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Monday at the Beach

Running & Kicking on Vacation
This morning I decided to take my run to the gym at the condo. It's not a fancy gym by any means, just 2 treadmills, an elliptical, and a recumbant bike. But, it's in the A/C. It was already 82 degrees at 8am. I ran 30 minutes then did Cathe's MMA Kickboxing and some abs. Of course, this was all done after eating breakfast on the balcony overlooking the ocean.

Do you try to keep up with your workouts while on vacation or do you relax a bit?

Day on the Beach
After the workout (and some stretching), we packed up a cooler with wraps and other snacks and headed to the beach. The wraps were made with smashed navy beans that I seasoned with garlic, black pepper, salt and a bit of spicy mustard and lemon juice (getting creative), diced red, yellow, and orange bell peppers, sundried tomatoes, and spinach. Gourmet beach food baby! ;-) We spent the majority of the day with our toes in the sand. We were there from just before 11 am until 5 pm. It was the perfect way to spend a day. I read, I dozed, I stared at the ocean and repeated.
Me and my big floppy hat.
Jason cheesing for me.
Our little beach set up.
Our view for the day.


Dinner with a View
For dinner we had a sort of faux "chicken mozzarella." I brought along homemade spaghetti sauce, we heated up Quorn patties and topped them with Soy Kaas Monterey Jack style cheese (this melts so well). On the side we had a salad with tomatoes and a balsamic vinaigrette and sauteed green beans, red bell peppers, red onion, and portobello mushrooms. So, this may have been a tad warm for a beach dinner, but it was still mighty good.

As you can tell, we cook in while on vacation. Part of this is because we enjoy cooking our own food, we enjoy being able to continue to eat healthy while on vacation, and also because it can be hard to find good vegetarian food (worth shelling out the money for). I know this may fly in the face of the idea of a vacation. But we do enjoy it.

Do you prefer to cook in while on vacation?

And just so you know - I am really reading everyone's comments. I'm doing myself a favor and not responding like normal, but I will answer questions like the one about if I ran barefoot: Holly @ Greek Yogurt & Apple Slices Yep, ran barefoot. Thought that'd be better than sand in my shoes and socks. Apparently not ;-)

Comments

  1. You look adorable! I tend to like going out to dinner when I'm on vacation because I've never stayed at a hotel with a full kitchen. If I stayed somewhere that did have one then I would totally cook in as well.

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  2. I almost always exercise while I'm on vacation, but I do stray from my regular routine. I like to think of vacations as opportunities to try activities that I wouldn't normally do!

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  3. Heather, you are so cute and you look great!!! :) :)

    To answer your questions, yep, I exercise on vacation and cook! I love to do both since you have so much more extra time! I think it's fun to exercise in new places too!

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  4. Heather,

    I am so glad you are having a great time I always ran barefoot on the beach as well.

    Since we normally go to Italy on vacation I don't typically cook. Eating the food is half the experience. But then again I have not been back to Italy since going vegan so my answer may change with the next trip. ;-)

    talk to you soon,
    Ali

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  5. ahh you're so cute! I think it's always fun to be able to cook for yourself.. but it is a vacation after all, which I think just isn't fully complete without someone else doing a little of the cooking..

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  6. yay for fun in the sun!! glad you guys are having a good time.

    i ran barefoot in the sand while on vacay, i loved it. if you want to run in shoes, just run really close to the edge of the water. the ground is pretty solid, no sand problems. promise!

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  7. I always try to do some sort of activity. I just like to do it. If it FEELS like it's a chore then I just chill.

    NO COOKING!!!! It's my vacation :)

    I love the hat and your vacation smile! Use sunscreen us gingers need it ;)

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  8. I am loving that you still cook on vacation! I always like knowing what's in my food and how it was prepared and there's nobody who can do that better for me than ME!

    I try to eat what I would normally eat as much as possible when I'm on vacation, but I don't normally have a full kitchen (hotel rooms) so I go out to dinner for the most part (:

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  9. AnonymousJune 08, 2010

    i like to work out as much as possible but to keep it fun too....i think you should do the beach boot camp today! you look amazing in your bikini girl-your abs look awesome! we like to cook too so we are not eating all meals out. have another great day :)

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  10. AnonymousJune 08, 2010

    I am SO glad you are taking the time to enjoy yourself on vacation - and dare I suggest you take one, maybe TWO rest days while on vacation?? Can you do it?? I dare you. ;) I do try to keep up with my workouts on vacation but I try to be a little bit less structured about it so it still feels vacation-y. But it does help when you indulge in a few extra glasses of wine while on vaca to know that your workout will be there in the AM. ;)

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  11. I need a vacation. I could use some sun :)

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  12. I've read of a few bloggers that cook while on vacation. We personally don't do it, but it may be worth a try next time. On our last vacation, we did miss our blender and a few other staples. Saving money would be a bonus, too!

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  13. Running on the beach is so so tough -- shoes or no. I can last maybe 5 minutes before I give up.

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  14. Looks like pure bliss. LOVE that you can cook while on vaca...but I do echo the take a rest day on vaca, hope you can and will :) And you look great, love the pics.

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  15. I would prefer to cook while on vacation if not only for the fact that it can get soo expensive! Our hotel in Laguna didn't have a kitchen which would have been awesome.
    Looks like you are having a wonderful time!
    I do like to workout on vacation if I can. This last trip I thought I would just take it easy though.

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  16. You look fabulous ... rockin' your bikini:)
    I never workout while on vacation...it's my time to just veg:)
    Love the beach photos....makes me want to go on vacation right now!

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  17. Lindsey @ Cardio PizzaJune 08, 2010

    You look great! What a rockin' bod you have!

    I do like to do some activity on vacations, but I'm definitely more low key about it. A simple walk on the beach is all I need sometimes!

    I like to cook and go out to eat on vacations. I love finding new restaurants!

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  18. look at those abs! lookin good!

    and you are much better than I--I dont tend to exercise (maybe a run or two sometimes) on vacation and I like to try all the local restaurants!

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  19. even if i pretend liek i love going out to restaurants on vacation i totally realize that i find myself inside cooking. i usually head to the grocery store and find something thats not too crazy to cook, and prepare it when i get back to the room. i find it much more simple than getting dressed up or paying for a dinner out. but sometimes its good to dress it up too. yea vacations are all about just taking it easy and living simply ;)

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  20. AnonymousJune 08, 2010

    I like to balance out travel with some cooking at home. I also like to eat breakfast in, even if we just buy some bagels and peanut butter and bananas. It gets tiring to go out to eat all the time, and since we don't eat out much at home, I think the food tastes too rich out.

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  21. You guys look like you are having such a great time! I wish we relaxed on our trip...hopefully soon! We absolutely cook when we can and we take loads of snacks too!

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