It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like September…

Everywhere you go… (cue Bing Crosby).

I am a nerd when it comes to back to school time. I am aware of this. Going back to school early and setting up my classroom has always been fun for me. Again…nerd. That being said, I spent practically the whole day in my room setting up. Here are some pics:

From the front door looking back. The banner above the closets says “Shoot for the moon – even if you fall, you’ll land among the stars.” It’s probably one of my favorite things on earth. That’s from the back looking toward the windows. Another inspirational quote on my desk: “Your teacher’s goal is simple – to help you reach yours!”

From the back corner where my desk is, looking toward the front. My fave Vera Bradley lunch bag on my desk makes me happy. I'm not gonna lie, I would be a pretty happy camper if I was a kid and this was my classroom. Don' t you agree?

Breakfast

This morning I made a green monster. I’m making an effort to get rid of all of the produce in my fridge as we’re going away this weekend. More on that tomorrow.

In the mix:

• organic baby spinach
• 1 cup almond milk
• 5 sliced strawberries
• 1 frozen banana
• 1 T almond butter
• 1 T Amazing Meal
• 1 T ground flax

Morning Snack/Lunch

I packed a snack and lunch to have in my classroom. Snack was a CLIF Zbar (honey graham…yum). Lunch was a TJ’s organic Greek yogurt (vanilla), blueberries and strawberries and Nature’s Path hemp granola and a ruby red grapefruit.

Afternoon Snack

Small piece of a blueberry crisp (new flavor to me…and YUM) CLIF bar. I bought it while picking up shampoo, lotion, etc. and got HANGRY in the car on the way home, so I dove in.

Dinner

I had every intention of making shrimp for dinner tonight. As you can see, that did not happen. I stopped in a few stores on my way home from school, then met my friend at a local country club for a meeting about our high school reunion. We loved the place and put a hold on it, which is really great news! But, by the time I got home, it was 6:30 and I was not in a cooking mood. My shrimpies are frozen so they’ll wait for me to use them another day. Hubbers was a doll and offered to go out and pick up pizza. I had this slice of thin crust with fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and basil and I added some balsamic. I ate it with a tall glass of refreshing seltzer. I was going to make a spinach salad to go alongside, but after eating the slice, I wasn’t hungry any more.

I’m going to do some Yoga Download power yoga tonight. I need some yoga in my life big time! Namaste!

Burn the Floor

This morning’s workout was Jillian’s No More Trouble Zones DVD. It felt good to lift weights as I’ve been focusing a lot on cardio lately. Jillian is still a beast, but I love her.

Allow me to preface this section by saying, this was NOT my healthiest of days. I didn’t eat anything necessarily “bad” for me, but I certainly did not eat enough or the best foods. You’ll see what I mean…

Breakfast

Green monster
In the mix:

• organic baby spinach
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 small organic peach
• 1/2 frozen banana
• 1 T almond butter
• 1 T Amazing Meal
• 1 T ground flax

“Lunch”

Original tart yogurt from Red Mango with mangoes, kiwi and organic granola.

Dinner

Dinner was at a Vietnamese restaurant near the theater (I’ll get to that in a minute).

Crystal veggie dumpling x2

Saigon vegetarian noodles. YUM!

Dessert when I got home was a dark chocolate almond cookie and 3 mini pb cups.

I ate no snacks today. Bad.

Mom and I had a “girls day” and went into the city to see a Broadway show. We saw “Burn the Floor.” It’s all ballroom dancing. We loved it!!

Click the link for info. If you’re in the NYC area, I HIGHLY recommend seeing this show! We were dancing in our seats! Really made me want to take a ballroom dancing class! Maybe I will…

A Personal Record…I think

The other day, I noticed that my Nike+ iPod was acting up and cheated me out of some mileage. Well the same thing happened tonight. Hubbers joined me for my routine 3 miles. I like running with him because I tend to push myself a little bit more than when I’m alone. We were running at a quick, but comfortable pace. Close to the end of our route, my Nike+ registered at 2.77 miles. I decided to make the route longer to clock a full 3.0 miles. This was not the smartest idea. I slowed my average pace and cheated myself out of a run that would make my 3 week speed goal of 9:00/miles or less. I ran a 9:03 according to my Nike+. I came home, though and used map my run. (Stats below) I think I need to go to the track and recalibrate my sensor. Maybe it’s because I’ve been picking up my pace lately?

Feast your eyes on this personal record!!!!

Distance: 3.25 miles
Time: 27:29
Avg. Pace: 8:27/mile (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Max HR: 184 bpm
Avg. HR: 169 bpm
Calories: 343 (25% fat)
Power Through Song: “When Love Takes Over” David Guetta (I listened to it 3 times during this run!)

I have to say, I felt awesome after this run. I wish it could count toward my Nike+ speed goal, but that will come in time.

Hubbers did notice my erratic breathing. My brother also noticed it last week. I sound like I’m working much harder than I am and I know if I could get my breathing under control, I’d perform way better.

Any tips out there for improving breathing while running?

And check out my new Nike+ box in the sidebar!

Here are the eats from last night/today:

MONDAY (Dinner)

Wild Sockeye salmon with lemon, garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil and oregano and spinach salad with avocado, tomatoes and lemon vinaigrette.

After dinner, I settled down with some mango-tangerine sorbet and the new Pottery Barn catalog. I was swooning over the catalog.

TUESDAY

Breakfast:

I wanted some cold crunchiness, so I poured a bowl of Kashi H2H with almond milk, blueberries and strawberries.

Snack

A chocolate chip Zbar while getting my hair cut and colored.

Lunch

Lunch was out on the deck with my new issue of Fitness magazine and a tall glass of seltzer.

Lavash wrap with hummus, shredded carrot, broccoli slaw and red peppers and…

a juicy peach.

Afternoon Snacks

I was feeling snack-y this afternoon while working on high school reunion stuff. I had a few mini pb cups from TJ’s the other day and some Tempting Trail mix (also from TJ’s).

Dinner

Hubbers has been requesting steak. I bought his favorite (skirt steak) and made the traditional Brazilian topping called molinha. It’s basically bruschetta – tomatoes, onions, parsley, red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.

The carnivore’s plate:

I made him a cucumber and tomato salad along side.

Not-so-carnivore’s plate – see a difference? Just a little bit. I had quinoa salad with zucchini, red onion, garlic, tomatoes, lemon juice and olive oil.

Hot town, Summer in the City

Yesterday, I took my bike out for my first official spin.  I biked 10.5 miles and loved every second of it!

Distance:  10.5 miles
Time:  51:16
Max HR:  158
Avg. HR:  138
Calories:  379 (50% fat)

LUNCH  (Saturday) 

Yesterday’s lunch was thrown together completely off the cuff.  I had some leftover whole wheat spaghetti from dinner the other night.  I decided to whip up a quick peanut sauce and add some veggies for a tasty lunch.  For the sauce, I whisked together a little less than a tablespoon of peanut butter, some soy sauce, a splash of water and a squirt of agave.  Then I tossed the noodles with the sauce and some shredded carrots, broccoli slaw and thinly sliced red peppers.  It was yum!

“Dessert” was bunny grahams.

Post-bike snack was a cookie.  Mumsy and Bro called to see if we wanted to grab a quick bite with them, so I didn’t really eat a big snack.

DINNER (Saturday)

We went to a great ale house for a quick dinner.  They are well-known for their wings, so we got a plate to share as an appetizer.

  Apparently I couldn’t wait to eat them!

My dinner was a salad with blackened chicken.  It was a beast.  I ate about half.

BREAKFAST (Sunday)

I made some French toast using egg whites, almond milk, vanilla and cinnamon.  I dunked two slices of Ezekiel raisin bread for me and plain for Hubbers.  I had mine with some sliced strawberries and cantaloupe.  It was the perfect Sunday breakfast.

MORNING SNACK (Sunday)

We don’t need to go there with a pic…it was about 7 or 8 TJ’s PB-filled pretzels. 

LUNCH (Sunday)

My leftover salad from yesterday.  I had to have some ranch dressing.  Theirs is delicious.  I know it’s not my healthiest choice, but oh well.

I also had a piece of Mumsy’s leftover quesadilla.  It was filled with grilled veggies.  It’s another of my favorite dishes from that restaurant.

Look at those delicious veggies!  I peeled some of the cheese out due to my lactose intolerance.  I didn’t want to take a lactaid as this was not enough to warrant a whole pill and I would wind up getting a stomach ache.

Last night we went into the city (NYC) for a friend’s birthday party.  I was a little slow and didn’t check my camera battery before going out.  I’ll have to wait for my friends to post some pics to share.  The party was at a rooftop bar and it was so humid and sticky.  We had fun, but wound up catching the earlier train option since it was so hot.  Early meaning 12:40 am…I guess not so early.  I had 3 cocktails – vodka sodas with splash of cranberry.  My fave.  These pics are from when we got home…explains the shininess.

There’s the outfit…it’s kind of bad light, but you get the idea.  It was past 1:30 am and I was self-timing.

Hubbers and I are heading to TJ’s in a bit.  Woo HOOO!

Playing Catch up

It's been a few crazy days. Without boring you with all the gory details, I’ll tell you that my car has been in the shop since Wednesday, someone who is not me or my husband bought a computer with his debit card for over $1,000 and a pair of sandals that I ordered in May never arrived because they never processed the order, yet charged aforementioned debit card. I’ve been on the phone…a lot. But I’ve also had some great workouts and good eats, so pull up a chair and let’s catch up, shall we?

Let’s start with workouts:

WEDNESDAY

I was stresssssssssssed out dealing with fraudulent charges and incompetent service people all day. Yoga was in order. I did the 20 minute detox yoga from Yoga Download and felt really great afterward.

THURSDAY

I decided I wanted to be speedy and it was too hot for words, so I did a quick two miles on the treadmill. Here’s what I pounded out:

Distance: 2 miles
Time: 18:00
Avg. Pace: 8:58/mile
Max HR: 184 bpm
Avg. HR: 164 bpm
Calories: 213 (30 % fat)
Power Through Song: “Good Girls Go Bad” Cobra Starship

FRIDAY

Today was my long run day. After fighting with nike+ online (I still love you, don’t worry), my run finally posted. Stats I’m proud of (unlike last week’s long run):

Distance: 6.76 miles
Time: 1:09:40
Avg. Pace: 10:18/mile
Max HR: 178 bpm
Avg. HR: 170 bpm
Calories: 745 (!!) (25% fat)
Power Through Song: “Sweetness” Jimmy Eat World / “Get Up” James Brown

I had a little accomplice on this run:

yeah, that’s blue Gatorade watered down. I had no choice. It rocked my socks and really helped on this hot and humid day. I am aware it is chemical. Don’t judge.

Also…I have to say how much I LOVE MY POLAR BOTTLE. That blue madness stayed chilly the whole time – even in my hot little hand!

On to eats…

WEDNESDAY

Breakfast was a green monster.

In the mix:

• 1 cup almond milk
• organic baby spinach
• cantaloupe
• 1/4 avocado
• 1/2 frozen banana
• 1 T Amazing Meal
• 1 T ground flax

I had to take a shot of those pretty colors together.

MORNING SNACK

I had a Clif ZBar for snack-a-roo.

LUNCH

was pizza. I didn’t take a pic. I was with a friend and am still an incognito blogger. It had fresh mozz, tomato and balsamic.

DINNER

Mixed baby greens with red pears, pecans and goat cheese. Balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Yummalicious.

THURSDAY

BREAKFAST

green monster

In the mix:

• organic baby spinach
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1/2 frozen banana
• handful cantaloupe
• 1 T almond butter
• 1 T ground flax
• 1 T Amazing Meal

MORNING SNACK

This handful of TJ’s peanut butter-filled pretzels x2

LUNCH

Veggie wrap – lavash flatbread, hummus, avocado, red bell pepper, shredded carrot, broccoli slaw

DINNER

Salad of organic baby arugula, my friend’s grandma’s home grown tomatoes, red onion and shaved parmesan.

Plus organic whole wheat pasta with turkey meatballs.

FRIDAY

PRE-RUN

Kashi H2H with almond milk

POST-RUN

Smoothie of light chocolate soy milk, baby spinach, frozen banana and 1 T Amazing Meal. (Not naming this one a green monster…it’s just not monster-y enough for me). What color does that remind you of? Hmmmm… It did taste delish though.

LUNCH

Lunch was eaten at the beach today. Here’s what I packed along:

TJ’s Organic Greek yogurt – Honey flavor, cantaloupe and a chocolate chip ZBar.

AFTERNOON SNACK

More TJ’s PB-filled pretzel nuggets. I’m becoming obsessed…move over Tempting trail mix!

DINNER

We went to one of our favorite spots…Grimaldi’s for brick oven pizza. We invited my mom along. (Disclaimer...these shots were taken with hub's old Blackberry. I left mine at home and forgot the camera). I started with this salad, which I split with Mumsy.

It was baby spinach, walnuts and craisins with raspberry vinaigrette. It was a little dressing-y, but still good.

Then Mumsy and I split a personal pizza. This was my slice. It had fresh mozzarella, eggplant and spinach. I ate that slice and half of another. The spinach made it very filling!

In fun news, I picked up my bike yesterday! I’m going to have hubbers take a sweet pic of me with it tomorrow. I’ll def be rocking my totally cool pink helmet also! I took it out for a little 5-mile spin last night. I did my usual 3 mile running loop (13 mins on the bike compared with 28 or so running) and then came back home and rode along side hubbers for his 2 mile jog for some motivation.

I’m super excited to have my bike to exercise, but also to run quick errands. I hate starting the car, wasting gas and polluting the environment just to go to the post office or the library.

In other news, my friend loaned me her Twilight dvd. I have seen it, of course; but hubbers hasn’t, of course. I’m going to try to seduce him into watching it tonight. Hopefully it’ll work ;)

That was a lot to catch up on friends, let’s do this again real soon!