Tag Archives: workout

Quotes of Interest

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Howdy-ho!  I hope all my readers had a good transition back to the work week.  It’s been a strange but satisfying day around here.

Not gonna lie, I definitely ate a Breyer’s Cookie Dough ice cream sandwich for breakfast.

Healthy living blogger fail, but a big “happy living blogger” win (thanks, Heather!).  And (thanks, Rachel) sorry, I’m not sorry.  It was only 160calories, it made me wickedly happy, and I felt full and satisfied all morning.

I spent my morning doing blog work and getting some house things organized; I start school in exactly a week and I want to make sure everything is squared away.

Around 1pm it looked like rain outside so I hurried to get my running shoes on.  Normally rain wouldn’t thrill me, but today it meant I could go for a mid-day run without overheating or sunburning.  I did fuel up first though.  Coconut water,

and 1/3 a serving of Wonka Apple Fruit Chews as a really ghetto attempt at Clif Blocks.

Apparently this was the perfect fuel combo because I had a great run!  I kept it quick (as in short, not speedy) but fabulous.  1.92miles in 19.25minutes.  A couple of notes – 1. Usually I’ve been taking walking breaks but today I ran the entire time minus three stops: a cross-walk, a dachshund petting, a sports bra adjustment.  2. All of my various leg injuries felt a-ok; but I spent some time stretching afterwards just in case.  3. Running makes me so fricking happy!

In the afternoon I got a very special box from my parents.

Heck yes!  We got the food processor and the stand mixer as wedding gifts almost three years ago, but this is our first apartment that they’ll fit in.  Actually, they technically still don’t fit as they’ll be residing in the office, but the siren song of homemade pesto was just too strong.

I also stopped by campus to pick up my textbooks.

This was an expensive yet exciting purchase.

I had another $5-off coupon at Moe’s so I made dinner out of a kids’ meal.  Quick sidenote – I absolutely adore restaurants that will let me order off the kids’ menu!

I got the mini masterpiece, a kid’s quesadilla with cheddar and corn salsa.  As Caitlin would say, it was epic.

Also a side of chips with queso, sour cream, and pico.

I was actually not hungry at all, but my day was begging for some veggies so I rounded things out with a bowl of cole slaw.

No measuring, but I used cole slaw veggie mix, plain yogurt, rice vinegar, raisins, and a sprinkle of sugar.  Don’t the raisins sort of remind you of lions stalking prey in the tall grass of the Sahara?

Just me? 😀

What was the last thing you ate that made you deliriously happy?  No pot brownie answers please, that’s a cop out!

Brawler’s Deli Might Need a Restraining Order Against Me

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In spite of getting in bed past pumpkin time last night, we’ve managed to have a full and productive Saturday.  Fun too!

We had to take both cars in for inspection/oil change/ka-ching, ka-ching 😦 so we decided to make a date of it and spend the wait time walking around our old neighborhood.  It took more than 3hours for the cars to be done so we managed to do a lot of walking.  We saw some fun stuff in our travels –

We also stopped in at Pearl Street for brunch.  We didn’t know beforehand, but Pearl Street just opened a deli in their beer basement so we got to try out the new spot.

Brawler’s Deli just may be our new favorite place!  I’m a fan of any restaurant that puts turkey ruebans on the menu,

and this was the best reuban I’ve ever had.  The biggest too!  I took a shot next to my hand for comparison.

I only ate half of my reuban and I was stuffed.  Not so stuffed, however, that I couldn’t tell Adam at least a bazillion times how in love with my sandwich I was!  He ate the 2nd half (in addition to his own food!!) and quickly concurred.  There was just enough sauerkraut to add tang without slime and the thousand island dressing was rich and creamy.  I forgot to ask for no butter on my bread but in the end the bread was so perfect I’m glad I didn’t mess with it; great rye that was so satisfyingly crunchy.  Usually the turkey is an afterthought for me when I eat a rueban (thousand island dressing, rye bread, swiss cheese; who gives a hoot about the turkey?!) but we both agreed that it was the best part of the sandwich.

Adam described it as dry but super-thin cut.  We were so impressed we actually asked the guy behind the counter what kind it was so we could buy our own!  It turns out that the deli actually roasts it themselves, which means we’ll have to go back again soon if we want more.  The end point of this saga is – Local readers, go to try this spot immediately!

Adam headed to the lab and my inspected, oil changed, something elsed that cost a bunch of money car and I set off on errands.  I did the grocery shopping, but I also hit up a different store to use the Coin Star machine.  I won’t gush any more in this post, but I’ll give you a heads up that going to a new store finally allowed me to find mini ice cream cups in the flavors I’ve been looking for; expect a full update in a future post.

As soon as I hit publish I’m going to do a 10minute strength session, take a quick shower, and pick up the husband at the lab – we’ve got a dinner date!

Gush for me, what’s the best sandwich you’ve ever eaten and which restaurant served it to you?

Happy Birthday Danielle

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It’s been a busy day and I’ll keep this quick. I have an early morning tomorrow so I’m already up way too late.

I was not feeling the gym this afternoon, I wanted to play with my new phone, I wanted to play with Adam, my leg hurt… But I’m learning that for me one day off exercise turns into twenty, so I hauled my butt to the gym. 30minutes on the elliptical, level 6, random. In the end I loved it; I’m not sure how I managed to skip the gym so much this last year, exercise makes me so happy!

It was our friend Danielle’s birthday today and by the time I was out of the shower the boys were in the kitchen baking burning some cupcakes. I put myself together a snack while they cooked.

Pomegranate and Passionfruit Siggi’s, Stonewall Kitchen Mimosa Jam, and crunchy peanut butter.

I still cannot get over how much the Siggi’s yogurt looks like a big scoop of ice cream, it is so aesthetically pleasing!

We had to pick up beer before we headed to Benji’s house and I brought a soursop nectar to drink along the way.

Sadly it had added sugar and was way too sweet, I tossed it after just a few sips.

I was starving and cranky by early evening but thankfully Benji is practically a gourmet cook and he hooked me up with this plate of awesomeness.

That is sunflower bread from the co-op with strawberry balsamic vinegar,

and homemade gazpacho.

Yum! It was such a fresh and tasty way to satisfy my hunger.

We spent a large portion of our evening at Wine Thief, where I in fact passed on wine in favor of a Labat Blue with Lime.

I also snagged a small slice of communal pizza.

The pizza was good, and upon perusing the variety of the food menu Adam and I declared that we have to go back for dinner soon.

The rest of the evening was spent in a wicked game of Pictionary.  Fyi – my team won 😉  I didn’t partake in any more booze, but I did nibble on this Strawberry Soy Joy bar from BlogHer.

Can how many days can you take off from the gym before you lose your motivation?

The Best Kind of Morning

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Sooo, about that last giveaway … awkward!  Yeah, that was a bust.  No one commented before the giveaway closed, but would you mind commenting on that post now to let me know why that giveaway sucked so hard?  Any feedback would be appreciated.

Today I had the best kind of morning, I started my day off with a run with the husband!  We are trying to work out the schedule and logistics of being able to workout together before class this year.  I’m also trying to work on getting on a proper sleep schedule; I got in bed at 10pm last night and even though it took me half the night to fall asleep, when the alarm rang at 6:30 I got out of bed.

Cons of this morning’s run –

  • We went for 30minutes and I still had to take several walking breaks
  • We ran on a path around the nearby lake so I have no idea how far we went
  • I’m so pathetically out of shape that Adam barely gets a workout when he runs with me

Pros of this morning’s run –

  • I got out there before 7am and ran for 20minutes
  • We got to run near the lake and it was gorgeous
  • I’m looking forward to the journey back to fitness, even especially the hard work and pathetic stats in the meantime

While Adam was in the shower I got my stretch on, and after my shower I put on yoga pants again so I can continue to take stretch/strength breaks throughout the day.  I start classes in 10days so it’s important that I get myself back into good habits before then.

I also made sure to eat a refueling breakfast.  Also a creamy, dreamy, tropical breakfast.

I threw some Plain Fat Free Stonyfield, a large banana, a serving of Goya frozen soursop pulp, and some Naked Coconut Water into the blender and 2minutes later I had perfection. 

Soursop is my favorite fruit (it comes in even slightly ahead of coconut!) and I highly encourage you to try it if you ever get the chance.

I got some carbs into the mix as well with a serving of Kashi Strawberry Fields cereal with Silk Almond Milk.

Every food group minus veggies?  Check.

I have a pretty packed to do list today, but I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t most looking forward to setting up my new dayplanner –

“See” you for lunch!

What were a pro and con of your morning?

Blazing a Trail Through Buffalo

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How is everyone’s weekend going?  It’s been another amazing but packed day around here 🙂  It’s a late night and tomorrow’s an early morning, so I’ll try to keep this snappy.  That’s not to say I won’t take a moment to brag about some of the final birthday swag….

Like another bear for the window sill.

Or a shower-time bear!

And our snazzy new doormat.

Ok, ok, I’m done! 

Yesterday, since Adam met up with us from work, we ended up leaving a car at my parents hotel.  That meant that this morning Adam and I could run over to the hotel to meet my parents, then take the car to drive us all to breakfast; it was the perfect plan!

I covered the 1.8miles in ~20minutes.  It was great to run twice in a row, but I’m taking tomorrow off to give my calves a chance to unclench 😉

We did breakfast at the Spot so I ordered a grande skim iced latte,

and a maple pecan scone.

The scone was delicious but pretty filling so I ate half and gave the rest to the husband.

Once everyone got showered we headed out for a full Buffalo day.  We walked along Elmwood, and got some great veggies at the Farmer’s Market.

We drove up to a park on the lakefront.

We ooohed and awwwed at the Falls.

In the middle of all the sight-seeing we had to make a stop at Delish to get my parents some locally made ice cream.  I went a slightly different route –

YUM!  That’s a yellow cupcake with passionfruit icing.

The icing was practically juicy, I was swooning!

Sometime in the afternoon I also pulled out an Amazing Grass Green Superfood Bar.

I actually didn’t mind the “green” taste as much as I thought I would, the nuts totally helped to make it enjoyable.  Nonetheless, I could still only handle half of it!

We dropped my parents off to shower before dinner and when we got back to the house I realized I was starving.  Except that starving was an understatement, I was basically drunk with hunger!  The poor husband managed to scrounge up a piece of sourdough pizza foccacia bread for me.

We went to dinner at J.P. Bullfeathers and my dad ordered the fruit and cheese plate, asap, before I tried to gnaw off my own arm!

Here’s my plate –

The smoked gouda – swoon, again – calmed me down but I was still hungry enough that I had a hard time focusing on the menu.

Obviously, since I ended up with Jack Daniels chicken fingers!

They weren’t bad, but it was a strange order for me.  I ate two pieces of chicken and shared the rest.  The fries were demolished however, when I have blue cheese sauce for dipping I lose all control!

We walked around a bit and then headed back to the marina to check out part of the Garden Walk.  We caught someone else enjoying dinner.

That bunny was going to town on the flowers, so cute!

In addition to the exciting exploration, we ended the night with a trip to Wegmans so I could do next week’s grocery shopping.  I know that sounds like a strange stop but since my parents live outside the continental US it was actually pretty exciting for them!

Bed.Time!

What was the highlight of your Saturday?

Prioritizing

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Today has been such fun!  It’s felt packed, but in the best way possible.  First things first, let me announce the CSN Stores giveaway winner –

Clare (#14) please send me an e-mail – emilyhwaxATgmail.com – so I can get you your prize.

This morning actually felt a little stressful; I way overslept and was trying to squeeze in lunch plans, a workout, apartment cleaning, showering, and being on time to pick my parents up from the airport.  I’m really proud of myself though because I made exercise a priority.  I realized that Katie wouldn’t be upset if I made our lunch date a maybe, and my parents wouldn’t care if the apartment was messy, but I would care if I skipped my run.  So I went!  And I ended up having time to (quickly) do everything else too.

I did cut my length though, which ended up being for the best because my calves were stupid tight.  I didn’t manage my times as much, just ran and walked whenever I needed to.  In the end I did ~1.6miles and 20minutes.

I kept my lunch date, and picked Katie up for a trip to Panera.

I did the half/half deal; half a strawberry, poppy seed, & chicken salad,

with half a turkey and artichoke pannini,

with an apple as my side.

The sandwich was gooey and crunchy and perfect but the salad was NOT good.  I ended up leaving 95% of my salad even though the other half of my tray was practically licked clean.

After dropping Katie off I went to the husband’s computer lab to print off airport directions; what, I’ve only lived in Buffalo a full year?!?  We had a fun time showing them the town, we hit up the mall, Target, Allentown, the Erie Marina, and finally had a fabulous dinner at Pearl Street Cafe.

There was a long wait so we went the bar so that my parents could try some of the microbrews.  I went the tall Johnny Walker Black and Coke route.

Drunk, drunk, drunk, drunk, drunk!  I did not eat enough today to functionally handle this big drink and the poor husband definitely dealt with me being a little loopy during dinner 😉

Foodwise my mommy and I split a small Chicken Cheddar Pizza.

It came with broccoli and black olives, a fantabulous combination.

I had this slice times 2 –

As well as a few big bites of Adam’s lobster ravioli.

It was a perfect “Welcome to Buffalo” dinner.

How do you make exercise a priority?

Sick of Showers

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I am sick of showering!  I took a show yesterday afternoon after working out, I took a shower last night before bed, and now I just got out of another one.  At least I have a good reason to be sudsing up – I was out getting my sweat on.  A run, a run, a glorious run; holy bananas did I miss running last year!

Since I haven’t worked out, you know at all, for the past year I’m pretty out of shape, but running makes me smile no matter how wheezy and like a dying walrus I look!  I’m trying to be smart and avoid another myriad of leg injuries so I’ll  try to space out my runs throughout the week and I’m throwing in lots of walking breaks.  Here was today’s workout –

  • 5minute warm up
  • 5minutes jogging
  • 3minutes walking
  • 5minutes jogging
  • 3minutes walking
  • 10minutes jogging
  • 5minute cool down

In total that’s 36minutes and ~3miles.  When I got home I spent 10minutes slooooowly stretching out on my yoga mat.

I tried to prolong the inevitable by browsing blogs, but finally I did go take a shower.  Which was good, because that meant it was breakfast time.

I piled up a serving of Van’s Minis Waffles and topped it with some berry topping…..and a crumbled cookie.

Yum!

On the agenda today is my magazine binder, a visit to Goodwill, and getting my car cleaned.  Also, watching a ton of Hulu because I missed tv while we didn’t have internet!

Running; like it, love it, or hate it?  Also alternately – showers; like ’em, love ’em, or hate ’em?

Silly Spiders, I’m Going to Smash You

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Someone came by the apartment yesterday to fix the oven –> fire alarm dilemma but when we tested that evening we were still treated to screeching.  I shed a few tears of frustration and we ended up staying up way too late.  The lack of sleep wouldn’t have been so bad, but I was still super hungry and I ended up doing a lot of snacking.  Two mini chocolate chip cookies,

a serving of sour cream and onion Goldfish crackers,

and a bowl of cereal.

This morning, awesomely, started with another man coming to deal with the alarms.  Victory!  Nothing’s ever tasted so sweet, except, I suppose, breakfast –

A serving of Van’s Belgian Waffles topped with the fruit topping I made yesterday.

Now our new apartment is practically perfect.  I’ll let my remaining complaint be illustrated by Natalie Dee –

I needed a rest day Monday after our weekend of moving but today I was ready for a workout.  I had to walk to campus to update my mailing address so I decided to check out my new gym.  I have to go back to fill out my registration forms later but they let me work out today anyway.  I realized once I got to the machines that I forgot my water bottle, but I forged ahead and had a pretty good workout anyways.  I decided to do a circuit of sorts with the cardio machines –

  • 10minutes on the elliptical; random, level 6
  • 10minutes on the recumbent bike; random, level 7
  • 10minutes on the treadmill; 5mins of running then 5 of walking
  • 10minutes on the elliptical; same
  • 10minutes on the recumbent bike; same
  • 5minutes on the stair climber; resistance 6
  • 5minutes on the treadmill; walking cool down

I made it through my 60minutes sans h2o but the walk home (15ish minutes) in the sun was brutal.  Rehydration was key.

A serving of Grape G-2 mixed with an equal amount of water.  I think during these summer months I’m going to place Gatorade (and/or coconut water) on our regular grocery list.

I spotted yet another spider!  I took a quick shower – didn’t even wash my hair because it’s so hot I’ll have to shower again before bed anyways, eww – and threw on the saddest outfit on Earth.

That used to be my favorite teaching shirt.  Now it’s the artist formerly known as “button-up” a.k.a “button up to my boobs and then gape awkwardly.”

I walked down to Elmwood to search for some lemon essential oil; I have to try some natural spider deterrents because the husband said I can NOT Raid-bomb our entire apartment.  I’ll let you know if I find something that works.  I’m blogging now because I stopped at The Spot for a large diet soda and free wifi.  I’ve got to hurry home, we’ve got someone coming to set up our internet, yay!

Do you know of any natural spider deterrents that are actually effective?