Monday, March 30, 2015

Monday Again

That's a creative title right? It is what it is. Same old thing. The weekends go by too fast. I feel like all I do lately is post about workouts. Clearly there's not much happening in the Blanchard household. 

One day last week was arm day. 


I did these 2 workouts before work. I try not to get discouraged that weights don't burn as many calories during the workout. I mean 175 for 50 minutes isn't awful but it's not as much as cardio. There were other workouts during the week too. One afternoon I skipped the stop at Starbuck's on the way home to try & beat the rain & get my run in. I managed 2 miles. Not awful. I finished in less than 20 minutes so it turned into a nice little speed workout. I think it was Tuesday that I did a 4 mi. run after work. I ran mile 4 in 8:01. Yes, I felt like I was going to die when I finished but I did it. I've never ran that fast before. 

Friday night we went to the LSU game. It was cold again & by the end of the 7th I was too cold to sit & watch anymore so I went & sat in the truck. No big deal, only 2 innings left. Yeh, right. They played 12. I actually fell asleep in the truck. Then they lost. I realize you can't win every game. My issue is that if you're going to lose, lose in 9.  

Saturday we went to Central for t-ball. Logan's team made it to the Championship Game of the opening season tournament. The game was supposed to be last Sunday but it was rained out. 


It's so cute & frustrating to watch them! 


Logan's team won & each player got a medal. 


After the game Dean & I ran errands. Of course we didn't think it would take as long as it did & the next thing you know it had been 6 hours since I'd eaten. Here's the thing. I'm a lot like a baby. I get cranky if I don't have enough sleep & if I'm not fed regularly. 6 hours is not regularly for me. I'm one of the eat 5 times a day people. After much debate about where I wanted to eat we ended up at Caliente. Why do we even discuss it? 


Now, I'm a happy camper. It was a gorgeous day in Baton Rouge so we sat on the patio. I could not stop eating salsa. After our 3:30 lunch we went home & I managed to get a nap in. Then it was time for the LSU game. They managed to win & not go to extra innings. Although the real highlight of the game was the grounds crew dancing to Shake It Off. 

Yesterday, we were up early for Palm Sunday Mass. The LSU game was at 11:00 so after Mass we went to Another Broken Egg for breakfast. I don't remember what this was called but basically it was an egg, black bean, chorizo & cheese burrito with salsa, sour cream & guacamole. Really good.


I'm beginning to think I have a problem with Mexican food. For so long I didn't like anything but a taco salad so maybe I'm just making up for lost time.

After breakfast we finally made it to Starbuck's. I've only been trying to get there since they announced the Birthday Cake Frappuccino Thursday. 


I thought it totally lived up to the hype. It reminded me so much of a wedding cake snowball. I didn't get whip because I try to save calories where I can but I found out later that since it's a birthday cake frap they use pink whipped cream! Bummer that I missed that. Today is the last day they're serving it. I kinda want to stop on my way home from work.

I decided that I'd had enough baseball for one weekend & I wanted to get a run in before it got too hot so I stayed home & Dean went to the game.

So, running's a funny thing. I didn't run Friday or Saturday & when I started yesterday my legs felt heavy which is weird. They should've been rested. I wanted to run 4 miles. After the first mile I wanted to quit & told myself I just needed to do 3. Then I started feeling better. I try not to look at my watch too much because that just makes the run longer. The first time I looked it was at 3.67 mi. OK cool, I can do 4 right? Well, that's the funny thing, then I was like oh I'm doing 5 & I did. 


Once I got home I did some leg work. I'm trying to do a ton of strength training in hopes that I won't get injured training & that maybe I'll actually get faster. So for 48 mins. I did squats & lunges & all sorts of stuff. Then I took a nap. I don't feel guilty napping when I've worked out!

So glad I didn't go to the game because they went to extra innings again & lost again. 

When Dean came home he cut the grass & I pulled weeds. It's no where close to being finished but at least I started. I wore my watch & heart rate monitor to see how many calories I burned.


The pic is dark but I was outside 1:08 & burned 148 calories. 

The 4:30 alarm went off much too quickly this morning. Today was arm day. 


I got it done. Maybe my extra leg work is helping because I'm not sore at all from yesterday's run & workout.

Toodles!

Monday, March 23, 2015

Another Monday

I really do need a day between Saturday & Sunday. 

I didn't share last week that Dean was in The Netherlands & contrary to what someone I know thought, The Netherlands is not near where the Patriots play. Yes, I know. Anyway, I got fussed at by several friends for posting on FB that he made it because then everyone knew I was home alone. He left Sunday & came home Friday. I don't enjoy being home alone. At all. 

Tuesday afternoon I went for a run.


It was hot! Since we're all registered for the Wine & Dine Half & the provide wine at the finish line we have to train for that as well.


I had a glass after I had some water. 

I went to dinner with friends Thursday night. 


It was happy hour at Lava Cantina. The mango margarita was good but it took 25 minutes to get to the table. I always feel like I'm cheating on Caliente when I eat Mexican somewhere else but this was closer for everyone to meet. Of course when it takes 25 mins. for a margarita then I'm really annoyed that we aren't at Caliente. They have us spoiled.

I hadn't gone walking with my friends in awhile so I did that Friday morning. 


Again, it was hot. I should say it was just really, really humid & muggy.

Dean got home about 5:45 Friday evening. YAY!!! We went to Caliente for Jeff's birthday.


A birthday shot, Mexican food, margarita's & bundtlets. It was a good night. 

Logan's t-ball season started this weekend. They won Friday night so they played at 10:15 Saturday morning. 


on deck


He got a hit!


That's Logan sliding into home. That's his thing. I guess he just wants to get dirty. 





Bulldogs win & go to the Championship which was supposed to be Sunday but it was rained out so they'll play next weekend.

After the game we went to eat at Johnny's Pizza. Logan was so funny. We told him we were going to eat & he said "The whole family? We're going to all  sit at the same table?" He was so excited! We had a good lunch & he told us about how much fun he had in Disney. He was not a fan of It's a Small World. When Dean asked how he liked it he immediately said "BORING!!". 

After lunch it was home to do yard work. Well, Dean did yard work while I went to Lowe's to buy stuff to deal with our pool which was a lovely shade of green. That stuff works quick because this morning it was a lovely shade of blue. 

Dean brought these home from Amsterdam. 



They're so good! 


Aren't they pretty?

Yesterday I went for a run.


I wanted to go more than 4 miles but I thought I had a t-ball game to go to so I didn't have enough time. Then it was rained out. Oh well.

Since I didn't have anywhere to be I did a leg workout.


Pretty good that I burned almost 200 more calories. 

Dean enjoys cooking, everyone knows that. Dean also enjoys BBQ. Dean also tends to cook more than we need. This is what we ended up with Sunday.


Burgers, chicken, ribs, sausage & who knows what else. Did I mention I'm not a huge fan of leftovers after about a day? 

How was your weekend?

Toodles!

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Guess What??


I'm going to Disney World!!!


I'm going with Cindy & 2 of her friends to run the Wine & Dine Half Marathon! I'm soooo excited! I've been wanting to do a Disney run. I'd love to do the Princess Half but it's during tax season so it would be difficult to take off work. 


We're going to stay at The Caribbean Beach Resort.


Pretty huh?

After perusing the Wine & Dine Facebook page there are a lot of very unhappy people. The race sold out in less than 45 minutes. This is unprecedented apparently & people aren't happy. I'm just very thankful we were able to get in. Anyone else running Wine & Dine?

Toodles!

Monday, March 16, 2015

Monday Musings


At the LSU game in honor of the National Guardsmen from Louisiana that were killed last week.


Saturday morning was a long overdue hair morning. 


This looks like the old school dryers but it's actually a steamer. You sit under that & the steam processes your highlights. There's definitely a alien look to it.

We went to Mass & then to eat at Caliente. We FINALLY had a beautiful day & were able to eat on the patio.



I had fajitas & my last Jose Special made by Jose & I didn't even know it! Jose is moving on. He tried to teach Eric how to make it but Eric's doesn't turn out right although Eric thinks it's perfect. #notafanoferic

I guess Jose didn't want a big deal made about him leaving because he didn't even tell us. We found out after we left. 

I'll be drinking mango margaritas on the rocks from here on out.


This is Analiss, the owner's baby. It was our first time to meet her. She's so cute!

After Caliente we went to the LSU game. That was a nightmare. After leading most of the game, Ole Miss tied it up in the 9th. Lovely. They played 14 innings & LSU lost. That's annoying. If you're going to lose, lose in 9.

Sunday was a lazy day until Fleet Feet's St. Patrick's Day 3.17 race. 



Me & Karen ran & Allison cheered us on. My eyes look like that because the sun was BRIGHT & it was HOT! Like 80 degrees hot. I'm ready for spring but not summer & not when I'm running.



That's me & a new PR - 30:39. About 2.5 seconds after this picture was taken I was sitting on the curb hoping the nauseousness would go away. HA! Like I said, it was hot. I also only beat my PR by 6 seconds. My 5K PR is 30:45 & this was 3.17 mi. so it was a tad longer. As I was approaching the finish line I was trying to go fast because I knew how close I was. That led to the nausea. Thank goodness Allison was there because she held my bag that had a towel & wet wipes in it. After that & a cup of NUUN I was all good. We moved on the post race party & had some Salad Shop food. It was good! 

Something occurred to me yesterday - pizza is the perfect post run food and nobody ever has pizza at a post race party. I've been craving pizza for a few days so I stopped at Little Caesar's on the way home. It hit the spot!

While I was running Logan, Lydia & Scott were at the LSU game. 




This pic just makes me laugh. He's so serious.



Logan wanted Mark Laird's autograph because he "made an awesome catch" Saturday night & Logan told him so. Have I mentioned Logan's never met a stranger?? 

This morning was leg day.
 

The final results of the race were posted online.  4th in my age group & 13th overall female isn't bad. It's a small race but I'll take it!
 
Toodles!

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Tired & Sore

Yep, that's me. But a rest day is coming. No workouts Saturday. I slept "in" until 5:30 Monday because the time change messed me up & I was awake awhile during the night. I'll never understand why that happens. 

Monday night was the first night of the Lenten Mission at our church & it was so good. 
A Priest from another Church did the mission & he's so relatable & easy to understand. 

Tuesday, I got up & did this kettlebell workout.


I really liked this workout. It was tough & I was sweating!


I burned 165 calories in 37 minutes. Not great but not bad either. I'm still sore! Wednesday I did an arm, leg, ab combo. 

Thursday I went back to this arm workout.


It's tough & always makes me feel like I'm doing something.


I found this workout on Pinterest so I did it this morning. It was tough but I did it. I took longer than 15 minutes to do it but that's ok. It's done.


I added a few other leg exercises too. 


I'm not a fan of burpees. At all. They're a necessary evil though. 


Tomorrow morning will be an arm workout & then yay for a rest day Saturday!! I have a hair appointment so that will be relaxing. I love a good head massage!

Toodles!

Monday, March 9, 2015

The Weekend

This one was a busy one. Friday night Dean, Cindy & I ate at Caliente & then Cindy & I went to the last LSU home gymnastics meet of the season. I've never been before but I've been wanting to go. Cindy has a friend with season tickets that couldn't go so we were able to use her tickets. We had really good seats. We picked a great night to go. Over 13,000 people were there. It was a record crowd. LSU won with a record score, it was Senior night & we got to see 3 perfect 10's! 2 on the vault & 1 on floor exercise.

This is Llominicia Hall. She's a senior & puts on a show with her floor exercise.
This wasn't her first 10 with this routine. So fun!  Something I noticed was that these aren't the little gymnasts that I expected. These girls have serious muscles. 

Saturday morning was the Komen Race for the Cure. Lydia got a team together for Logan's Pre K Teacher last year. She's going through chemo now. She had a team of 25 & they raised $1200.  It was FREEZING Saturday morning but it was fun.  

These two. No words I swear.


Logan & Lucy Ann love each other. They held hands the entire time. It's the cutest thing ever.


Thank goodness for the sun or we would've frozen to death. Lydia & I walked with the team. There were so many people there was no way we could've ran. This year there was a different option & you could pay more & get a timing chip & participate in the timed race but they limited the time to 30 minutes. Scott did that option because Mr. Competitive isn't going to just run when there's an actual race to be ran. He was first in his age group & 10th overall. 

More hand holding.


Then when you said let's take a picture you got this


Is that not the cutest thing ever???


Allie came too. Don't we look cold?

More hand holding.
At one point Logan had a girl on each side holding hands with him. These kids kill me & they're all so adorable!

After the race I went to my parents to visit, then to Mass & then to meet Allison for dinner at Bistro Byronz. Fun night but I ate entirely too much. Dean went to Mississippi to help a friend bring a refrigerator to their camp so I got in all my girl time while he was gone.

Sunday I had a lazy morning before going to meet Vicki for lunch at the Velvet Cactus. The shrimp tacos were amazing but I wasn't a fan of the beans at all. 

Since the Komen walk was sooooo slow - I'm talking 1:09 to walk 3.1 miles slow & with the food that I'd eaten, I knew I needed to run so off I went when I got home from lunch. 


I got in 5 miles & then I went to lakes to walk/run/mostly walk some more. Allie is training for her first half marathon & she's recovering from an Achilles injury so we were taking it slow. 


But we got in another 4 miles so I was excited about that. Of course going home & eating Girl Scout cookies kinda messed it all up. Oh well. I'll get back at it tomorrow.

Tonight is the first night of a Lenten Mission at Church that I'm excited about. A young Priest in our Diocese is leading. He's training for the Boston Marathon & the mission has a running theme. Should be fun. 

How was y'all's weekend?

Toodles!