Pampering

Today I took off from work to prepare for the big bridal shower tomorrow.  For some reason I was up at the crack of dawn this morning...and I mean literally. I was wide awake at 6am.  Maybe it's because I was looking forward to my breakfast so much.  I made the batter for Carrot N Cake's pumpkin protein pancakes and couldn't wait to throw them in the pan and cook them up.

I put some greek yorgurt in the middle of my pancakes and some peanut butter and banana slices on top. Yum! After a quick trip to the grocery store I showered up and headed over to my parent's house to meet my mom and MOH for some errands.  We went out to the mall to pick up some flowers from cosco.  Stef and I grabbed lunch at Saladworks before going to get our nails done! I think the last time I got my nails done was .... 3 years ago, and it was only b/c I had a gift card.  I am usually not one to pamper myself, but I thought hey, why not.

I went with the brightest color I could possibly find.  It's actually more of a coral than it shows in the picture.  When I got home Matt and I took Champ to the park for a hike.

Yes I am rocking a scarf while hiking, don't judge.

The trail we followed actually followed a frizbee golf course.  We hiked all 18 holes and finished 2.3 miles.  We ran home, dropped off Champ and went out for date night.  Matt told me I could pick so I chose one of my favorites, Home Grown.

I got the falafell platter and it was delicious! I chowed the entire thing.  Right now we are just sitting down to watch Talladega Nights with a peice of dark chocolate with some peanut butter on top. Perfect end to the day.

I'll be waking up nice and early tomorrow to sneak in a run before my bridal shower! Can't wait!



Runner's Christmas

Today all I could think about all day at work was running.  I was really excited to go after work for some reason.  At first I thought I would just do my usual 4 mile loop because the sky was looking a little ominous.

But I checked the weather and it said it wasn't supposed to rain, so I decided to extend my normal run.  I ran 5.12 miles in 46 minutes right at a 9 minute mile pace. Perfect!

Nope I'm not flashing my bling like Matt thought lol, I'm showing off my 5 miles!!  PS that's my work behind me.  People were probably looking out the window wondering what freak was sitting on the sidewalk taking pictures of themselves  while stretching.  Good thing nobody ever notices me when I get back from my runs.  I guess I look pretty different when I'm a sweaty hot mess from when I'm in my semi put together work gear.

When I got home I saw that Matt got a pretty package in the mail.  He "won" a garmin forerunner 405 CX on ebay.  I basically freaked when I saw it.  I think it finally pushed me to buy my own.  A couple of weeks ago I saw on skinnyrunner that she gets her garmin 405 from walmart, so I obviously went online and took a look. It was the cheapest I had found it so far.  So after going back and forth a million times and trying to come up with some made up occasion/holiday so that I could convince myslef to buy it (3 years since I graduated college!! happy wedding to me!!??),  I finally went for it!  MY GARMIN IS ON ITS WAY!!!  I'm so excited to not use my phone anymore of a gps. 

hello lover!!

I'm off from work tomorrow in preparations for my bridal shower Saturday afternoon. Since I have the time I'm planning on making myself a special breakfast.  Carrots 'N' Cake's Pumpkin Protein Pancakes.  Then I have a trip to Cosco in order and am going to get my nails done for the first time in.....3 years.  I'm not the pampering type, what can I say. 



Healthy Fettuccine Alfredo and WIAW

It's What I Ate Wednesday again! I had a great day of eats today.

I started out my day with my obsession: overnight oats using apple cinnamon chobani.

This lasted me about 3 hours and then I needed a snack.  At work I ate a banana and some trail mix to tide me over until lunch.

I always try to keep a couple of things at work in case I need a snack. I usually have trail mix, kashi bars and whole wheat pretzels in my desk. 

My lunch was a little strange, but I loved it. I mixed up a bunch of leftovers and it turned into a pretty good meal.

ham, sweet potatoes, pineapple and brussel sprouts in the mix with an apple on the side.

and a mini york to end my lunch.

Today was my rest day from working out.  On these days I usually try to make something a little nicer for dinner because I have more time to do so.  I had my eye on shrimp fettuccine alfredo.  This dish usually includes loads of heavy cream and butter, but I found a healthier version to whip up for dinner. I'm not sure where this recipe came from. I had it saved in my recipe documents folder on my computer, but am not sure if it came from a family member or a website.  Anyways....here's the recipe:

Fettuccine Alfredo for Two

3/4 cup vegetable or chicken broth

4 cloves of garlic chopped

4oz whole wheat fettuccine (I only had spaghetti on hand)

1/2 zucchini cut into matchsticks

2tsp cornstartch mixed with 1tbsp water

2 tbsp reduced fat sour cream

Pinch of nutmeg

pepper to taste

1/2 cup grated parmesean cheese

frozen shrimp

Cook pasta according to directions on box.  One minute before pasta is done cooking, add zucchini and boil until tender. Drain and set aside.  Meanwhile, bring broth to a boil in a small pan and add garlic.  Boil for 5 minutes until garlic is tender.  Mix  cornstarch and water together and then whisk into broth and garlic mixture until thick.  Remove from heat and stir in sour cream.  Keep warm on low heat.  In another pan cook shrimp 3 minutes per side  until cooked through.  Next you want to mix all of your ingredients together. Combine pasta and zucchini with your sauce an shrimp in a large bowl and stir in grated cheese.  Enjoy!

I served mine alongside some kale chips. This was my first time making kale chips and I think it went alright.  They tasted good, but I think they could've been a little crispier. All I did was combine the kale with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt, then bake them for 20 mintues at 275 tossing them 10 minutes in. Next time I think I'll add a few more minuts or maybe increase the temperature. 

This meal was especially good because somehow I got Matt to eat both zucchini and kale!! I was soo proud of my picky eater lol. 

On my way to go cut up a pear and take a bite out of this guy for dessert:

dove dark chocolate bunny...headless...and neckless haha

 



Grossest Gym Experience

Today was a weird day all together. I was in a weird mood and strange thing kept happening.  I drove to the gym after work only to open my gym bag and realize that I forgot socks.  What to do what to do.  The only time I have ever gotten to the gym and left is when I forgot a hair tie.  I CANNOT workout with my hair down.  When I see girls doing it I just really don't understand how that is even possible.  I can work out with no bra on haha, but no hair tie, now that's a deal breaker. Well I made the decision to man up and just go through my workout with now socks, yuck.



It was so gross I'm not going to lie. It wasn't bad during my weights workout, but once I moved to cardio the pool of sweat started forming.  So when I got into my car afterwards I stripped.

I'm sure I was breaking all sorts of laws, oh well, it had to be done.

When I got home I stuck dinner that I had made the night before in the oven to warm up.  I found this reacipe for cheesey chicken and rice bake on pinterest!

source

I cut the recipe from this website in half and we still have about 2 portions leftover for later in the week. 

My recipe:

1 bag of boil in a bag brown rice

1/2 can of black beans rinsed and drained

1/2 can of corn rinsed and drained

1 chicken breast baked and shredded

1/2 cup plain greek yogurt

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/4 cup salsa

1/2 can of green chilis

sprinkle of shredded cheese on top

Mix all ingredients and bake at 350 for 25 minutes

Yum definitely a keeper

I also got a nice surprise in the mail today. My dress that I ordered for our rehearsal dinner arrived. I was so proud of this buy.  I have a gap credit card and used my rewards to get this $80 dress for only $20!! Love a good deal. This was my first purchase from Piperlime and I was definitely impressed.

Love it! I'm thinking of belting it around my waste (hence the belt in my hand). 

Time to go and watch Glee! It's been too long!

Killer Abs

Hope everyone had a good Easter. Matt and I had a busy day! We woke up and went for a  4 mile run around the neighborhood and then went over to Matt's parent's house for lunch. Then we went to Philadelphia with my parents to meet my brother and his girlfriend for dinner! Lots of good food and wine were had! But today it was back to work :( I wish all companies gave a spring break.

I've been feeling a little flub in the middle lately so I did some searching online today for a good abs workout I could do at the gym before I hopped on the treadmill. I found this workout on Women's Health Magazine's website for "6 pack abs in 6 weeks," we'll see about that lol.   The workout includes a set of 7 different workouts that you go through.  Doing all of them only took me about 15 minutes!

Stability Ball Pelvic Tilt Crunch

3 sets of 12-15 reps, 30 sec rest in between

Walk the Plank and Rotate

2 sets of 8-10 reps

Arm Pull Over Straight-Leg Crunch

3 sets of 15 reps

The Matrix

3 sets of 15 reps

Nose To Knee Crunch

2 sets of 15 reps

Prone Oblique Roll

2 sets of 12-15 reps

Back Extension Rear Leg Raise

2 sets of 15 reps

Overall I really liked the workout. I had some difficulties staying balanced during the prone oblique roll. I fell off the stability ball a couple of times and was really glad that nobody was around to see me being a hot mess haha.

After my ab workout I moved to the treadmill for an interval workout. I really can't run on the treadmill without intervals or I go crazy from boredom.  I started with 2 minutes of walking and then moved on to running 2 minutes at a 6.2 speed and then sprinting for 1 minute at different speeds ranging from 6.4 to 7.4.  I ran the whole thing at a 1.0 interval.  I finished 3.25 miles in 30.30. 

By the time I got home I was pretty hungry so I was really happy that dinner was already pretty much made, Easter Part 2!

Ham with stuffing and a mix of zucchini and brussel sprouts