Running Outside Brrrr

Today I was determined to actually run outside. I'm already getting tired of using the treadmill at the gym and spring is still soooo far away.  I got home from work and layered up in my underarmor pants and as many layers as I could put on my upper half.  I think I ended up with 4 layers on top...a little overkill I konw hahah. I also had some gloves and some ear warmers on. I just did my usual loop around our neighborhood that is exactly 3 miles. I finished in 28.30.  Today I used the My Tracks app on my droid for the first time. It worked really well.  After my run I could view my path, how far I went and my average speed.  I still haven't figured out how to send that map and info to my computer...but baby steps people.

I cooked dinner last night in the crockpot so all I had to do tonight was warm it up!  Thank the lord for crockpots!! I made pulled pork, one of my favorite meals.

Pulled Pork

3-4lb boneless pork shoulder

1 onion

2-3 garlic cloves minced

your favorite bbq sauce

2 cups of water

It can't get much easier than this. When I woke up on Sunday morning I put the Pork shoulder in the crockpot along with the water, garlic and half of the onion  chopped.  I let it cook on low all day. About an hour before I wanted it to be done I drained all of the liquid out of the pot, shredded the pork, added a good amount of bbq sauce and let it cook on low for about another hour. 

I have a busy day tomorrow! I'm starting off my morning with getting my blood tested. My appointment is at 6:45am. Can't wait....Then I'll be working a half a day, going to get my foot xrayed and finally going to look at a venue for my bridal shower. And maybe a bit of xmas shopping on the side if I have the time.

For now I'm just trying to stay warm:



Sometimes I feel like all the blogs I read are about people that live in Florida, California or the Carolina's. Let's just say I'm a little bit jealous...



Our Tree Is Finally Up!!

I started off my day with a trip to the gym...much needed after yesterday's cookie consumption lol.  Then I headed home and played with the pup a bit.

The rest of the day passed by quick with some cooking for the week and cleaning the house. Then we put our tree up!!! Just a couple of weeks before Christmas and our tree is finally up!

We went with a smaller tree this year to make our lives a little easier. It was the prefect size.  We decorated it after dinner while listening to some Christmas tunes.

Stockings for everyone

We had quite the collection of ornaments on our tree including some pretty sweet ones made by yours truly around the age of 8. Here are some of my favorites:

Champ's first family Christmas

Oh yea!! Looking good!

UD mascot front and center...with Bella and Edward creeping in on the pic haha!

My mom gives each of us an ornament each year. So I pretty much have one of every sport I've ever played.  Love this one.  I've kept the tradition going. Champ's ornament is new and we also got a running ornament.

Dinner was simple tonight. We hadn't had fresh fish in a while so I picked up some tilapia filets and cooked some sweet potato's for our side along with some vegetables

I cooked the fish on in a pan with some salt, pepper and olive oil. I sliced the sweet potato thin and mixed them with some salt and cinnamon, then baked them at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Do you have any favorite Christmas ornaments?

Do you still put up ornaments that you made when you were a kid?

The Aftermath

Today was the big cookie decorating day with Giona and Mia. We started out the day with a trip to the Children's Museum in Wilmington.  They went back to my parent's house for a nap, then cookie madness ensued. I knew this would be messy, but I had no idea how messy it would get with a 3 year old and a 1 year old.

Mia working hard on her snowman with no head

Giona working on his G. I looked over at one point and he had the tube of icing in his mouth hahah.

They both got to eat one. Mia took the head off her snowman right when I gave it to her and then continued to decorate the rest of it.

Mia's headless snowman

Giona's "G"

Our finished cookies!

Cookies For Cuties

My neice and nephew are visiting tomorrow while their mom and dad have a weekend to themselves before number three arrives in March.  My parents are watching them and I of course offered to help. They are so cute it's hard to resist.

Mia and Giona

So one of the things we have planned for tomorrow is to decorate Christmas cookies.  My plan was to bake the cookies tonight so that they would be all ready to decorate tomorrow.  I didn't have a lot of time to bake the cookies today so I purchase pre-made dough.  I actually found a pretty good dough at our grocery store.

Then it was time to bake. I rolled out the dough and used some cookie cutters my mom gave me

Then I attempted to freehand some of my own lol

"M" for Mia "G" for Giona

And of course I had to try some of my own to make sure they tasted good

leftover cookie blob. yum



So that's what december is supposed to feel like

After our monsoon yesterday we were left with freezing weather for the near future. Well, not quite freezing, but in the 40s.  I've been so spoiled with most of November and December being in the 50s and 60s.  Very unusual for this part of the country.  I was obviously freezing all day because I'm always cold at work even if it's 90 degrees outside. I was ready to get warmed up after work. I headed to the gym on a mission....to run.  To run carefully. My foot has been behaving so I decided to give it a go.

this is my ready to run look hahah. I'm lame I know

I did a 10 minute warm up including a 2 minute run and then ran at a steady 6.0 with 1 minute sprints every 4 minutes until I hit 4 miles

It felt great! If there really is something wrong with my foot I need to find another way to cope with stress because running is the only thing that does it for me now. That and dark chocolate. I guess I could always try to get a little more into yoga, but in no way am I a flexible person.  When I got home I made a sald with spinach leaves, snap peas, carrots, celery, pineapple and tuna with a slice of great harvest dakota toast on the side.

Now I'm sitting down to watch some Lost on Netflix.  Matt and I have been watching for several months and we are finally nearing the end. We have about 15 episodes left.  It's such a good series but I heard the end is very dissapointing. We'll see.

Tomorrow's Friday! YAY!!





Getting some aggression out

When I walked out of work today and saw that it was POURING, I had a feeling I wouldn't want to be heading to the gym after dinner.  But I really wanted to work out...just did not want to step foot outside my house. What to do what to do.  Thank goodness for Comcast Exercise TV!  I decided to do a 45 minute kickboxing workout to help me get some built up aggression out.  I chose Chris Freytag's 10 lb Slimdown Xtreme Kickbox. 

I have to admit I loved it. It was the perfect mix between cardio and strength training. 

Before my workout I tried a new recipe from Fannetastic Food.  We had Healthy Chicken Enchiladas for dinner.  I altered the recipe  a little for what I had on hand.

Recipe:

2 Chicken Breasts cooked, hand torn 

1/4 C canned chopped green chilies

1/4 cup plain nonfat greek yogurt

Juice from 1 fresh lime

½ tsp. cracked pepper

1 tsp. cumin

2 C enchilada sauce (see recipe below)

4 large whole wheat tortillas

Extra virgin olive oil or cooking spray, as needed

¾ C shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and set aside

Enchilada Sauce:

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 small onion, peeled, diced finely 1 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. cumin

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 28-oz. can crushed fire roasted tomatoes

1 tsp. sugar

1 splash of balsamic vinegar

Add oil to pan over medium heat.  Add onion, garlic, and spices and cook for 5 minutes.  Add the tomatoes, sugar and vinegar and simmer covered for 20 minutes until thick.

Spread a thin layer of Enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 9x9 baking dish.  Spoon 1/4 chicken mixture in each of 4 whole wheat tortillas and roll. Place seem down in the baking dish.  Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce over the tortillas and top with cheese.  Cook at 350 degrees for 20 minutes until cheese has melted.

This recipe is definitely a keeper! Matt told me today that I need to start thinking of my own recipes and not just messing with other people's haha.  I really wish I was that creative. Maybe in time I'll get a hang of it and be a little more adventurous.



I have to do what??

The day has finally arrived for my checkup! I went to my GP and talked her up about my foot and my stomach. She promptly gave me lots of papers and lots of different doctors numbers and places to go. My list that I'm hoping to complete in the next month:

• Get my bloodwork done checking my liver, kidneys, sugar, cholesterol and thyroid.
• Get both of my feet and akles x-rayed.  Based on these I might be going to a specilist afterwards
• And lastly...go to a GI specialist to figure out what is with my stomach.  We're guessing that my issues are mostly stress related, but just want to make sure it's nothing more serious.

Needless to say I was a little down when I got home, but then I saw this face and it cheered me up.

Love!

For dinner we had a pasta and turkey sausage bake. This is one of my favorite things to have for dinner. I mean I am 50% Italian. 



The recipe was pretty simple. First I cooked some whole wheat pasta according to the box instructions. I made enough for 4 servings so we could have leftovers.  I then chopped up 1/2 an onion and 2 cloves of garlic and threw them in a skillet with 3 links of italian turkey sausage (casings removed and cut into bite sized peices).  When the sausage had cooked through I added 1 15oz can of chopped tomatoes along with a sprinkle of dried oregano and basil.  I then put the cover on the skillet and simmered the dish for 15 minutes.  Then I added the pasta to the skiller, mixed, poured in a serving dish and sprinkled mozzerella cheese on top.  Delish!

After I finished dinner I had one of these bad boys for dessert:

It was nice having a day of rest from woking out. I think my body needed it! I just went on a quick walk around the neighborhood with Champ and Matt...my two best guys. Here's to hoping this week flies by!!