Where's the Beach?

Working it Out  Ah, finally some sunshine today. We definitely needed it to help melt off the rest of the ice as well. I was feeling rather lazy at the start of the morning. Finally got myself into gear and did Cathe Friedrich's Imax 3 , abs, and tried a Yoga Fusion by Angie Stewart from On Demand. It was interesting, not as calming, but it was also not a true yoga workout either. It was definitely a nice stretch for me though. Errands and Detours After my workout, Jason and I still needed to get by the regular grocery store. We made a few procrastinated detours like TJ Maxx and Barnes and Noble. I had a meet the baby shower to get to at 3 pm. I'll be completely, I'm not an ooey gooey baby person. I was never really around many babies, so maybe that's part of it. I did get better after my sister had kids. I just don't know what to do with children. My husband says, "Just act like one." Well, that'd be problem number one. I never really acted like a ...

Today I got up and did Shock Cardio Athletic Step . I'm enjoying that one. It's not terribly long, but it's a good, fun cardio workout. The ice prevented mom and sister from being able to make it to my house today. The baby shower I was supposed to go to also got canceled. Today was a regularly scheduled grocery store day, of all times of course. The roads were slushy and passable. Of course, there are still the a$$holes hauling butt like nobody's business. We didn't make all stops, but did make it by Whole Foods. I should have been more productive around the house. It's not like I don't have plenty of chores (and doggy tumbleweeds) staring me in the face. I did eek out a few loads of laundry at least and played around in the kitchen. I made up some Eggplant Patties using my Japanese eggplants. I made up the thick cashew cream for the free-form ravioli that I had planned on making tonight. Unfortunately, since we didn't make it to all of our intended g...

I went to bed last night with high hopes that the sleet would come early enough that we'd either be told to stay home from work or get a two hour delay. Alas, no such luck. However, I did opt to go in later and ride with Jason. This meant I got my workout done early, but not so early that I was still asleep. I decided to do Step Blast and Abs from Step Jump and Pump . It was a funny, sweaty workout. Jason and I work across the street from one another and our offices are only about 7 blocks from our house. So riding in together made sense, plus I trust him driving on the ice more than me! When I got to the office there were only two others there. The whole building was pretty much empty as most employees just stay home and use personal time rather than brave the ice. The sleet was coming down, but it wasn't terribly slick at that point. Only five brave souls in my immediate area ended up showing up. By noon it was coming down and coating the streets completely. The big boss ga...

Taking a Rest Day My body is telling me to take a rest day today. I am really sore from the weight workouts this week. The weather is getting gloomy too, never good for the mood or energy levels. We're in for a chance of ice overnight and snow into the morning. WIth any luck, we will have a delayed schedule tomorrow and come in late (or not at all). In that case, I can workout in the morning. We were supposed to be going to members' only event at the arts center this evening. The event began at 6:30, so a workout would have been rushed anyway. Especially trying to squeeze that in between getting dinner on the table early. Tonight was nothing fancy. Sorry, no fantastic new recipes ;-) Just the standard, in-a-hurry go-to of Lentil Burger with Sweet Potato "Fries." Not that I'm complaining mind you. Very little work or clean up involved. I really enjoyed that after my week of recipe testing. I make huge messes. Talking Cookbooks So, instead of posting my dinner, I ...

Hump Day Workout This morning Jason got up at 5 am to go to a master's swim class. I thought I was going to fall back asleep, but was wide awake at 5:15. I decided to embrace that rarity and get my cardio done. I opted for HiiT Pyramid because there's no equipment involved for set up. It's really only about 25 minutes so I repeated it for a total of 43 minutes. This is a fun workout, and it was a good workout for me this morning. Much better than yesterday. After, I stretched and even started prepping for dinner tonight. I felt so accomplished by 6:30! I did hit the gym for weights. Warmed up for 10 minutes on the treadmill, then did 4 sets of 8 reps of each exercise as supersets increasing 1.25-2% from last week. SS #1 Shoulders - Arnold Press ss w/ Quads - Hack Squats SS #2 Biceps - Incline Dumbbell Curls ss w/ Triceps - Lying Triceps Extension SS #3 Chest - Incline Barbell Press ss w/ Back - Pullovers Lesson learned: Oh, Monday I forgot my weight glov...

Today ended up being a long one for me. It was a cold walk in again, but at least the wind didn't immediately undo my hairstyle. When I got to the office and saw my calendar for the day, I realized I pretty much had back-to-back meetings from 9 am until 2 pm. I opted to just stay through lunch and leave early (not really early as I put in my 8 of course). Crappy Cardio Day I was kind of excited about leaving at 3 and getting my workout done earlier. I thought I could put in a good cardio, some abs, then have time to experiment in the kitchen. Got a couple of ideas brewing that kept me up last night. Well, got home and started my workout - Cardio Fusion . It's usually a high calorie burner for me. I don't know what the deal was today though. I could not get my heart rate up and it'd drop the second I wasn't pushing all out. It was very frustrating. I've done that workout enough to know what my heart rate typically is throughout the workout. I was easily 5 and ...

Why are Mondays so darn difficult? This morning felt harder because it was cold and windy for the walk into the office. Not sure why I bothered to do my hair. It was sort of a blah, blue day for me. At least it was sunny out, so that helped my mood a little bit. Workout After work, I headed directly to the gym. I tortured myself on the dreadmill then the elliptical before hitting the weights. I will admit that for a fleeting moment I had one of those "I could run all day" feelings. It did subside. Today is the first weight workout for Week 4 of the Total-Body Training rotation. These are the same exercises done last week, but this week they are done as supersets with a 1.25-2% increase in weight. Each exercise is done as four sets of five reps. SS #1 Back - Wide Grip Pullups Chest - Barbell Bench Press SS #2 Quads - Squats Hamstrings - Still Leg Deadlifts SS #3 Biceps - Barbell Curls Triceps - Close Grip Bench Press Jason was supposed to meet me up there to s...

Well thankfully today I managed to wake up on the right side of the bed. The sun was even out and shining for a change. Though, sadly, it has clouded back up again. I was feeling really lazy about a cardio workout I must admit. My legs aren't totally sore from weights yesterday, but there is just that hint of tiredness going on. I managed to do 2 Shock Cardio HiiT workouts though. I started with 40/20 and then kept on going with 30/30. Good times. I then opted for a pilates-based abs workout from STS Abs Circuit . I don't do that one often because it's 20 minutes. But it was very calming and relaxing. I'm glad I chose that one today. I had some errands to run, so I did that while Jason got out on his bike for a ride. You have to take advantage of even the remote ray of sunshine when you can. After, we decided to be bad and have a late, unhealthy lunch at a local pizza joint called Vino's . It's an interesting spot to say the least. You'll see men in busin...

Sucky Start  I totally woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. I was a major Pissy Pants. I had an order of dog treats that I needed to bake up. I should have done them Friday night of course. I knew that too. I was supposed to have gone to visit my mom and sister and take the treats for a customer in that city. After getting them bake, I found out that my nephew was really sick, so no visit. My pups, however, a most decidedly happy about the acquisition of doggy treats. I'll have to make more next weekend now. So, I procrastinated on starting my workouts and my mood only kept getting worse (if that was actually possible). I finally did what my sis would say: put on my big girl panties and sucked it up. I did Shock Cardio Athletic Step . I really enjoy that one. It's about 35 mins. Time flies by. Then I did weights. Today was the last weight workout for week 3 of my Total Body Training rotation. I did 3 sets of 15 reps of each exercise: Triceps - Double Arm Kickbac...

If you're looking for a vegan "cheese" dip or simply looking for a healthier alternative to that oh so good, but oh so bad for the waste line indulgence that cheese dip is, you may want to give one of these two Cheeseless Quesos a try! The first queso comes from Alicia from Vegan Epicurean .The second version is another version of the original. Cheeseless Queso Ingredients: ½ cup raw cashews, soaked and drained (30-60 mins) ½ cup oatmeal, ground into flour 1 ½ cups water 2 teaspoon onion flakes, dried ½ teaspoon turmeric powder 1 clove garlic, peeled 14 ounces diced tomatoes (or substitute an equal amount of salsa if you like heat) 1 teaspoon paprika 1 teaspoon hot crushed peppers (wet hots, finely minced pickled peppers), or to taste ½ teaspoon chili powder 1 dash cayenne, or to taste salt and pepper to taste Directions: Combine the cashews, oatmeal, water, onion flakes, turmeric, and garlic in your blender. Puree until the mixture is smooth. Pour t...

Free Time Friday Today was a rest day for me in regards to a workout. I am still a little sore from weights on Wednesday, then doing step yesterday sort of put my legs over the top. I  typically set up Friday as my schedule rest day anyway. It's like a little treat to myself: week over and a little free time. So what did I do with the free time? Why shopping of course. I won't brag too much, but I did find some great bargains! Besides, I think that there was some consensus a while back that shopping is indeed a form of cardio. So, in a way, I did still workout. Right? ;-) Pizza Friday Dinner was the typical homemade pizza . While I blogged, Jason made the Cheeseless Queso with a few tweaks. He wanted to try to make it more like a white cheese dip. Tomorrow I'll post his version. While snacking on the cheeselsess queso, we played pool  and let the bread machine do the manual labor for the pizza. We didn't do anything super exciting for the pizza toppings. I'm ...

Workout Honesty I'll be completely honest and admit that I totally wanted to blow off my cardio workout today. During lunch, I had set up my step and popped in the DVD. It was all ready to go. That was a good thing, because when I got home, it was either get it done, or spend the time moving everything back to storage. So, I got it done. It wasn't the best workout. I did do a lot of clock watching, but...I got it done. I did Cathe Friedrich's Hardcore Extreme - Hi/Low Premix and abs. Tasty Dinner After trying the Ziti with Sun Dried Tomato "Cream" Sauce , it made me start to think about other ways to use the basics of that sauce. There is a Paula Dean recipe that I actually tweaked to make healthier, Lemon Linguine . Her recipe calls for sour cream and Parmesan cheese. The easiest tweak was a fat-free sour cream, less cheese, and added veggies. I thought that the basics of the tofu "cream" sauce would work well with the lemon flavors of her lemon pa...

Working out Wednesday So today I almost managed to talk myself out of my workout. Even worse, it was going to be embarrassingly easy too! Once I realized just how easy it was going to be to skip out, I knew I had to get my butt up to the gym ASAP. I'm glad I did because it ended up being a good workout in the end, and I had so much more energy after. The original intention was to do my weights then spin. I ended up running for about 35 minutes then hitting the weights. I'm in my 3rd week of the Total-Body Training workout and the number of sets increased. So today was 4 sets of 8 reps of each of the following exercises. It was a great workout. I went to complete failure for a couple of the exercises on the last sets, so I know I was pushing myself: Shoulders - Arnold Press Quads - Hack Squats Biceps - Incline Dumbbell Curls Triceps - Overhead Tricep Extension Chest - Incline Barbell Press Back - Chinups What is your favorite weight exercise? I love working out ...