Fitness Friday

I know it's Saturday but Fitness Saturday doesn't sound good & I had every intention of doing this recap yesterday but it was a crazy day at work & then I just laid around.

Sunday I did the Burning Arms workout I've been doing. I really like it. I also added in a few things I found on Pinterest.

The workout was an hour & 4 minutes & I burned 152 calories. Not a ton but when I do weights my heart rate doesn't get up very high - see my average was 91. Not a bad thing. Cardio doesn't have to be done everyday.

Monday morning I walked with my friends.

It was cold. 3.24 miles in 51:11. We were a little faster than normal.

When I got home from work I rode my bike. The trainer is really coming in handy.

 

 

Tuesday morning was a weight day.

 

 

 

I've been doing the arm workout with 10 pound weights in each hand & then I use a 15 pound kettle bell for some other stuff.

After work I went for a run. I haven't been doing morning runs because it's been cold.

 

I had a good run. It was still cold but not like in the morning. I know people up north are really miserable but for us the 30's are plenty bad enough!

 

Wednesday was another 30 minute bike ride. I took the evening off and went to Bible Study with my neighbor friends. We're doing it once a week during Lent.

 

Thursday morning was a 40 minute weight workout & another run when I got home. My watch battery was dead so I don't have stats but I know I ran 3 miles. I just stuck with my normal route.

 

Friday morning I rode my bike again.

 

LSU had a baseball game Friday night but I didn't want to sit in the cold & shockingly neither did Dean. We went to Caliente instead. The seafood quesadilla was delicious!!!

 

I was really happy with my workouts this week. I just have to keep it up. We leave on our cruise in 84 days!

 

Toodles!

 

Sunday Funday!!

My Sunday Funday was on Saturday but that doesn't have the same ring to it. Saturday morning we were up bright & early for the Mardi Gras Mambo. Logan was racing in the 1 mile fun run at 7:30. 

He had such a good time. While me & his mom & dad ran he hung out with Dean.

This is me with my friend Denese. After running for years & lots of stress fractures she's become a speed walker. She even does marathons! I didn't realize my hat was all wonky. You'd think at least one of my peeps would've mentioned it.......

Allie did a run/walk combination for the 10K. with her friend Anne. She had such a good time that she signed up for a Half Marathon! 

Lydia & I both did the 10K & Scott did the 15K. My goal was to finish the 10K without him lapping me! Seriously. I finished the 10K in 1:04:44 which is a 10K PR for me. Of course this was only my 2nd 10K & the first one was this race last year & I had a bum foot & practically limped across the finish line in 1:05:55. The wind was so bad. I think I've mentioned that. Hurricane force I tell ya! The last 1.5 miles was tough because we had to go back over the dreaded overpass that I talk about in all the races & there was a head wind. Anyway, I finished the 10K in 1:04:40 & Scott finished the 15K in 1:09:11. I ran with Lydia for half the race & she finished in 1:07:40. 

Lydia, me, Allie, Scott, Anne & Logan. Anne is Allie's friend & Logan's new BFF. Kid never meets a stranger. 

This is one of my favorite races. They had so much good food after. Cake balls, jambalaya, boneless wings, pulled pork sandwiches, king cake, pasta salad, etc. 

Once the results were posted we saw that Logan won his age group & Scott came in 3rd in his so we had to stick around for the awards.  

Logan didn't know he won until they called his name.

Can you tell he was excited? The little girl in the flamingo costume was too cute! Since it's a Mardi Gras run they encourage costumes & have a contest. She won.

Logan won the hat. 

Scott won a gift card to Canes & this lovely beanie.

He liked the beanie, he hates cold weather. 

I had just decided that I was going to skip the LSU game because it was so windy. I also skipped the Friday games. The first one was at 2:00 & the second at 7:00. I couldn't take off work for the first one & it was too cold for the second one. Not long after I decided I wasn't going Saturday my bosses wife sent me a text wanting to know if we wanted suite tickets for the game. Her & my boss were going along with our friends Cliff & Sheri. I've never been to a suite so YES! 

I loved it. I wouldn't miss a game if I could be in a suite.

That's Jase Robertson from Duck Dynasty. The one in the purple with the beard. HA!  He threw out the first pitch & they're exchanging line up cards here.

That's Tiger Stadium behind the flags.

Dean & I in the suite after the game was over. Aside from not being able to feel the wind when you sat in the outside portion of the suite, there was a TV inside with the game on & food & drinks. There were hot dogs, chicken, nachos & all sorts of drinks. It was really nice. 

Sunday after Mass we went to Caliente for brunch. They don't normally serve brunch & she's thinking of adding it to the menu. I enjoyed it. 

The mimosa's were delish!!

How was your weekend?

Toodles!

Ash Wednesday

Mardi Gras is officially over & Lent has started. Growing up I wasn't Catholic but I sure wanted to be! It seemed that most of my friends were & they all got to go to CCD, give up stuff for Lent & weren't able to eat meat on Friday's. I thought it was great! Ha! Fast forward a bunch of years later & here I am, all Catholic & stuff. The Lent thing isn't so easy after all. The popular thing to do is to give up something. That's all fine & good but it usually ends up being something like Coke, candy, etc. Last year I gave up candy. I mostly only ate it at work. We have a candy bowl with GOOD candy & it was real easy to grab a piece every time I walked by. Considering how much water I drink & the fact that I have to walk by the bowl on the way to the bathroom it equaled a good bit of chocolate. So I gave it up. In previous years I would look forward to the end of Lent so that I could go back to whatever I gave up. Not this time. I have only had 1 piece of candy from the bowl since Ash Wednesday, 2014!! The only reason I ate it was because it was a 3 Musketeers & it's my most favorite candy. 

Rather than give something up some people vow to do something for Lent. Some people go to confession more regularly, some people are more intentional with their prayer life, etc. One year I went to Mass an extra time during the week. I would go on my lunch hour. I wouldn't mind doing that again but with the traffic in this town it's not possible for me to get back & forth to a Church at lunch. This year I decided that I wanted to go back to doing something. I'm going to learn to pray the Rosary. Being that I didn't grow up Catholic I've never learned this. I've been to a few funerals where it was done & I know the majority of the prayers, just not the order & the meaning behind the mysteries & things.

I bought this book on my Nook for .99.

How to Pray the Rosary with Scripture

There are even pictures! 

In typical me fashion I've already screwed up. Some very nice but non Catholic person in the office brought Chick fil a mini chicken biscuits today. I'm working on my willpower, well lack thereof & decided that I could eat one. Just one little tiny biscuit. They're so good. Well, several HOURS later it hit me all of a sudden. CRAP, IT'S ASH WEDNESDAY & I ATE MEAT! It was a really small piece & in the grand scheme of things it's not a huge deal but it kinda sucks that less than 5 hours into my day I'd already screwed up. I'm back on the wagon now!  

For tonight's dinner we'll be having eggplant lasagna. It is so good. My friend Cindy is running the Disney Princess 10K & Half (the Glass Slipper Challenge) this weekend as a charity partner for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. She's raised a ton of money & she wanted to do one last fundraising push so she's selling dinners. It's just to people in our subdivision & it's once a week. This is week 3. It's been fabulous! Y'all know I don't cook but now I don't even have to clean up. The first week was gumbo but we have that in the freezer so I didn't get it. Last week was lasagna. She delivered a 9x12 pan of lasagna that just had to be popped in the oven, along with bread & fruit for dessert. Last night was chicken enchilada's, rice & cookies. Monday she was testing an eggplant lasagna recipe for a vegetarian friend & Dean & I were guinea pigs. It was delicious. There was plenty left over so that's what's for dinner this Ash Wednesday. So Dean doesn't have to cook, neither of have to clean (aside from sticking stuff in the dishwasher) & money is raised for charity. It's a win win!

Is anyone giving up or doing anything for Lent?

Toodles!

Happy Fat Tuesday!

Today is Fat Tuesday, the last day of Mardi Gras. Which also means the last day for any king cake related stuff for me. That's a good thing. I've indulged quite a bit this month & it needs to stop. Summer's coming! Well, maybe. This morning is cold, cloudy & windy with a wind chill in the 20's. Yes I know compared to a lot of the country this is warm but it's soooo not warm for me! 

Friday night was opening night of the LSU Baseball season. Of course that means it's cold. I wore layers & stayed surprisingly warm. Allie & Jordan sat with us.

Me, Jordan & Allie

Allie, me & Dean

Me & Dean

I started getting cold in the 7th inning so I went home. 

As cold as it was Friday night, it was hard to believe how warm it was Saturday. We got up & ran errands & I went for a run when I got home. 

\

I was a little faster than normal. 5 mi. in 52 mins. I had on shorts & a tank top & when I was finished I was sweating like it was the middle of the summer & my poor face was beet red. Crazy weather. I wanted to run 6 miles but the LSU game was at 2:00 & I knew I didn't have time to go 6, eat, shower & get dressed in time so 5 it was.

We went to the game & left early to go to Mass. LSU was winning like 8-1 so we thought the game was in hand. The ended up winning something like 8-5 so it got a little interesting. 

We don't ever usually go out for Valentine's. Dean grilled steaks & asparagus. I splurged on a "good" bottle of wine at Christmas so we drank it.

Paraduxx was one of the vineyards we visited when we were in Napa. It was really good. 

Sunday my plan was to basically do nothing. It was supposed to be cool & windy so I was planning to skip the game. It was actually warmer than it was supposed to be & a little muggy. I skipped the game anyway.Cindy texted that she wanted to go for a walk so I went with her  & Sheri.  

After my walk, my parents came over for awhile. When Dean got home from the game we went to Caliente. We didn't go at all last weekend! 

My plan was to run Monday. The temp was going to be in the high 50's so it would be perfect. Plus, it was supposed to start raining & be cold for a couple of days. Well, the alarm went off & I couldn't get out of bed. Not only that, when it was my regular time to get up, I couldn't get out of bed. I just couldn't get going at all. Soooo, that meant I got up this morning & ran on the treadmill. I'm very thankful to have the treadmill option I just don't like it. I can't seem to get the speed right. I know that I run 5 miles in less than an hour but when I set the speed I feel like I'm running way faster. It's very weird.

So I ran 3.1 miles in 40 minutes! I'm not fast but I'm usually way faster than that. I'm focusing on the fact that I did it & I burned 364 calories!

Toodles!

Food & Stuff

I can't believe it's Thursday already! I'm not complaining. I know I shouldn't wish time away but I'm 1 week closer to tax season being over & getting my early Friday's back!

Friday was a rest day exercise wise. At this point I don't remember if it was planned or I didn't feel like getting out of bed. 

The accountant's & CPA's at work have a challenge during tax season. They all have goals to meet & if everyone meets the goal each week the firm provides lunch on Friday. I'm lucky because being that I'm an administrative asst. I don't have a goal but I get to reap the benefits. They've done a great job so far & we've had VooDoo BBQ & Sammy's. Both I really like. I had a shrimp poboy from Sammy's. Somehow I've never had one of theirs. Not sure how that's possible. I always talk about how great Roberto's is but Sammy's may be just as good. Good news for me because unlike Roberto's you can get a poboy at Sammy's at dinner not just lunch.

After work Friday I had to visit the Genius Bar at Apple. This was my first experience there. It was interesting. There were 25 employees. Yes, I counted because I was seeing blue shirts everywhere. My brand new phone has been losing the wifi connection. So annoying. Of course it was just like when you bring your car to the shop. It didn't do it one time while I was in the store. Ugh! Because my phone is under warranty they gave me a new one anyway. It still doesn't work perfectly which is annoying. After perusing google I've discovered that this is a common problem & has been for a couple of years. Lovely. 

Dean & I had dinner at LeRoy's. We had what they call Poutine for an appetizer.

.

It's french fries covered in roast, gravy & cheese. This wasn't something that I thought I would enjoy but it was sooooo good!!! For my meal I had an Oyster BLT.

Fried oysters, bacon, lettuce, tomato & caramelized red onion with a spicy mayo/tartar type sauce. The bread was really fresh. I had asiago cheese grits with it. So, so good!

Saturday morning I went for a run. I thought something was wrong with my Garmin. I'd charged it Thursday, didn't use it Friday & when I turned it on Saturday it said the battery was low & then proceeded to go completely dead.  I used my running app instead.

I laughed when I saw this. The app is never as accurate as the Garmin. I don't know why but it isn't. I know I didn't run 6 miles. That was what I supposed to run but there's no way I ran 6 miles in 47 min.  I don't usually run 5 in 47 mins. The app has never been off by that much. Not sure what was going on. After my run I did this workout. I use 10 lb. weights for a total of 20. I'm always confused when people say they used x number of weights. Do they mean in each hand or total?? I used a 10 lb. dumbbell in each hand.

Once I finished this I did some kettle bell swings & weighted squats.  

My chair & a half was delivered Saturday. Love it! I'll post pics when I remember to take a couple of decent ones.

Saturday night after Mass we met our friends Matt & Suzy for dinner at Bistro Byronz. We went to their new location. It was very cute. The main reason for going there is that they have king cake bread pudding. I felt like a salad & it was really good. It was called a Mediterranean salad with shrimp. It had grilled shrimp, artichokes, olives, tomatoes, all sorts of good stuff. I had them add avocado. I could go for one now. Even though it's not even 9:00 am.

I loved the bread pudding but nobody else did. Everyone else said it was just ok. They didn't like all the icing. To me that's the best part.

Once we got home we walked down to Jackie & Dennis'. It turned into a little mini party with the usual crew.  

Sunday I was sore when I woke up. I'm guessing it's from the squats. I wasn't planning on doing anything but Cindy wanted to go for a walk so I went with her.

It wasn't a strenuous workout but it burned some calories & got me off the sofa for a bit. The good news is my watch is working fine. I charged it again Sat. & there haven't been any other problems. The only thing I can figure is it wasn't fully charged the last time.

Monday I did the same weight workout from Saturday. I've been doing it pretty regularly. I  like it. Again, I threw in some weighted squats, sit ups & a couple of other things.

Tuesday morning Cindy & I ran. 

Wednesday was another weight workout & my arms are sore. 

This morning was supposed to be a run day. I was going to be by myself because Cindy was late getting home from her son's soccer game. For some reason I just wasn't feeling like running. I decided to make it a treadmill run. Note to self  - when you don't feel like running, DO NOT get on the treadmill, go outside. The treadmill is hard to begin with & when you don't feel like running it's just harder. Way easier to just step off.  If you're outside you can stop but you still have to walk home. I run much slower on the treadmill which isn't good because I'm not fast outside. I know I can set my speed but for some reason what feels like the right pace is slower. So today ended up being 2.5 miles of running & walking. 

I just wear my watch inside so I can see the calorie burn. The .08 shows the distance I went before my watch lost the satellite since I was inside. So my 2.5 mile run/walk took 39 minutes. Ugh. But I was moving & that's what's important.  My average heart rate wasn't very high either so I know I could've done more or gone faster. I could've just waited to run tomorrow outside since I didn't feel like it today but it's supposed to be 30 degrees in the morning so I know I didn't want to do that.

So as you can see not a lot has been going on this week but I've been great at getting out of bed when the alarm goes off. That's the hardest battle!

Toodles!

Finally Friday!

I don't really feel like this has been a slow week but yet all day Wednesday I thought it was Thursday so that makes it a little longer.

It stopped raining Wednesday afternoon so I was able to go for a run when I got home. I prefer to go in the morning but it's been cold. While I would much rather run in the cold than the heat, this year the cold seems to be getting to me much more than normal. Hence the after work run. 

5K in 35:22. That's slow, even for me but I got it done.

Thursday morning I rode my bike before work. I really love the trainer thing. I do need to get the office cleaned out so I can move it in there. Currently it's sitting part way in the living room & part way in the kitchen so that I can watch TV while I ride. Not ideal. Especially since I'd like to leave it set up since it's cold. Of course there's no TV in the office so that's a problem too. I'd like to put a TV in there but that requires another receiver from Directv.Something else to figure out. 

One of the blogs I read is  Mommy Run Fast. She's hosting a 5 by the 5th where you run either a 5K or 5 miles by the 5th of each month & there are prizes! I did 5 miles Sunday afternoon. Guess what? I won a Spibelt! 

This morning I was supposed to get up & do weights. That didn't happen. I couldn't make myself get out of bed. I didn't even get up at my regular, non workout time of 5:30. I haven't been sleeping well the last month or so but this week has been better. 

I went to the Allergist the other day & had allergy testing done. I was surprised by the outcome. I'm allergic to dust mites & mold & had a slight reaction to pollen. I was really expecting much more. So I'm taking new meds & have been given strict instructions to cover my mattress, box springs & pillows with covers. My Doctor said they work great. We'll see I guess.

The most exciting thing happening this weekend is that my chair and a half will be delivered tomorrow. What about y'all? Anything fun planned?

Toodles! 

The Dream Is Over

Some of you may not know that today is National Signing Day for college football. Normally, this would be no big deal to me. I'm not one of those people that waits with baited breath to find out where an 18 year old is going to play football. The whole process really annoys me. They commit to a school then continue to take free trips to other schools. Sometimes they change their mind, sometimes they don't. A lot of the time they don't have the grades & don't end up at the school anyway. It's just a big hoorah for nothing. HOWEVER, this year I had a little rooting interest in one of the kids. His name is Cordell Broadus. Ring any bells?? No offense but I doubt any of the people reading this have a clue. Cordell would be Snoop Doggs son! LSU was in his top 5 list of schools. Now if you've been reading my blog for any length of time you'll know that I have a weird obsession with Snoop. In case you don't remember Valentines Day 2014 was spent at a Snoop concert with my 21 year old neighbor. Anyway, we know people in the LSU Athletic Dept. & this was going to be my chance to FINALLY meet Snoop. If his son is playing football here, I know he'll be around.  I mean if I can't meet Matthew McConaughey I'll take Snoop. 

So today as I was checking my twitter feed there it was. The most disappointing news of the day. Cordell committed to UCLA! NO! We've been watching their show Snoop & Son. It's all about the recruiting process & Cordell said he wanted to get out of L.A. to get out from his dads shadow. UGH!!! UCLA is like right there! Hence the whole University of California LOS ANGELES!! You can't really get much more IN the shadow than that. 

Oh well, I hear McConaughey is filming a movie in town in May. 

Saturday my furniture was delivered. Well, the sofa & recliner. The chair & a half came in this week & will be delivered Saturday. I'll post pics when I have everything. I really like it so far.

Friday night we had dinner at Caliente & Saturday was dinner at Roberto's. I needed to have king cake bread pudding.

Yummo!!

After dinner we stopped at the grocery store to pick up some stuff to bring to the Super Bowl party. I just happened to see this.

It's really good! Luckily they only had it in the pint size. 

Sunday I managed to squeeze in a run.

5 miles - the longest I've ran in awhile. 

Then it was the Super Bowl party down the street. There was tons of good food & this

I'd seen this in the store but didn't buy it because I wasn't sure what to mix with it. Apparently, soda water or Sprite. I had it with soda water & it was really good. It reminded me of a melted wedding cake snow ball. 

Monday evening I went to dinner with Allison at a new restaurant in town called The Velvet Cactus. I had shrimp tacos. I felt like I was cheating on Caliente & I felt even more guilty because it was really good. The good news is it isn't convenient & I'm a maw maw & can't deal with traffic so chances are it's not going to cut into our Caliente time. Now, I may have to talk to the bartender at Caliente & see if he can replicate this

If you guessed King Cake Martini you're right!! 

People think I'm over the top with the king cake love but seeing as how I only have a short window of time for all the king cake treats, I have to make the most of it. I know of 2 other restaurants that make king cake bread pudding. I'm hoping to try both. The cake ball place makes king cake cake balls. & they're a sponsor of the Mardi Gras Mambo race I'm doing so I'll have them then.The funny thing is I'd rather any one of these king cake treats over an actual king cake. Don't get me wrong, they're good, it's just hard to find a great one.

Toodles!