Pixie looks like she is saying “You didn’t shower [...]]]> Rainy overnight and the morning was humid, but cloudy, so I decided to run at the track.  Pixie and I were messing around with photos this morning while I waited for my snack to settle a little bit.  Best of all the pics below

Pixie looks like she is saying “You didn’t shower yet, did you?”

I also could not believe my hair looked like this when I got up.

Normally you see me in a hat for a reason….  Can I also say that I am loving my shoulders right now??  It’s taken a couple years of dedicated lifting, but I am really starting to see good things.

I wasn’t really sure how far I wanted to go, I was thinking just 2 miles, but then after 2 miles I just decided to go one more.  I was in a groove with my tunes.  Listening to Hot Club of Detroit.  I need to get their new album!  I love running with music.  I never, ever bike with headphones on for safety reasons, but I love to run that way.

I was all waffle ready when I got home.  I actually added crystallized ginger chips to the waffle batter and it was yum!

Topped with the banana maple mash.  *Snort* and it was gone.

Showered and right to work.  I worked a long day yesterday.  Too long.  Can’t wait for the weekend.  So, regarding the trip – we are headed up to Montreal for the weekend!  It’s only about 3 hours away.  We are going to stay at a B&B (with WiFi) and bring the bikes along.  Hopefully the weather will be nice for riding.  On a side note, if there are any Montreal readers (do I have any?) who want to meet up for a bagel or something please shoot me an email!

Lunch time.  Since it is hot and humid, I decided on a cool and refreshing lunch:

I actually sat and ate this while *not* working.   I wanted to enjoy it.

Also – I see that Shape Magazine has my story from the May issue on their website now!  Yippee!!    Fame without the fortune, gotta love it…

I had a couple snacks today.  Running makes me hungry!

Balance Bare bar:

Delicious – have you had these?  Sweet and salty and protein!

Dark chocolate snack:

No latte today as we are going out later, plus I was feeling a little too warm to want one.

Mr. and Ms. Goldfinch were snacking today as well.

I was beat by the time dinner came around.  My brain gets really tired from transcription.  When tired, go for the standard for dinner:

Beverage tonight was seltzer mixed with a little POM juice.  Yum!

I had to work more after dinner.  I am so glad I don’t have a commute because I would be working 12 hour days with it.  It’s already long enough right now.

John and I needed a date night tonight for coffee when I finished.  Both of us working very hard right now.  I am posting from Starbies.

Skim latte, but not decaf.   Oops.  Will see what happens later.  Lifting move of the week coming up tomorrow!

Question:  Music while you run or no?

I knew I had to get the exercise done early unless I wanted to go to the gym and do the treadmill, so I was outside at 7 am to run at the track.  It was a nice quiet 3-mile run, although warm already [...]]]> Heat wave!  Are you keeping cool?  Pixie is trying

I knew I had to get the exercise done early unless I wanted to go to the gym and do the treadmill, so I was outside at 7 am to run at the track.  It was a nice quiet 3-mile run, although warm already at 70 degrees    I will spare you the picture of what I looked like when I finished.  I was ready for a cold drink and made up some iced coffee with my protein waffles.

To make the cold brewed coffee, I just put 1 cup of ground coffee with 4 cups of water and let it sit overnight.  Then filtered it this morning.

It tastes so much better than brewed coffee that you let get cold and ice.

I have a busy few days coming up.  John left for Atlantic City on a spur of the moment trip with a friend for a couple days.  That means that I need to take care of the business, along with my own work – not to mention that I start training for my new job on Wednesday.  It all depends on how busy each of those things is.  So, I may not get around to some reading some of your blogs for a couple days!  I had better make a bunch of the cold-brewed coffee.  

More cool eats for lunch:

Vanilla greek yogurt, low fat granola and berries.  The classic.

Finally turned on the AC when the living room thermometer said 86 degrees.  I didn’t even want to see how hot it was upstairs.  This is why I could never live in the South.  Then we had a brown out.  At first while I was working, I noticed it got very quiet in the house.  The AC kicked off, as did my fan.  Computer was still on because of the battery, so it took me a bit to figure out what happened (duh).  I have no car, as it went to Atlantic City, so that nixed the idea of trying to go somewhere cool like the library because I was not biking in this heat!  Funny that the TV would come on, but the internet, AC and fans would not work, or the fridge.  It got pretty hot soon:

I checked the status with the power company and they estimated about 2 hours for the power to come back up.  It ended up being 1.5, so that was good.  Of course, I got hungry during this time and the espresso machine would not power up…. booo!  So I just had a slice of bread and nut butter.

I was going to toast it, but the toaster oven wasn’t working and check out the state of it:

Door isn’t supposed to open like that….

CSN stores is going to let me do a review of a toaster oven for them.  They have several websites selling a lot of things like dining room furniture, cookware, etc.  Good thing I am going to do this review, because we use our toaster oven a lot!

My plumerias are blooming.  They are indoor plants and are getting a little unwieldy now, but they smell heavenly when they bloom:

This particular one is about 4 feet tall.

Dinner time and I poked around the fridge to see what to use up.  With John gone, I am going to need to eat up a bunch of produce!  I decided to use the last bit of hamburger and put it on a sweet potato with laughing cow and caramelized onions (good thing I am a bachelorette tonight!).  It actually was surprisingly tasty.  And I managed to not burn my broccoli tonight.

I need to work tonight and pack orders and try to keep from snacking without John here.  Isn’t that what swinging singles do?  I can’t even remember LOL!   I decided if I get hungry I can have a banana   Maybe that will keep me out of the cereal…..

If you haven’t checked my mindful/intuitive eating post, here is the link if you are interested.

Time for the bachelorette lifestyle!  See you tomorrow….

Hey!  I decided to let myself sleep until 7 am this morning.  And let me tell you, my upper body is s.o.r.e. from yesterday’s workout!  It think it was the incline hammer curls that really did it.  My upper body [...]]]> ** Non US residents are now able to enter the gummy vitamin giveaway!**

Hey!  I decided to let myself sleep until 7 am this morning.  And let me tell you, my upper body is s.o.r.e. from yesterday’s workout!  It think it was the incline hammer curls that really did it.  My upper body has not felt this sore in months!  (Yay, though, it’s a good sore).

I needed some good protein repair for brekkie, so that means the protein waffles!

That white blob on there?  I made some homemade fluff.  It was easy and not something I really need to know how to make, know what I mean?

Got to work straight away so I could finish up early as today is my dad’s birthday (happy b-day poppa!) and we were going out to dinner.

Lunch time was a chicken sandwich for more protein.  This was made with BBQ sauce (from my Open Sky shop) and Laughing Cow.

This was a really good sammie!  Plus a delicious red pear.  Lots of fruit eating today.

Nibbles with the latte.

I finished up work early and decided to try my hand (feet) at running again.  I walked down to the track.  I almost chickened out.  I went one lap around walking, then I jogged the 2nd lap.  It felt really weird and lop-sided.  Kind of like Quasimodo, although John said I just looked slow and a little hunched forward (thanks….

My inner eye was turned so far inwards to assess myself that diamonds could have been dropping out of the sky and I wouldn’t have noticed! I was concentrating really hard because running with a weak leg certainly feels odd.  I kept waiting for it to give out.  It only did that a little bit once, but I just had to hop skip to catch it.  So, I alternated walking a lap and running a lap 4 times.  That meant I ran a total of 1 mile today!  Long way to go, but I now have a starting point to work with.  I am shooting to run a 5K race in 3 weeks if all progresses okay.  John is hoping for a PR at that race.  Today he did 5K in 26:33 – he is Speedy Gonzalez!

So – out to dinner at Golden Corral.  How many of you have been there?  If you haven’t, it’s a huge buffet like Ponderosa or Stuckey’s and the like.  We haven’t been there in a few years.  Not really the best place to try to eat sensibly (although you can).  I still can have real issues with buffet eating.  That was where my dad wanted to eat, so off we went!

I channeled my inner Rosie and walked through the doors.

My plan was to allow myself all the veggies and fruit I wanted, some lean protein and 1 dessert item.  No rolls/bread and no junk lettuce.  This was round one:

That’s clam chowder, about 160 calories for that bowl according to the website.  The brussel sprouts were lame.  I was excited to see them, but I think they were frozen because they were mushy, so I didn’t eat them.  Not like my good roasted ones!  1 piece of fried okra just to see what it was like.  M’eh.

The fruit plate along side:

Then I went for more fruit and veggies:

That was one limp asparagus stalk.  Ick!  I was glad to see some nice options here.  I almost got some fish, but I should quit kidding myself that I am going to like it.  I wish there was some shrimp or some other kind of seafood protein on the buffet.  No other corporate meat allowed, so I was lean on protein tonight.

Happy birthday to dad!

He actually winked for this picture, but I just missed it and he looks annoyed

My dessert:

I am extremely pleased at how I ate.  I stuck to my plan for a change!  I did eat more than normal, but it was all pretty good stuff.

Golden Corral:  0

Lori: 1

Question:  How do you handle buffets?

We are staying at the Place D’Armes Hotel in the French Quarter.  I love this place because it [...]]]> Hey everyone!  We made it safely to New Orleans despite last minute snafus of a tenant with a nonworking furnace late Friday night and a bloody nose in the morning.  Great way to start a vacation, right?

We are staying at the Place D’Armes Hotel in the French Quarter.  I love this place because it really fits into the Quarter style wise and it is very reasonable.  Not to mention being easy to walk everywhere!

It was pretty cold here on Saturday – 40 degrees (which was 45 degrees *warmer* than what we left behind)

We were ready for dinner and hit up a classic business district place:

Mother’s! Always crowded, but the line went really quick.  We split a bowl of crawfish etouffee:

Yum!  Plus we split the house specialty the Famous Ferdi Special, which is a sandwich with ham, roast beef and debris, which is a mix of shredded roast beef and gravy left over from the roasting process.  This was a rich tasting sandwich and sooooooooo goood!

Very tasty sandwich, I have to say.

We were lucky enough to catch a parade Saturday night!

It was the

Krewe de Vieux parade

This is one of the only big parades that goes right through the French Quarter (and a block from our hotel).  I love the parades here because you get involved in them.  The parade people toss out trinkets, beads, and souvenirs.  This parade can get political and quite racy, I have to say LOL!  It was funny, though.

And Who D’at?????  This city is soooo proud of it’s Saints.  Here is a take on that with this float.

Here is my collection of stuff tossed to me at the parade (it was sooo cold, too)

Then we had some beignets!  Cafe du Monde had an enormous line, so we went to Cafe Beignet instead:

So good.  Although du Monde is better, I think.

This morning, I was all ready for a run!

John, not so much:

We headed out for a 30 minute run all around the Quarter.  I would have gone farther, but John hasn’t run since the end of October!

Then we hit up CC’s Community Coffee for some brekkie.  John decided to get a piece of praline king cake:

Richly decadent and more like dessert.  I decided to have a Sunday staple:

With some damn good coffee.  Now we all ready to do some sightseeing and more eating!  I’ll be back tonight.  I love free internet access in the hotel!

I was up wayyyyy early today at 5:30 so I got up and worked for a while before heading to the gym.  I had a Zone bar before and hit the treadmill for 5.5 miles!  It [...]]]> It’s Christmas Eve!  This is really my favorite day of the year.  It’s the anticipation at its peak

I was up wayyyyy early today at 5:30 so I got up and worked for a while before heading to the gym.  I had a Zone bar before and hit the treadmill for 5.5 miles!  It felt great!  There are those days where it is just easy and flowing and today was one of them.  John walked to the gym to meet me (brrr….) as it’s only 1.7 miles from home and took me out to breakfast afterwards.  I won the football picks last week (finally), and I chose brekkie!

This was at Cafe on The Park and just a few doors down from the gym.  I was so ready for breakfast.  I actually brought a change of clothes with me so I would having something dry to eat in.  Couldn’t do anything about that hair, though! Can’t believe I am in public looking like this

I had an eggbeater omelet with wheat toast and home fries.

When you have worked up an appetite, food just tastes sooooo good!  I ate it all.

John had eggs and toast and a grilled blueberry muffin!  It was good.

Need to try this technique at home.

Work is slow today, so I am posting this early.  We are going to my folks house for dinner and then preparing for everyone coming over tomorrow for the Christmas feast!

I thought I would show the oldest ornament on my tree for the last feature.

This was done for me by our “Aunt Betty” when I was 13.  Everyone calls her that even though I think she would be my great aunt?  Look at the year on the other side!

Have a most wonderful holiday!  I appreciate so much all of my readers, whether you ever comment or not, and I love reading all of your blogs as well!  Stay safe and have a super day!

Tried and true [...]]]> Woke up in the dark hours of the morning and took a peek outside, expecting to see snowy rain, but it was dry.  Fingers were crossed at this point.  Cold, though!  Showered and put on my layers then came down to the breakfast I had set up and ready to fix:

Tried and true race fuel.  Banana oats with protein powder and nut butter (okay, I drizzled a little chocolate sauce on there, too).

I was getting nervous on the way there.  See how early it is?

Cold and gray, but no rain.  Starting to have the feeling like “What am I doing???”

Bike racked up and very chilly right here!

There were about 80 competitors.  They all looked quite into it too, and I felt funny with my 10-speed clunky bike with all the speedy road bikes.   I also was wondering if there was a height requirement, since everyone was taller than me

Ready, set, go!!!

First run went well.  My legs were nice and fresh and the cold didn’t bother me after the first half mile.  One mile in and they called out times – I was at 9:26, which surprised me.  I was thinking I was going to do 10:30, but I guess that’s what fresh legs do for you.  At the 1-mile point the course went uphill for probably a 1/4 mile.  Killer hill and there were a lot of walkers (right at the start!).  I just put my head down and plodded up the hill.  I was falling towards the back, which is what I expected.

Here I am coming in from the run and transitioning to the bike.  2.2 miles done!

I didn’t waste any time, but chugged some water, popped on the helmet and went.  I decided against the fleece jacket because of how hot I felt at that point.  That technical turtleneck is amazing!

About 1/2 a mile in was a really steep hill.  So hard, and a lot of bikers were quite slow on this hill and weaving around.  I thank my Lake George rides for making it up the hills.  The wind started to pick up at this point and it was blowing either into my face or into my side for all but the end of the bike run.  I really pushed it for the ride.  I kept chanting “Go big or go home” and “Leave it all on the race course.”   Good thing no one was very close to me to hear all this LOL!  All the while, I kept thinking of having to run that stupid hill again in the last leg.  I was breathing hard for most of the ride, so I was happy about that because it meant I was working hard.  People had passed me at this point on their speedy bikes and I actually assumed I was in last place.

16 miles done! Again, speedy.  I just left my gloves on, chugged some coconut water, put on my running hat and set out.  I knew I was on the last leg (and my legs felt it!).

Hit the one mile mark and the hill.  I was struggling a bit here and just put my head down and jogged.  My calves were burning!  All of the sudden I noticed that I was just walking really fast up the hill, my pace had slowed down so much.  And then I got a stitch in my right side.  This never happens to me.  I took a few deep breaths and actually had to press my hand into my side, which relieved the stitch while I did that.  Then I started thinking “Is this my appendix bursting?” LOL.  I said to myself I was going to finish no matter what.  Plus I knew there was only a mile to go.  The rest was downhill and I tried to go faster.  Hard to do that while holding your side, but it felt so much better to do that.  As I passed the loop around, I saw a few people just starting the run, so I realized that I wasn’t last at all (although only ahead of about 5 or 6 people).  The stitch left with about 1/2  a mile to go.  Here is as much of a sprint as I could manage – and a big smile cause I was done with the other 2.2 miles!

Note the time – my goal was to be around 2 hours and I finished in 1:55 and change!  Yes!!!

Totally wiped out.  This is one of the hardest things I have ever done.  It was harder than the triathlon and I really laid it out.  I am soooo happy and pleased!

GoWear fit shows this -

Post race coffee and egg sandwich and a pumpkin scone.

I am totally wiped out now.  This is my plan for the rest of the day:

I am all settled in for the after the race watching football and probably a nap with a special treat for myself.  One of those days where I can get away with 2 bakery items in one day LOL!

I’m still trying to digest that I actually did this today

I did a switcheroo today like I did on Tuesday and worked out later in the day.   So, I started off with a combo I have been thinking of for a while – mocha oats!   Susan and I were [...]]]> Are you a good egg? Click to pledge that you are and help the hungry!

I did a switcheroo today like I did on Tuesday and worked out later in the day.   So, I started off with a combo I have been thinking of for a while – mocha oats!   Susan and I were on the same wavelength.

• 40 grams oats
• 3/4 cup coffee
• 1 small banana
• 4 grams cocoa powder
• 10 grams chopped toasted pecans

I used the coffee in place of the water.  This was very strong brewed coffee, too.  It was a very unusual flavor, I have to say.  I couldn’t taste the banana at all, just a bit of sweetness.  It was eye opening!

My wonderful husband bought me some memory for my camera!  I was talking about getting some because I can only take so many pictures and very short video with it.  And then he said not to buy any because he got me some.  Early Christmas gift for me!

Isn’t technology amazing? 2 Gigabytes and the size of my fingernail.

Today was my hardest training day before taper week before the duathlon.  I did a 1.5 mile run, then 16 mile bike ride, then 2 mile run.

As promised, here is a little bit of my bike path. It’s like my own Blair Witch Project LOL!  I took so much video today, it was fun.  This is just one piece.

I am such a nerd LOL. I feel like a bit of a goof. I held the camera in one hand while riding. Actually surprisingly steady for that.

It was the most gorgeous day today.  So beautiful.  I kept stopping to take pictures:

Stunning, just stunning. I wish I really could capture this on camera.

After the bike ride and before the 2nd run, I had some of this!

Zico, would you sponsor me, please??   I love this stuff.  It’s coming with me on duathlon day!

Pink picture of the day:

This is a local laundromat. That color is on purpose LOL!

I felt really good when I finished. I did take more breaks riding that I should have, but I realized that I will be able to finish the duathlon. I know that now, and if I have to take a few breaks, it’s okay! I am getting excited and nervous about it. I can’t wait to see what kind of weather we will get next weekend. Mid October could be anything!

Question: Do you have fall photos to share? List the link, I would love to see!

Then grocery shopping.  Lots and lots of good stuff, including some new Chobani  greek yogurt flavors:  Pomegranate [...]]]> Gorgeous Sunday here, absolutely gorgeous!  And I have to work LOL!  Although it has been really slow, so I am getting stuff done around the house.  Went to Panera Bread for our ritual bagel:  Asiago cheese here:

Then grocery shopping.  Lots and lots of good stuff, including some new Chobani  greek yogurt flavors:  Pomegranate and Pineapple.  You’ll see those this week.  I was so excited to find them.  I think I embarassed John about how excited I was to find them.  Or maybe it was my dancing to the store music

And these were in and on sale!

So, I after some thinking and pondering, I decided that part of me is just being a baby about getting off the last bit of weight.  It’s because I love food ( ya think??), and tend to not want to limit myself.  I think the possibility of going to Cancun in January also makes me want to work a bit harder. I won’t have to do much, just trim back some of the extras for a bit (like those little cinnamon rolls!).  In general, just tighten up the food.  The exercise portion is totally fine.  So, I decided I am going to give myself a challenge to lose 4 pounds during September.  Those long-time followers know this is going to be hard, I am the turtle queen even when things are going well LOL!

Anyone want to join me in a personal challenge for September?  It doesn’t have to be weight loss; it could be exercise, or eating more whole grains, keeping your desk free of clutter, or saying something positive to yourself each day.  We can just check in once or twice a week here to be accountable.

Lunch was a deliciously sweet/tart kiwi with a grilled wrap stuffed with chicken and cheese spread and broccoli (yep, broccoli at lunch today, not dinner!).

John made up some homemade chocolate sauce, so I had to have some on my latte today.  We have a squeeze bottle for it so I can make pretty patterns. For those curious, we drink 1% milk at home.

Met with one of my tenants today (the good one) and he gave his 30-day notice to leave as he is buying a house.  I am a little bummed since he was such a great tenant.  Always on time with the rent, very polite, etc.   Will be speaking with the other tenant in a few days to see what he wants to do.  If he wants to move, I will probably try putting it on the market, but I imagine he will get a room mate and stay.  Anyone want to buy a house? LOL.

It was so nice out that I took a run before dinner.  I just wanted to do 2 miles and hopefully get under 10 minutes for each mile.

Total time:  19:20  (9:40 per mile).  I was pretty happy with that (and sweaty).

We were going to make a vegetarian chili for dinner, but I was hot and sweaty, and I wanted something lighter and cool for dinner.  So yogurt, cereal, and berries it is!

Starting to get some fall blooms in the garden!

Liriope:

Sedum:

Aster:

Mums will be blooming soon.

Question:  Anyone up for a personal September challenge?