No excuses

Ya know what I was thinking earlier while I was sprinting and watching just a little too much jiggling going on around my hips...


I thought that it really is amazing that God gave us the ability to shape and train our bodies however much we want and to what degree that we desire. We make decisions daily on what to put in our mouths, how much we move our bodies, and how motivated we want to be to be healthy, successful, and strong. The mind is such a powerful tool. The body is well. And when they're both strong together, that's when success happens.

Sorry if I'm getting a lil too Jillian Michaels on ya or preachy, but I'm just expressing my thoughts. To think that if I really put my mind and body to what I want in my health and fitness level... well I guess I could be anything I really want. I could mold my body into what I want it to look like. I could make my heart and lungs so strong that I could run miles and miles and never tire. I could become motivation for others who are seeking health and fitness.


So that's what I'm really going to concentrate on from now. And I started it today in fact. Unfortunately, Seth took the jogging stroller with him in the car so I couldn't go on my run with Kayla this morning. So, what could (and I almost did do?) about it? Well I was pretty close to pouting and stuffing my face with some chocolate eggs... when the light bulb went off in my head. I could do my workout DVD and go outside to do some speed work on the driveway while Kayla took her nap. And that's just what I did and I feel great!

sucking down the agua

Which made me also remember that no matter how busy you are, how out of shape you are, and how little time you have... you can always squeeze in some kind of a workout. Even a few minutes of high intensity training will have lasting positive effects on your mood, metabolism, and energy. So get out there and just do it!!!


Ok anyways, back to my regular post. Let's check out today's quick breakfast!

Quaker Maple Sugar Oatmeal and Banana

and lunch:

Quite the assortment!

This was a good lunch! Spinach, feta, cranberry, tomato, and onion salad with Balsamic Vin. Dressing. A greek yogurt with strawberries. A juicy plum. And last but not least some Stacy's Pita chips. Well rounded and delicious if you ask me! I've also had a few of the aforementioned chocolate eggs...

Alrighty guys well Kayla will be up soon so I'm out! Have a great, healthy, and happy Thursday!!

And YAY for Office night!!!

The Beginning of the End: Part 1

" Last November was the last time I saw him" I remember to saying to myself as I woke up the morning of April 18, 2011. Has nearly a year passed since we've slept in this bed together? I can't help but feel like I was in a dream. Or a nightmare.

My eyes begin to swell up. The salty tears slide down my cheeks. A very common event as I've been crying on and off the past month or so. I remember sitting in my car, talking to myself. I have to say the words to make them feel more real to me. " He IS coming home! You'll be in his arms soon! This really is almost over!"

It's almost too much to completely take in. I need someone to pinch me. Hard.

I roll over in bed. It's 5:30 and I know it'd be better to try and get some sleep but there was no way that was going to happen. I have a nervous and excited energy that cannot be controlled. However, it can at least be tamed. So I head out on my morning run with Shane. I have a bit of extra pep in my run this morning as I listen to  "I'm Coming Home" over and over and over again. I probably look a little crazy, what with a big grin on my face and tears in my eyes. Good run.

After I shower and get some clothes on I walk to the front porch and do something I've been looking forward to doing all year: put his sign on the railing!

TO BE CONTINUED....

In the Swing of Things

Helloooooooo! It feels good to be back on here. I missed you guys! Plus I've been "cheating" a bit on my healthy lifestyle this past week so it's good to be back here. You guys help keep me accountable! But I must say I wouldn't take back any slice of pizza, bite of chinese, or scoop (times 10) of ice cream I've enjoyed with my love! But it feels even better to be getting back on track and eat me some veggies and protein!!

Like Today's Breakfast:

Egg whites, spinach, and a bit of feta! YUM!

Lunch looked alittle somethin like this:

Whole green pepper sliced, pb and j, and greek yogurt with blueberries

Easter candy.... Best. Candy. Ever.

I also had a few pita chips on the side with a bit of olive cheese spread. Lunch was delicious, protein-filled, and hopefully will keep me full for a few hours until snack time!


Workout: Woke up to warmth and humidity this morning! That equals to great running weather with the pupster! We ran our 3 mile loop and I incorporated some running/sprint intervals in there at the end. Felt GREAT!!! I did about 5 minutes of seated squats, jumping squats, and plie squats to get in some lower body toning and will probably do another round of that here in a few minutes.  Working out the legs is not my favorite thing to do.... isn't running/walking/ biking enough??? Well doing those cardiac exercises are great for various reasons but I perform and look best when I start getting in some lower body work so I will definitely be adding in some more exercises to my workout regime. 
Kayla and I walked a trail up here this morning called the Calcium trails. 4 sweaty miles later we were done and I was craving something coooooolllld. So I stopped and picked up an unsweetened peach flavored iced tea from DD.

Nice change up from iced coffee

Then we headed to the park on this beautiful day!

cutie pa tutie

We had a great morning! It feels so nice to be outside getting in some exercise and Vitamin D!


I'll be doing a whole post with pics from the homecoming soon so stay tuned for that!
Hope you're having a happy hump-day!

Pics!

Hi friends!!


I have a regular post coming up later today with exercise, b-fast, and lunch details but for now I thought I'd leave ya with these pics to tide you over!

Ugly Pic 1

Ugly Pic 2

Kinda better...

Easter!!

Not so sure... first night back I think!

Daddy/puppy bonding time

Our only holiday spent together this year!

See ya in a little bit!


P.S.  Sorry about the ugly pics, I like making nasty faces and documenting them sometimes.. hope they at least made you laugh/feel better about yourself ;)

I'm back!!!

Ok, ok....so I know I suck... I haven't forgotten about you guys though!

Let's get the big news outta the way.... Seth's home!!!!


He's been home for a week now and I couldn't be happier. It's all hard to explain but it kinda feels like he's never been gone... and kinda feels like it was all just a nightmare. I dunno. Hard to explain. But either way he's home, safe, and I get to see him everyday!! WHOOOOO!!!


I promise pics are comin soon. I'm on my employers computer and don't have the wires to connect them to the laptop. The homecoming was great though and I would definitely have to put it at the top moment of my life thus far.


Exercise and diet-wise things have remained pretty steady. I ran 7.5 miles yesterday while pushing Kayla in the stroller and I felt GREAT!! I love, love, love my runner's high after a good, sweaty run!! Today was just a simple 2 mile run with Shane this morning plus 10 minutes of arms and abs. We'll see if I end up squeezing anything else in today...


I haven't been taking pictures of my food either but if that's something that ya'll would like for me to keep up with then I will! Just need some feedback! ;)


Ok, well I'm gonna git goin. House Hunters is calling my name...


LATER GATERS!!

Countdown Continues

72 hours and counting...

Thankfully this week has sped by pretty quickly!

Tomorrow: manicure, clean, exercise, and more cleaning!!! Also possibly baking some

treats and making welcome home signs for our heros of Sapper 693rd!

It's supposed to be yucky weather this weekend which would normally be drag for me, but

it's perfect cleaning weather. I'll pump up the music and git going early I bet!

Sorry for the lack of normal food/exercise posts. I can tell you that yesterday I ran 8 miles and today 6 

and now my IT Band is botherin me so I'll cool down the running for the weekend.

Seth is officially OUT of Afghan-land and I'm expecting to hear from him tomorrow!

YAY!!!! Almost hereeeeee!!!

Dear sleep...

I will miss you these next few days! I'm writing this post at 4:30 in the morning. Been up since 2:30. Ohhhh yeah... Guess I'm a little excited because something kinda huge is coming up very, very soon!!!!!

 Let's review some Sunday and Monday, k???

Sunday breakfast= green monster smoothie topped with cereal

Monday breakfast before I decided to add in...

CINNAMON!!

Kashi Cereal with almond milk, blueberries, banana, and cinnamon!!

Monday Lunch at work:

Spinach, turkey, feta, and veggie salad with Mango Greek Yogurt

Tuesday Breakfast:

2 eggs, lots of spinach, and laughing cow wedge on Arnold Thin

So yeah, there's a few meals for you. I ran 10.5 miles Saturday, jogged 2 easy ones on Sunday (my rest day), ran 3 miles with Shane plus 5 miles walked, 20 minute arc trainer and pilates Monday, and finally Tuesday I ran 8 miles, 20 minutes elliptical, and "taught" an hour long spin class. Whoooo!! 

Haha the reason for all the exercise is A. nice weather and B. my appetite has been fierce these days! Plus it's good to get all this energy out and be exhausted by 9 pm so I can attempt sleeping semi-normally...until today that is.

Workout this morning included: 60 minutes on arc trainer and 30 minutes arms, back, and chest. I think I'm going to be so, so tired tonight. Pretty easy day though. Work, with a nice lunch date thrown in there with Corie!, and pedicures and dinner with my client/friend Star. 

Here's me and Kayla after our nice 5 mile run yesterday in the ol' stroller:

lil booger :)

Anyways, have a FABULOUS Wednesday! And let's get this countdown started:

5 more days!!!!!! :)

AHHHHH!!!!! :):)

LESS THAN A WEEK!!!

IT'S OFFICIAL!!! NEXT MONDAY AT 10 PM!!!!

HAPPY HAPPY DANCE!!!!!

:):):)

Lazy Sunday

Hi Ya'll...

Not much to write today so I'm gonna just put up a few pics and see what comes out as I go.

Another Sunday, another Sunday outfit:

nice n blurry

My yummy breakfast:

Kashi hot cereal, blueberries, wheat germ, and chia seeds

The cutest pup ever:

looks like someone thinks I'm crazy... not too far from the truth

Anyways... been a nice Sunday so far. Sang on worship teams, had a lovely lunch of a veggie sandwich and an almond butter smeared banana, and am about to head out to train a client for the last time til Seth gets home. Yay! Fortunately she's one of my favorite clients, too :)

I'm trying to fill up this week a bunch though to help time go by faster! Monday is Yoga sculpt after work, Tuesday is evening spin class, Wednesday is mani and pedi's, Thursday is hair appointment and cookie making with Corie, and I better make some plans for Friday and possibly Saturday! I'll drive myself crazy if I'm sitting around here too much, especially right before he gets here! Oh should mention too that I'll be cleaning/organizing like crazy this week in anticipation for his arrival. Yay!!

Any other ideas of things to keep me busy this week???

It's a Beautiful Day! U2 style

Oh my word finally a spring-like day here in NY!!!! 62 degrees and sunny!!! I ran 10.5 miles today with Shane and it feels amazing! I needed to, too because I had half a bag of honey wheat pretzels and about 10 dark chocolate Hershey Kisses for lunch...and 2 Reeses  mini eggs!! I swear I was sweating salt and chocolate ;)

Here are some pics of my food the past couple of days:

Kashi waffles with almond butter and banana slices. Um, yum!

Bbq chicken fiesta salad

Protein Iced coffee and chex mix....turtle style

There was tons more that I ate but sadly did not take pictures of most of it. That's ok, I've kinda been eating poorly these days. Anyways, I'm gonna git goin now! Gotta shopping/dinner date with a friend in a few! Hope your weekend is going fabulous! Yay for my last weekend ALONE!!!!!

And just for giggles....

LOVE her!

News and reviews

Hi everyone!

Let's get to the news first! I received a wonderful phone call from Seth this morning! He has made it to BAF which is the last stop before he leaves country! Yippeeeee! Have I mentioned lately that God is good?? Cuz He is!!! :) So yup, hopefully sometime next weekend I will be peeing my pants sitting at Monti fitness picking up my soldier! Life is good!

Ok, now onto my "reviews". I wanted to try something new for breakfast so when I saw this I was excited to give it a whirl!

It's similar to oatmeal as you heat it up in the microwave with water (or milk) and it has some impressive stats. Each packet contains 150 calories, 8 grams of protein, and 5 grams of fiber. Not too shabby. I paired mine this morning with blueberries, a cup of almond milk and water, and some chia seeds on top for the extra nutrition.

Pre stir...

Had a banana on the side as well. I definitely enjoyed this breakfast. It tasted nice n cinnamony which you know I like. The only downside was that I wish it kept me full a little longer. I ate around 7 and was pretty hungry by 10. Not horrible but not great either. I might just pair it with milk instead of water to get in the extra calories and protein. Give it a try if you're looking to try something new for breakfast!

Onto Lunch: Light Barley and chicken soup, Smuckers pb&J, and carrots!

The hot soup was a nice change up from my usual salad ;)

Today's exercise... consisted of a 3 mile run this morning with Shane (my first early morning run with the pupster!), 20 minutes on the elliptical, 15 minute hill work walk on TM, and training 2 clients back to back. We did a kick butt circuit that, if requested by you all, I'll post! Let me know if that's something you'd be interested in...

Now I leave you with these pics of Shane. His old Dad (my dad) requested them :)

Cute puppy, no??!!

Serious talk

I woke up to cold rain and wind. The rain turned into snow, which later turned into hail. The wind never let up. It was, by most standards, a crappy day weather-wise. 

But... it ended like this:

The sun slowly lowered in the distance and I knew this was God's way of demonstrating, through His own creation, what my past year has looked like. Seth and I have been through wind, hail, fire... and HE has brought us through it all. And now we are at the end...and the sun is about to shine brightly on us. I can see it. It's in the near distance. Hallelujah and praise the Lord!

Every time I really start to think and comprehend that he'll be home I begin crying. Tears of joy and relief and hope. It's difficult to actually process that this deployment is ending. No more worrying for my husband's life on a daily basis. No more losing sleep when I don't hear from him in weeks. No more anxiety at night as I watch tv and hope no one comes to my door in a uniform. No more talking through emails, skype, or phone calls. I will be able to LOOK at him when I talk to him. Hug and kiss him to show him my love.  It's all going to be so amazing. He's the love of my life and my hero. <3

Alright so now that I got all that out.... Let's move onto less serious and sappy things like... Today's food:

Breakfast: Arnold thin with almond butter and banana with cinnamon sprinkled on top.

Lovin almond butter these days!!

   

close up

Lunch: Big spinach salad with broc. slaw, feta, craisins, onion, tomato, pecans, asparagus, and a lght raps. vin. dressing on top. 

Peach greek yogurt on the side :)

 Yum, yum! I'm trying to stay on track with my food intake... at least until Seth gets home then it's pizza, brownie sundaes, and beer! For a day or 2 at least ;)

Workout: Walked with Shane 1 mile. Walked 2 miles with Kayla on my back(with hills). Elliptical for 30 minutes. Running/jogging intervals for 20 minutes. Did back exercises today too: Lat pull down, rows, superman, and pelvic thrust.

Random (because that's how I roll) but I've been obsessed with this song all week. It's perfect for this time of the year (Easter). I might lead it in church for the Good Friday Service. Check it out if you'd like!

Well I'm exhausted so it's off to bed for me! Night!

rainy and warm monday

Let's get straight into Today's Food:

Breakfast: half a bagel with egg whites, spinach, tomato, and feta

Lunch: Leftover wheat pasta with marinara sauce, spinach, and parm

After both of these meals I was full but only for about 2 or 3 hours... Weird too because they should have filled me up better. I also had a scoop of peanut butter, watermelon slices, and most of a yellow bell pepper. Plus a few handfuls of turtle chex mix and a small reeses egg. So yeah, not sure why I've been so hungry.  Oddly enough I nearly fainted/threw up at work for no reason. I was just standing there with my client and felt nauseous and my hearing started to go and I felt weak. I squatted down and closed my eyes and it went away pretty quickly but it was still strange. Anyone have any ideas of why that happened to me? I had some red grapes about an hour and a half prior to it happening. I drank lots of water today and wasn't very active so not sure... but I scarfed down a special K bar and felt fine a few minutes later. Ohhh well, mystery I guess!

Workout today: Walked/ jogged with Kayla and got caught in the rain! Haha she's so sweet and we both just laughed and dried off when we got home :) Did level 2 of Jillian Michaels Yoga Melt at lunch time. After working with my clients I did 30 intense minutes on the Arc Trainer. Such a cool machine. Much better than the elliptical in my opinion. 

 I just had a veggie burger and sweet potato fries and my belly is feeling a little off... Nerves perhaps?

I should mention that I had a great morning for 2 reasons: Seth called and is officially on his way outta there!!! And I loved seeing my little Kaylabug this morning after a week of not seeing her. She gave me the best and longest hug this morning :) Yay for love in all shapes and forms! Can't wait to give my hero some much deserved and anticipated lovin' :)

8 mile run

Hellllooo

I'm not motivated to blog today so this is all I got:

-Ran with Shane for 6 miles this morning, then 2 more this afternoon. It was sunny and high 40's so had to take advantage. P.S. It's supposed to snow/rain/wind tomorrow...

- Went to church and paid attention as best as I could. Something big is pre-occupying my mind these days.... This is what I wore:

All Gap and Old Navy here...my 2 favorites!

- Went to lunch with Corie and had the Fuji Apple Chicken Salad:

Plus a baguette and half of a Toffe Nut cookie. Yum, can't go wrong with Panera.

- Did a fairly crappy job of vacuuming out the Xterra for my man. He truly loves cleaning his cars though so that was my reasoning there...

- Now I'm off to Corie's! Our puppies have a playdate scheduled :)

Hope you had a great weekend!

p.s. Next weekend might be my last one alone!!! :)

April 1st - The beginning of a GREAT month!

 

I'm a nerd. The above picture is my "It's April FINALLY and I can smile and start breathing again because this month is gonna freakin ROCK face". I haven't seen him since early November. This is gonna be epic, I'm telling you! SOOOOoooo excited!!! :):):)

Ok, so on to today's delicious and nutritious breakfast! 

-1/2 cup rolled oats

- 3/4 cup water

-  spoonful of almond butter

-  tablespoon of light brown sugar

- sprinkle of cinnamon

- 1 tsp. of chia  seeds

Blurry pics are the best, no?

Ok, I know it doesn't look like much here but it was a perfect combination and one I will be having many times in the future :)

I was at the gym for a good portion of the day so I packed a Planter's Energy Mix and an orange. Lunch was half of a subway turkey foot long with lots of veggies:

Toasted with provolone cheese

The other half was my dinna. Also had a bag of popcorn and a variety of chocolates that I purchased at a new store in the PX. YUM! And had a Skinny Cow Vanilla Caramel Cone ( 150 calories and so delicious!) I definitely probably had too much sugar today. Oh wellll... Had lots of veggies, whole grains, and some fruit too in there.

I worked it out today, too I should mention: 60 minute spin class ( sweated by butt off today!), 30 minute core class, worked out with a client, and did 30 minutes on the arc trainer. Plus 2 walks with the Shanester. 

Now I'm preparing for my 3 clients I have tomorrow. Hope your weekend is off to a great start!