Thoughts

I'm happy to report workouts & eating have been good this week. I've been to 2 Yoglates classes. Yesterday, I ran 4 miles, did 50 squats & an upper body weight workout. Tomorrow is another 4 mile run. That's leading up to 6 long miles Sunday which has me kinda scared.

I made quinoa salad the other night. I put tomatoes, olives, carrots, red onions & bell pepper in it this time.

Very good! Dean baked chicken & I cooked squash.
It was good too. I've had squash leftovers the last 2 days at lunch. I've been wanting to buy a spaghetti squash & try it but the fruit stand doesn't have any. At least I don't think they do. They don't have anything named "spaghetti squash", they have "butternut squash" that looks a lot like it. Any chance they're the same thing?

My brother heard somewhere that local honey helps with allergies. After being sick on vacation yet again I decided to try it. It can't hurt.
Supposedly, 1 tablespoon a day is all you need. I've been putting it in my coffee.

Last night I didn't feel like chicken leftovers so I had scrambled eggs with deli turkey & an avocado.
It may seem weird but it was like an omelet just not pretty. I was being incredibly lazy last night so the eggs were cooked in the microwave & everything else was just thrown in.
I had whole wheat toast with peanut butter to go with it. I love having breakfast for dinner.

I was reading Tina's blog the other day & she had a recipe for a smoothie that I thought sounded good.
- 1 frozen banana
- 1/2 ripe avocado
- 1.25 cups almond milk (I use unsweetened vanilla)
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon (I never measure cinnamon I just sprinkle it in)

I blended it all up in my Magic Bullet & it was delicious! I've always wondered about smoothies with avocados & spinach & kale. I just don't think I want to drink any of it especially at breakfast. Well, the smoothie tasted like banana. I plan to buy some spinach & try one of the green smoothies everyone talks about.

I have lots of weird little food things about me. Like when I eat cereal I only want a tiny bit of milk in the bowl because I don't want the cereal to get soggy. Well, now that I've been drinking almond milk I don't have that problem. I've been buying Cascadian Farms granola cereal (LOVE LOVE LOVE - seriously could probably eat the whole box in one sitting but that would totally negate the health benefits of granola), anyway, when I eat it I want to eat cereal like a normal person with a bowl of milk. I never use to likedpeanut butter unless it was with Chocolate like a peanut butter cup. Any of y'all do weird things like that?

Another thought I'm having right now is about the $629 I have to pay for my mammogram & ultrasound that I had in January. UGH! I have a job & pay for health insurance & I still have to pay that. So annoying. Insurance is such a racket. Do you know how many things I could buy with $629??? At LEAST 629 different things.

Toodles!

The Story of My Life

Is there an almond shortage?? This is one of my favorite things ever!

I've bought it at Walmart for 2 years. It was $4.75 a jar & then all of a sudden about a month ago the price jumped to $6 something or other. WOW but I'm still buying it. Then they're out. Not a complete surprise. It's happened before. Then the next week they were still out, then the next week & then this appeared on the shelf.

Hmmmm. Still no plain almond butter. We went to Target. They have it but it's almost $8 a jar. Sorry but no. If they have it Walmart will get it again right? Apparently not. I sucked it up & bought the Maple stuff to try. Not a fan. It's not awful but it taste way more like Maple than almond. The texture is a little strange too. We stopped at Walmart in Pass Christian over the weekend & they didn't have the plain stuff either. Dean & Matt had to go to Walmart in another part of Mississippi & Dean thought to check there. No luck. What's the deal??? I really need Trader Joe's to speed up the building process. From what I hear their almond butter is the best. Don't waste your money on Jif. I tried it & wasn't a fan. I'm not going to be a happy camper if this stuff is discontinued. Anyone remember the brownie sundae at McDonald's?? Yeh that's because it was discontinued. Along with various other things that I've loved over the years. Story of my life.

Speaking of food. I tried this for the first time last night.
I've never tried any Chobani Greek Yogurt. I always buy Oikos. Not sure why. I think I read about it on a blog so I tried it. Greek Yogurt isn't my favorite thing but I'll eat it. I read on Carrots 'n Cake about the Pineapple Chobani & how good it is. Here's the thing. I like pineapple filling in cake, I like pineapple juice in a mixed drink but I don't like pineapple plain. I was hoping this would somehow taste like cake with pineapple filling. Yeh, that didn't happen but it was good. It had real pieces of pineapple in it. I like the Chobani yogurt better than Oikos. It seems creamier & doesn't have an after taste. I want to try some other flavors. Any suggestions?

I've been battling sinus issues & the fact that I didn't want to get up at 4:45 during my vacation led to a brief Yoglates break last week. I still ran, swam laps & did some weights though so I wasn't a total slacker.  This morning I got back into the Yoglates habit. I know I say this over & over but it's so hot in that studio. UGH! Tomorrow I have a 4 mile run on the schedule. I'm hoping I can fit the whole 4 miles in before work. That's my goal!

Toodles!

Pass Christian

Warning: This post contains about 3,654 pictures.

Dean & I have good friends that have built a second home on the bay in Pass Christian, MS. They call it a camp but I refuse to do so because this is NOT a camp. It's a very nice house. We went Thursday & spent the weekend with them.
This is the view from the balcony. It's so peaceful. I spent some time here reading & eating breakfast.

Friday morning Dean & Matt went fishing. Suzy & I went for a run, not together because Suzy is one of those 7 minute mile runners. I'm excited to say that I managed a 4 mile run in an area I'm not familiar with & managed to not get lost! My sense of direction is lacking. Dean had his phone out & showed me the subdivision on the map so I'd have an idea of where I needed to be. It worked! My time was 44:14. I had 2 miles that were under 11 minutes. That's very exciting for me!!! I enjoyed the new scenery. There were some beautiful houses.
This was my view when I got back. I grabbed some breakfast & a Poweraid & then swam some laps.

For those of you that don't know these are crab traps. I went with the guys to put them out.

They used raw chicken for bait. GROSS!

This is some sort of Styrofoam ball that's attached to the trap so you know which ones are yours when you go to check them.

Later Friday night we went for a boat ride. Most of the houses on the bay are really pretty. This isn't a great pic but this house was so pretty & soooo big! The people that own it live in New Orleans & this is their second home.

This one was my favorite. The front is gorgeous too. It has lots of palm trees.

These sunsets are why Matt & Suzy chose the lot they did. So pretty!

I'm not sure if you can see through the trees but there's a boat in there. You can see the poles that held the sails. This area was hard hit by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 & this is where someone's boat landed. Because of where it is there's no way to get the boat out. It's kind of spooky.

I was playing with the different settings on my camera but I thought this was a cool looking picture.

One very small crab in the trap! They hadn't been out long. We just wanted to see if we caught anything.

This is the view of Matt & Suzy's house from out in the bay. The storm surge from Hurricane Katrina was above the louvers all the way to the bottom  of the 1st floor. That's so amazing to me. Matt & Suzy just built their house last year which is why it's as high as it is.
I've decided I need a hammock. I told Dean he needs to figure out how to hang one on my patio under the ceiling fans. I'm sure he'll get right on that.
Saturday morning while the boys were fishing, Suzy & I went for a walk. We walked all through their subdivision looking at all of the houses. We walked for an hour & a half, close to 5 miles.

Since the fish weren't biting we went out to dinner in Bay St. Louis at Trapani's.
I'm not sure what my fixation with blue drinks is but this was called a Blue Marlin Martini. Yum!
Dean had the soft shell crab with all sorts of stuff on top of it. I don't like soft shell crabs but Dean said it was very good.
I had the Eggplant Delacroix. It was fried eggplant topped with grilled shrimp in some sort of delicious sauce. I ate EVERY BITE!!

Pass Christian is only about 2 hours from Baton Rouge so it's easy to go for a weekend. It was a great way to end our vacation!

Toodles!

Vacation!

Dean & I are off this week. YAY!! We don't have any plans, we're just hanging out. Saturday we ran a few errands & did some work in the yard. You may remember our uninvited guest from Memorial Day.
He won't be visiting again. I almost passed out during the process of murdering him. I swear this is the snake that wouldn't die. At one point I had him pinned down with one shovel while Dean was attempting to decapitate him with another.

We know this is the same snake from Memorial Day because my brother knew he'd sliced into his tail. You can see the wound in the above pic. Trust me, it didn't slow him down any.

Sunday was Father's Day so we spent the day in the pool & eating. Dean cooked for our parents, his mawmaw & my brother & sis in law & Logan.

Logan, Dean & Scott all going after the diving sticks.

Logan took swimming lessons for the first time a few weeks ago. He was showing us how he can swim now. It's really amazing what they can teach them in 8 days!
Logan loves to get a prize. So this was his prize for showing us what he learned at swimming lessons.
He kept telling us "it's a really really big turtle".
He wanted us both on the turtle so here we are.
Someone enjoyed his cupcakes.
What is this you ask?? This is one of the best things I've ever eaten - Crawfish Pie!!! Dean's mom made it with fresh crawfish that Dean's dad caught. Sooooo good!

Sunday morning I had another 5 mile run. I set the clock for 6:00. I wanted to eat a little something & drink some water before the run. I had half an english muffin with peanut butter. The run went really, really well. So much better than last week.  I had a pedicure Friday afternoon & a guy did it which I don't really care for but he did a great calf massage. I think it probably loosened me up some. I even felt great after the run & yesterday!
That would be calories burned!

Sunday night was LSU's first game in the College World Series. What a bummer. They lost.

Monday we went & saw The Hangover III. It was funny! I liked it better than the second one.

Today we cleaned the closet (I'll have pics later), had lunch at Walk Ons, Yogurtland for dessert & now we're watching LSU's game. They're losing again. sigh.

Toodles!

Suck It Up Buttercup!

These days are back.

Not a good pic but the 100 degrees is what I wanted you to see. Let's not even talk about the humidity. Seriously, it's awful!!!!

Sunday morning I had big plans. The alarm was set for a little before 6:00 so I could run before the aforementioned heat became unbearable. I had to run 5 mi. YIKES! I was scared but my friend Cindy was going to run at least 3 miles of that with me. She just finished her 3 or 4th Triathlon! Yeh, well, you know what they say about the best laid plans. I woke up to thunder & rain. Great. I know there's a chance that I'll have to run in the rain when I run the actual half marathon but I wasn't subjecting myself to thunder & a storm. It's important to stay on my schedule especially for the long runs. I need to do those on the weekends when I don't have to get to work. Luckily, about 10:00 the storms were gone. There were more expected later so I was hoping for a nice cloudy run. That did not happen. Bright, shiny, hot sun the entire run but I did it. I may have felt like dying the last mile but I did it.

Pay no attention to the May 26 date. That's the only thing I don't like about this program/app. You have to enter the date of your race & it counts back to tell you when to start. I guess most people don't start 7 or 8 months prior to a race. Y'all know I always talk about how I'm faster when I run once the sun is up? Really weird to me because it's hotter then too. Anyway, my splits were about the same as they are when I run a shorter distance. I was happy to see that. After my run I got straight into the pool. Yep, I had my swimsuit bottoms on under my running shorts & a sports bra makes for a perfectly acceptable swim top. HA! I assure you that wouldn't happen if I was anywhere other than in my backyard. While I was in the pool I swam laps.

Monday was a true rest day. I didn't do any exercise at all. However, I was starving all day! I tried not to go crazy but I'm wondering if I'm eating enough. How weird is that? I need a dietitian or someone who knows about these things to help. 

Tuesday I went to Yoglates. Monday night I saw on FB that my normal teacher wasn't going to be there. The "crazy chick" was teaching. She's the one that's 25, skinny, skinny, runs marathons & apparently thinks everyone in class is the same. I did not want to go. I immediately started trying to rearrange my schedule. It wasn't going to work though. Dean told me to "Suck it up & go". So that's what I did. It was rough & it was hot & watching her in yoga pants, 2 shirts & a sweatshirt in a 90 degree room was almost enough to make me keel over but 45 minutes & 444 calories later I was done. I'm glad I went though. She said she'd be teaching that particular class quite a bit this summer so it looks like I'm stuck with her.

Today was another run. This time only 3.5 mi. Easy peasy after 5 mi. right? Yeh, not so much. 76 degrees with 97% humidity isn't fun.
Slow today. Well, slower than normal but again I did it & while I'd like to be faster I'm not stressing out about it. I'm 39 years old & have never been anything close to an athlete, I'm lucky I'm running at all. The good thing about the run is this
That's calories burned. I would really like a Garmin or Polar or one of those other fancy watches with the heart rate monitor &GPS. Mine only has the heart rate monitor. That would be a good birthday gift. Never in a million years did I expect to want a running watch for my 40th birthday. Or anything else exercise related for that matter. I always envisioned diamonds.....which would still be nice too.

I spent some time like this the last few nights.
I'm trying to prevent shin splints. Although, they're a little sore today. This is also me being too lazy to fill up the ice pack with ice.

In honor of my 5 mi. run & yoglates with the crazy chic I've rewarded myself with this.

Who would've ever thought I'd want this as a reward?????

Toodles!

Somewhere in Middle America

I mentioned that my weekend would be spent at Alex Box Stadium. Luckily, it was just Friday night & Saturday night.

I didn't take this pic. I got it from LSU's FB page. Pretty cool looking. Friday night was THE BEST game that I've seen in a long, long time. It definitely lived up to all the hype. Not to mention the game only lasted 2:18. That rarely happens. We were able to make it to a friends birthday party before it got too late.
Saturday I spent a lot of time in the pool before the game. This game wasn't nearly as good or as short. There was a 52 min. rain delay without any rain too.  LSU won & that was awesome! Next up.....
Somewhere in Middle America..... GEAUX TIGERS!!!

How was y'alls weekend?

5 on Friday!!!

In honor of it being Friday I'm linking up with the ladies at The Good Life.

 

1. I told y'all I was celebrating National Running Day with Yogurtland.
Cheesecake & Red Velvet Cake Batter with cheesecake bites, mini M&M's & crushed up Reeses. I told myself I was going to get fresh strawberries. Alas, my hand went directly for the candy.

2. I love having pretty nails. You can have your hair in a ponytail & no makeup on but if your nails look pretty you look more put together. I'd taken a break from my beloved gel nails but I went back to them yesterday.
A very light, shimmery pink is what I was in the mood for.
It's called Pink-A-Doodle
The finished product! Anyone read palms out there?? Please tell me all of those lines don't just mean I'm getting old.
3. I was happy, happy, happy when I saw this offer on Facebook

Starbucks for a buck??? YES PLEASE!!!

4. It's Super Regionals in Baton Rouge!
LSU vs. Oklahoma baseball, Nola vs Gray, best of 3 goes to Omaha. It should be fun!

5. When I'm not at LSU this weekend I plan to be in the pool.
There are some weeds to be pulled - I think I could do that every single day - but a lot of my time will be spent on a float with my Nook!

Have a great weekend!

Toodles!