles. So I've been thinking about adding in yoga once or twice a week. AT HOME. It is one thing to go grunt at Camp Gladiator when everyone else is grunting. But I can't imagine going into a quiet yoga studio and being the only one grunting and squealing (yeah.. I felt pig sounds were appropriate.) Anyway.. just a though. Here's the latest pic of me!

Hope you all have a happy Easter!!

Bad Day

+Jimmy Ho  and I cooked dinner together on Friday night, and it was so much fun. We both really love food, and you might say we love each other so combining the two was great. Most of the time it is one or the other cooking. But spending time chopping, cooking, and talking while making a healthy meal was something special. We really enjoyed it, and since then we have cooked together twice since then. I think it is going to become at least a weekly thing.

The first thing we made together was a healthy version of General Tso's Chicken. We used this Rachael Ray recipe, and it was so easy to follow and turned out really well. Now most of you know that I'm not a big fan of Rachael Ray, but I'm going to blame that on the fact that Jimmy may have a celebrity crush on her, and nothing really to do with her. Who can blame him? What man wouldn't want a woman that can cook! And, if anything was ever going to happen between the two of them, it probably would have happened at her sxsw party. Not to mention that I am totally awesome, and I'm learning to cook. Watch out, Rachael Ray!

Monday mornings are always hard no matter where you work or what you do. I tried to help Monday stink a little less by getting breakfast ready on Sunday night. I found a recipe for slow cooker oatmeal that cooks overnight. You simply cut up 2 apples peeled, cored, and chopped, and coat them with 1/3 cup brown sugar and 2 tsp. Place the apples first in the slow cooker.

Next you add 2 cups of old fashioned oats, 4 cups of water and 1 tsp of salt (all mixed together) on top of the apples. Do not mix. Simply cook on low overnight for 8 - 9 hours.

The flavor was pretty good, but we both thought it could use more oatmeal. I blame that on myself. I put it in the crock-pot about 8:30 p.m., and we did not turn it on until 10:30. So the oatmeal had been sitting in water for 2 hours before heat was turned on. Then, it cooked from 10:30 p.m. - 8:00 a.m. which was longer than direct. I think the mushy oatmeal was totally my fault and will try to tweak this recipe.

Sunday night Jimmy and I also made dinner together. We made our ground turkey tacos since we both love tacos so much. This time we used corn tortillas, sprayed them with a little OVOO, and hung them over the rack in out toaster oven so that they baked into taco shapes! While the tacos were fun, I was more excited about the rice I made. I made Mexican rice! I used brown rice to make it healthier. I followed this recipe, and we really liked it! It was a tad salty FYI. So next time we will probably reduce the salt by half and maybe use real garlic instead of the garlic salt.

Last night was Meatless Monday, and Jimmy and I tried to recreate one of the entrees we had on Chinese New Year. It was a lemongrass tofu string bean stirfy. I think we did pretty well for our first attempt. We used onion, garlic, lemongrass, chili paste, onion, soy sauce, ginger, tofu, and string beans. This was our first time to buy and use lemongrass at home. It is very interesting because it seems like a cross between celery and a scallion. There is an outer husk you removed, and then slice it up like a scallion. You then have to beat it a little (with the back of your knife or a mallet) to release the flavor. Don't be surprised when you use it that it is tougher than you would expect to cut, even after removing the husk! Don't get intimidated. I'm learning to become less intimidated by food as I cook more and more. If you mess something up, chances are you have things on hand to make a sandwich, and you aren't going to starve. Here are pics of the process and the final product. The first pic has the lemongrass and string beans!

 
This weekend I spent my Saturday with one of my closest friends, +Chris Atkins. It was a special day because the Saturdays I get to spend with him are winding down. Chris is about to leave on a year round trip around the world. While I am very sad he is leaving, I'm very excited and happy for him to experience something so amazing. Chris is leaving on May 8th.. which just happens to be my birthday... bittersweet. We had a great time and spent practically the entire day outside just talking. Yay for fun days with great friends. Here is a picture of the pretty latte I got when we met for coffee.

Speaking of good friends, I wanted to thank all of my friends and family that are reading my blog. So many of you have reached out to me via text, email, or comments you leave here and said some really nice things. I appreciate everything each of you have said, and it gives me motivation to keep trying.

The reason this blog is called bad day is because I am having a bad day. I just haven't felt great all day. It may have something to do with eating some cookies yesterday that I shouldn't have, but I feel pretty terrible. That has snowballed into feeling guilty because I did not go to Camp Gladiator tonight. I should be there right now. Right this second, and I'm not. I feel guilty about it. But, I'm telling you all so that I'm held accountable. This is tough! Even though I am having a tough day today, I am not giving up. I have been sticking to my goal and walking a mile 4 times a week for the first 3 weeks of March plus going to Camp Gladiator. I am not giving up now. I did go walk yesterday. I have to walk 3 more times this week to have not only completed, but exceeded my original goal. Also, I will be back at Camp Gladiator on Thursday, and I may try to go this weekend to make up for tonight. I can do it!!!!