Category Archives: protein pancakes

On the straight and narrow

Lifting day! I was totally expecting the gym to be packed, but there were even less people there than usual. I think everyone went yesterday (which is why I didn’t go) or maybe because it was really cold out.  We only got to 17 degrees this afternoon.  Now it feels like January around here.  😯  Each winter is getting harder and harder to take.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Stationary Lunge 3 sets of 10 with 20# DBs Lower Body
Single dumbbell row 3 sets of 12 with 15# DB Back
Incline Push Up 3 sets of 10 Chest
Trunk twist 3 sets of 30 Core
Straight leg deadlift 3 sets of 12 with 50# bar Hammies and low back
Arnold Press 3 sets of 10 with 10# DBs Shoulder
Low Back Extension 3 sets of 10 at 80# Low back

I am working my way back with pushups.  I haven’t done them in a couple of months with my wrist problem I had (have).

Then I rocked out with Journey on the treadmill for a while before coming home to breakfast!  Protein waffles.

You know, the texture really is different putting the same batter in the waffle iron versus pancake style.  Just thought I would throw that out there.

Back to normal at work, finally!  I do feel pretty rested.  I had files from one of my favorite doctors when I logged in, which made me a happy camper indeed.  I worked right up to lunch very productively.

You know, I actually really hate mayo.  I cannot stand it on sandwiches or in other stuff, but I will eat it in egg salad and sometimes chicken salad. I am so weird that way.

I have really been conscious of my 90/10 rule since Sunday.  I have mentioned this before, but maintaining is usually having a couple regular or lower calorie days and then a day or two higher and alternate like that.  A squiggled line, so to speak.  Or, more like 80/20 eating or **ahem** 70/30.

Now that I am in active weight loss mode, I have to put more of the lower calorie days together in a row and I find day 3 to be the absolute hardest because that means I am no longer in maintenance mode.  I kind of get the pouty 5-year-old thing going on.  Today actually was not bad and I didn’t really struggle too much.  My food was filling, which helps.  I also have been inputting the next day’s menu into Livestrong the night before, so I just have to follow it and not think too much, which is usually what gets me in trouble.

I was ready for my latte.  Did I mention it was cold today?

Florida in 4 weeks.  That is my focus now!

I made up one of my favorite recipes for dinner tonight.  The chicken with balsamic tomatoes.  This is super easy and pretty quick.  About half an hour from start to finish.  John had his over pasta.  I had no pasta and just had more of the chicken.

So good!  I found that cutting back a bit on the balsamic is better.  The recipe calls for 1/2 cup, but I think it is too overpowering, so I used 1/4 cup.  I must revise my page on that.

While I would like to go out for coffee tonight, I cannot bear to go out in the cold.  We have an overnight low of -5 tonight.  Ick.  I do love my electric blanket!

I have my snack made up.

This is 1/4 cup of part-skim ricotta, 1/4 cup of pumpkin, a dash of cinnamon,  and a teaspoon of creamed honey on top.  I hope it is good.  Looks a little weird, but that’s okay. I made this up after dinner and it is in the fridge waiting for me.

Preplanning is a must for me to stay on track.  Otherwise I start not paying attention and nibbling on various items while thinking about what to eat.

Tomorrow is one of the 10% meals of the 90/10 plan.  Bagel day!

August roundup and book winner!

I was up early for a pre-heat bike ride today.  With temps expected into the low 90s, I knew I had to get it in early.  I had some toast and jam pre ride:

I zoomed along pretty fast.  I was on the roadway for the first 6 miles, then I hit the path.  Noticeable difference in the quiet.  Lots of other bikers and joggers, too, which surprised me this early.  It was getting hot already.

I stopped for a moment to take some pictures and have some coconut water.

Gotta stop and appreciate when you can, right? There was a headwind on the way home.  It seems like I am always going into a headwind.  What is up with that?  Anyway, I did 22 miles today with some hills and it felt really good.  Good thing I did hills because my charity ride is *Hilly*.  Note the capital H. I will post a graphic of it tomorrow or Thursday.

Brekkie and I wanted to shake things up around Team Radiance today!

Protein pancakes topped with a dollop of vanilla greek yogurt, plus I couldn’t resist that drizzle of chocolate sauce (that was the bike ride talking 😀  )

Yum!!

The winner of Edward Ugel’s  “I’m with Fatty” is

Nancy

Just read Klondike Tales by Jack London

Congrats Nancy!  Please contact me at javaqueen01 (at) yahoo.com with your address and I will send that out!

Lunch break was standard.  So much for shaking things up 😀

So – here were my goals for August.

  • Compile my recipes into a cookbook, which I am going to give to anyone who sponsors my Team Challenge ride.  Done!  This took longer than expected and I am still distributing the copies.
  • Continue working on the no snacking while preparing meals.  Doing pretty well with this.  I still snack at other times, though.
  • Again, no weight goal this month, just being mindful of what I am eating.  I am going to weigh myself when I want to, though.  Weight remained stable for the month – yay!

Things I learned in August:

– I don’t need to record my food each and every day anymore.

– Just because you lock up your stuf, that doesn’t mean someone won’t steal it.

– Working 2 jobs is not for me.

My goals for September are as follows:

  • Team Challenge Ride on September 12.
  • Concentrate even more on mindful eating.
  • Do more brick training after the charity ride to get ready for the duathlon in October!
  • Experiment more with not recording my food every day.   Although, I pretty much can keep a running tally in my head of calories, so not sure if this is really ground breaking in any way.

Afternoon snacks:

Plus some sea salt Lindt.

I had to laugh at this.  Do ever fear when moving furniture about what you might find behind the couch?  We moved the couch away from the window for the new windows coming tomorrow.  At first nothing appeared, then all of the sudden we saw this:

These are all of Pixie’s little rolled up balls of paper LOL!  She just jammed them all under the couch.

Who me?

Thank goodness there were no mousie bodies under there….

John cooked up some dinner tonight.  Pork burgers!

I dearly love our local smokehouse.  Good quality and good prices and local.  The best of all worlds.

We shopped for my niece’s birthday tomorrow and had some success.  So of course, we had to stop for some cafe – decaf…

And a snack size pb cookie.

Yum.  I like how places are actually making things smaller sized.  Do you find this happening as well?

I am off to catch up the google reader now!

Jam or jelly?

Thank you for your comments on my Team Challenge ride!  I need to figure out how to put a donate button or something on this site, but the page you can do it from is here, and click on the support button to the right.  It will be a bit different from our longer rides we take here because I can’t be dawdling over lunch or yogurt during the ride LOL!

I was thinking about going for a run this morning, but my legs felt a little sore and I realize that I have not had a good solid rest day in a while.  Just walking for me today.  Sometimes I feel the need to go,go,go with the exercise or that I have to fit in X number of runs/lifting/biking sessions in a week.  Not sure why that is.

Anyhoo, I made up protein pancakes today!  Not in waffle form for a change up.  😀

Then I sat down and got right to work.  I like starting early because I usually finish early.    Last night I chose to read and not work.  Good choice!  The book is good so far.  I think I will finish it.  I used to finish books no matter what, but John said to me a few months ago “Life is too short to read bad fiction.”  He is so right.  There are so many good books out there that I don’t have to finish the bad ones (bad to me, at any rate).  A book has to catch me in the beginning now for me to want to continue.

Since I ate breakfast so early, I needed a mid morning snack:

This was m’eh.  I like mint dark chocolate way better.

Lunch time included some fresh baked bread from the 5 minute bread cookbook.  Easy stuff when you don’t have to knead.  It’s just a matter of waiting.

Last of the pomegranate jelly. I need to make some jam.  I like jams better than jellies because they are thicker with fruit and not so sweet.  This pic is for you Jody!

I have started working on the cookbook and boy howdy!  It is going to be kinda long.  The oatmeal section alone takes up several pages LOL!  (surprised? I didn’t think so).  I may have to take a couple vacation days just to work on it.  I am trying to decide whether to keep it in word format or PDF.

The heat and humidity are on again here.  Pixie just stretches out to try to keep cool.  Glad I don’t have that much hair:

Afternoon snack and I still had a hot latte.  Why I can drink hot drinks when it is in the upper 80s, I don’t know.

Plus a couple squares of Lindt Intense Orange:

Damn good stuff, I tell you.

Work slowed down with both jobs this afternoon, so I was able to get in my walk before dinner tonight.  I just have a wee bit to finish up later.

It’s the return of the BBQ chicken salad!

Almost out of chicken.  All meat, actually, so a trip to the smokehouse is in order.

Tonight I need to wrap John’s bday gifts and water the garden and work on the cookbook!  One step at a time, though.  😀

I’ll be back tomorrow with the lifting move of the week!

Question:  Do you like jam or jelly better?

Running and missing the scale…

Seems a lot of people like the tuna/cottage cheese combo.  I am so not sure about that one…..

Woke up early today, thanks to Ms. Pixie.  I forgot to feed her dry food last night, so she was pushing on the door at about 5 am this morning 🙄  I got up and gave her some food, then tried to get back to sleep, but no dice.  I figured I would get up and run, then.  I had a protein drink and headed out to the track today.  I noticed these nice gladioli blooming in someone’s yard!

Purty.

I’m a flower stalker, what can I say?

Here is the lovely track I run at when school is out.

It was a good morning to run, as there was a foggy mist and it was in the 60s.  I don’t like running in the sun unless it is winter time.

I did 3.25 miles.  That’s an extra 1/4 mile just because I felt like it.  I think I might be ready to get my mileage back up now that I am running regularly again.  I do have a race on Saturday, though – so nothing heavy duty this week.

Even though it was not sunny, I still sweated a lot! LOL

Bags under the eyes courtesy of Pixie….

Came home to some protein waffles.

Yummers.

Workity workity today.  Both jobs very busy.  Whew!  I was ready for a lunch break pretty soon.

Greek yogurt, Bear Naked Banana cereal (very good), and blues.

Plus 1/2 of this just to get a few more calories because I felt like I really wanted more to eat.

For some reason, running makes me really hungry.

I have to tell you all that I really, really want to weigh myself.  It’s been about 3 weeks now and I am dying to know if the scale is up or down (or the same).  I have this strange fear that it will be up 5 pounds.  After looking at all the videos of myself I did yesterday, I am feeling mildly down about my lower body.  Not too much, and it will pass, but not weighing makes me have to sit and deal with that feeling without any reassurance.  Is there a lesson to be learned there?  I don’t know.

John made me a latte and I had one of the blueberry cornbread muffins with it.  Toasted it up and sprayed some ICBINB on it.

For a more positive note on this month – I have been doing great with the no nibbling while preparing meals!  I have been going through some Altoids, though LOL.  I guess I would rather have 15 extra calories of those than 150 extra calories of nibbles, know what I mean?  It’s still really hard, though, I will admit.

Dinner time was a stirfry of broccoli and shrimp with ginger sauce on a sweet potato.


John said my dinner looked weird.  I liked it, and that is all that matters.  He doesn’t do savory sweet potatoes, so maybe that is why he thought it looked funny.

I finished up both jobs and have a free night!  I think I am going to drag out the beads and make some jewelry, maybe.  Thank goodness the ice cream shop down the street is closed on Tuesdays 😀

Why you should be biking!

Last day of my work week – happy, happy day!  I was up early to eat (of course).  Fairly clean eating day commenced:

Love those protein waffles.  I noted that these blueberries did not taste as sweet as they normally do, and I think it was due to the sweet stuff I had yesterday.  Interesting….

Lunchtime was a tuna salad wrap.  My wrap was  a little wet from being in the bag (and stale on the edges – how does that happen), and it exploded on my plate.

Tuna is once again losing what charm it had for me.  Need a hiatus again pretty soon.  Pears on the other hand, I am still in love with them!

Gorgeous day today, just meant for biking! Speaking of biking, Beth posted an article from Women’s Health about the 7 benefits of biking:

  1. Calorie burn: A 135-pound woman pedaling 12 to 14 miles an hour blasts 488 calories in 60 minutes.
  2. If you live close to your office, you can pedal to work twice a week and burn up to 3,000 extra calories—close to one pound of fat—each month
  3. It works out your whole body (yes – upper, too!)
  4. A study published in the journal Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics found that bike riding improved energy levels by 20 percent and decreased fatigue by 65 percent.  Thank you dopamine!
  5. It’s a low-impact activity.
  6. You can really work some muscles. Pedaling while standing engages your core and triceps as you stabilize your body over the bike.
  7. In one study, researchers had 32 women ride at a moderate to high intensity three times a week for at least half an hour. After a year, they’d lowered their blood pressure and LDL, as well as significantly increased their aerobic fitness.

Do you need anymore reasons to dust off that bike in the garage??  Not mentioned was just the fabulous fun that biking is 😀 , especially if there is a yogurt shop on the path…

Afternoon snackie before the ride. I had the last of the Kind bars I got on sale:

My least favorite, I have to say.

with a latte:

Then finished up work for the day.  I was ready to ride at that point!  I adjusted my clipless shoes a little bit so they set back just a bit and I think that was much better.  We rode a different way today, down south.  It’s along the main road and fairly flat except the big hill leaving from and getting home to our house.  We stopped at the half way point:


It’s getting so green now!

We booked along really well.  There was a pretty stiff headwind on the way out, but that meant fast speed on the way back!  16.4 miles with average speed of 13.2 mph!  Woo Hoo!  I made it up the hill at the end…. barely.  That hill is really hard when I am 100%, let alone recovering.  I kept thinking, “How slow can I go up this hill and still remain upright?”  But, I squeaked it out.  Really hard.

I slugged a quick protein drink and then we set up  making dinner, as it was well past our normal dinner time.  I made the best shrimp and grits.  I used one strip of shoulder bacon (it’s leaner) and cooked the grits in water, then added a wedge of laughing cow.  I reserved 1 tsp of the bacon drippings and cooked the shrimp in it.  This was really good!  A healthier version of shrimp and grits.

I guess bacon doesn’t really count towards eating clean, per se, but it was sooooo good!

Tonight’s snack will be that protein cheesecake thing, I think.  And some relaxing!

My weekend officially starts……. now.

Doing it all over again

The start of the weekend!  I got it going with a fantastic weight lifting session.  I got to the gym at 7:15 – I sure know how to sleep in on my day off, don’t I?

I jogged 1 mile on the treadmill for a warm up, then hit the iron:

  • Chin ups:  2 sets of 2, 1 set of 1 (this is never going to change….)
  • Barbell squats: 1 set of 10 at 65#, 1 set of 8 at 85#, 1 set of 6 at 95#, 1 set of 4 at 105# (YES!)
  • Barbell bench press: 1 set of 10 at 45 pounds, 1 set of 8 at 55#, 1 set of 6 at 65#, 1 set of 4 at 70# (new high weight)
  • Reverse lunge with single dumbbell: 3 sets of 8 with 20# DB
  • Dumbbell pull over: 3 sets of 8 with 25# DB
  • Face Pulls:  3 sets of 10 at 30#
  • Lunge with bicep curl: 3 sets of 8 with 15# DBs
  • Triceps pull down: 3 sets of 10 at 40#
  • Reverse crunches: 3 sets of 15

Man was I feeling it at the end!  Getting done with a good lifting session feels so different than running or biking.  It’s way more exhausting and I feel drained (but in a good way).  I am *loving* these longer workouts.

Do you love this or what? :mrgreen:  I so need this on a t-shirt.

I was staaaahving when I got home.  Needed those protein waffles to fill me up.

Sprinkled with some toasted coconut.  I had to consciously slow myself down with the eating.

Spent the morning relaxing, blog reading, and making some chocolate protein granola, which I had with lunch.  I will post the recipe tomorrow.

I had some of my newly minted granola with lunch topped on some greek yogurt, vanilla protein powder, 1/2 of a mashed banana, and cinnamon.

And yes, it was quite good!

For flashback Friday, I thought I would answer a question that Susan posed for me:

If you were to do it all over again (lose the weight) knowing everything you know now, would you do anything differently?

This is a really tough question, or I am making it tough to answer, I guess.  I try really hard not to regret any decisions I have made in the past or think about how things would have been different if I had done something differently.  There is part of me that wishes I could go back to my teenage self and tell her how to eat properly and exercise in a fun way so that I could have spent the majority of my life being fit.  Learning it right from the start instead of doing fad things and not learnin’ nuthin’ but how to yo-yo.  With that being said, I almost wouldn’t want to change a thing, because I really like the person I am now and I don’t know if I would be this person if I had been thin at a young age.  Know what I mean?  Maybe I might talk to my plateauing self a few years ago and really kept on her about not giving up, though.  That would have made things a little easier 🙂 This was probably a more complex answer to this question that was necessary, but that’s me in a nutshell LOL!  Short answer would be you can eat more than you think and lose weight.

Afternoon out and browsing shops led me back to the Chocolate Mill for some coffee.  They really improved their lattes quite a bit since the last time I was here!  Last time they were pretty substandard.  This time –

Nice latte art.  Maybe a touch bitter espresso, but still much improved.  John met me there, which is also nice 😀  I managed to just have the skim latte and avoid all of this:

(It’s funny, these pictures look like nighttime, but it was 3 in the afternoon!)

I just didn’t want something that rich today.  Think it is because I actually have eaten quite well this week and have gotten a lot of the sweet tooth out of my head.

Came home and started on dinner prep.  I bought a rutabaga at the store – and roasted it up along with some sweet potato.  I also made broccoli in case I didn’t like the rutabaga LOL!  It was pretty good.  I need to do a GVE post on this.

With some chicken and BBQ sauce.

Saving some fruit for an evening snack tonight!

Might top this with some nut butter or laughing cow.  Not sure which yet.

Think tomorrow will be an outdoor run day – woohoo!

Black Friday and no shopping here!

I ruminated a little on Jinx’s comment about whether or not I ever let my guard down.  The short answer to that would be no, not ever completely.

I actually ate a good amount of food yesterday.  I did not record the food I ate (except what showed up in picture form 🙂  ).  In fact, I even took off my GoWear fit for the day when I got back from my run. I just wanted to enjoy the day.  With that being said, I have learned some things.  I despise feeling stuffed.  I don’t like it when I am so uncomfortable after eating that I can feel my stomach bulge (something that I could not notice at 250 pounds) or that I wished I hadn’t eaten something.

That last part is so important to me.  I have made it my mission to not feel guilt or remorse over food anymore.  To do that meant to conquer the part of me that would just eat and eat because it was the holidays (or whatever occasion) and the food was there.  I don’t have to eat 5 slices of cranberry bread because 5 slices are available to me.  I don’t believe in deprivation, but I also know that is is okay to *not* want something.  I didn’t have any pumpkin pie last night because I didn’t want any.  I certainly could have had it because it was there, right?  What I really wanted was the cheesecake.  I knew that if I had both the cheesecake and the pumpkin pie, I would have been stuffed.  So, I didn’t have the pie.   I loved everything I ate yesterday (okay, the moose was a little overcooked, but anyway…) I nibbled on the cashews and chocolate pieces probably more than I should, but that happens.

As you all know, enjoying food on a daily basis is important to me to keep the weight off.  That way I don’t feel the need to gorge on particular days of the year, especially since I don’t restrict my calories to the extent that I feel the need to do that.  That is just what works for me.  Everyone is different in how they need to approach these things.

Maybe that is what is meant by everything in moderation?  I don’t know.  That phrase is pretty relative 🙂

Anyhoo, I woke up this morning and thought a nice walk was in order.  It was so foggy that I decided to go to the track for safety sake.  Crazy Black Friday shoppers and all that!  I couldn’t keep from a little running, though.  I did 3 miles and jogged one lap out of each mile.  Nice and easy.

Came back to protein pancakes!

brekkie1127

Full of ‘cleansing oats’ as John said this morning :mrgreen:

John was off today, so it kind of feels like Saturday!  No shopping on Black Friday here.  I don’t like crowds and pretty much avoid the mall from here on out.  I will be participating in Cyber Monday, though!

I won the football picks last week, so it was my choice for a meal out.  I decided that I wanted some pizza for lunch!  We went to East End Eatery, which I lurve!  John and I split a calzone (I so love that he splits meals with me!).  Side salad to start:

sal1127

And then the calzone.

cal1127

Fresh out of the oven and delicious!

Now is the time to get into the spirit.  Time to put up the Christmas tree!  Pixie wanted to help:

ptree1127

The rest of the afternoon was spent assembling and decorating!

tree1127

I love real trees, but John is allergic – so we have had a fake one for many years.  I would like a nicer one, but the ornaments are the important part!  I think I will showcase one a day via pictures starting in December.

After finishing up, we had lattes and a slice of sweet potato cheesecake.  How thin can you slice cheesecake and still have the slice hold its integrity? This thin 😆  :

cc1127

I’ll have to get the link for the cheesecake recipe from John.  This is the real deal, though!  Good thing there isn’t much left.

I realized that yesterday was sorely lacking in fruits and veggies!  I had 1 banana and some cranberry sauce and a few green beans.  Ooops.  So, I decided on another salad for dinner.  2 in 1 day – that is pretty rare!  I had something similar to the other day:

sal1127-1

Turkey (you think??) with BBQ sauce, feta cheese, and sliced almonds on hearts of romaine.  It really tasted so good!

Making more ornaments tonight.  These things take forever!  Staying warm and snug tonight.  Rain is moving in with likely some sloppy snow by morning.  Think I will be going to the gym in the morning to run!

Question:  Black Friday shopper?  And if so, did you score any great deals?

Sore and protein power!

I took a Tylenol PM last night both for the back and the pain at the Broncos loss last night. 😡   I slept really well for almost 8 hours (go me!!).  Opened my eyes and took inventory:

Sore legs? check

Sore butt?  check

Sore arms, sides and chest?  Check, check, and check.

My back injury actually felt pretty much gone, just a tiny twinge.  I was slow getting out of bed and John commented on how weird it was to see me moving so slow.   I guess it does happen on occasion LOL!

Only went for a walk today as I decided to let my body rest up since I have NROLW on Wednesday to do.  I also decided to stock up on protein for repair.

Protein pancakes for breakfast!

cakes

Along with cafe au lait (I use 1 cup of milk to make 2 drinks for breakfast).

Without a workout, I got right down to typing and worked steadily.  Sometimes I can get distracted by things, and I had some trouble focusing today watching my squirrel buddy right outside my window.

pixie1110

Pixie was really enamored of him, too!  She chatters, which is so funny!

I made a fabulous protein packed superfood  lunch!

lunch1110

  • 1 container of french vanilla Oikos
  • 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
  • 1/2 cup pumpkin
  • cinnamon
  • cranberry sauce
  • 1 packet of teddy grahams (into the pool!)

It was so delicious.

John made lattes and brought me a little treat with it.

latte

Candy corn kisses!  These actually remind me more of a canned frosting than candy corn, but I love the look of them.  Another thing hidden up high.  I should take a picture of what is hidden away from me – it is quite a lot of stuff LOL.

Took a walk before dinner.  It feels so funny just to walk.  I hardly ever do that anymore since I normally run or bike.  I kept catching myself wanting to start jogging.  Come on Lori – gotta relax!!

Dinner was more protein in the form of chicken.  I brushed some mustard on the chicken breast and coated it with almond meal and sauteed in a pan.

dinner1110

Super tasty, although the coating fell off.  Yummy.  And roasted brussel sprouts for a change.

Done with work, so that means the evening is free for something, although not sure what yet 😀

Tomorrow we are going to attempt a morning ride to bagels.  Upper 30s, so at least it will be above freezing!

Question:  What is your favorite way to get protein?

Running for me and beer?

Thanks for you comments on my musings earlier LOL! Back to regularly scheduled programming…..

Woke up too early again today.  It was a little after 6:00 and I went to bed  after 11:30.  I really do better with 7 hours of sleep, so why does my body persist in waking up early?  Anyway, I just got up and had an early start to my day.  Cooked up some protein pancakes.  Since I can’t be tall, I thought I would stack my breakfast high!

cakes1029

Again, dark for breakfast!  Weird….

Worked for an hour and it warmed up to about 45, so it was time to get in a run.  I decided on a ‘me’ run today.  I went out without a watch, and just put on the Sweeney Todd soundtrack and let my body tell me how fast it wanted to go.   I sped up when I felt like it and slowed down when I wanted to.  I did 3.2 miles and felt very refreshed afterwards (and super sweaty).  I spent so much time basically since March having  fairly regimented fitness routines to train for all my events, so it feels good now to relax a little and just enjoy flexing my fitness, so to speak.

In my effort to get the cereal out of the house, I incorporated it into lunch 😀  Yum.  There is cereal under there, I promise!

lunch1029

Kat asked for a macro of my ring – and here it is:

ring1029

This is actually now my wedding band.  John and I had channel set diamond bands that matched.  Both of us have had problems with rings being too loose, especially in colder weather.  John had taken to wearing his ring on his pinky, and low and behold, one day it wasn’t there and we couldn’t find it anywhere.  We retraced as many steps as we could think of in the previous day, but to no avail.  John was actually more upset about it than I was.  I would rather lose a ring than lose him, know what I mean?  Anyway, we had been contemplating new bands, and really wanted one with a celtic knot design.  Couldn’t afford the ones we really liked, though.  On a trip to Colorado to visit John’s folks in early 2008, we shopped at ArtMart in Boulder (which is a cool place) and we saw these rings there.  $20 each!  We both loved them and figured they would be good bands in the interim until we can get some gold ones (maybe for our 15th anniversary).  It’s so funny because we both get so many compliments on these rings than we ever got on our other bands. Go figure.

It’s my weekend starting tonight, so John and I had a little celebration:

beer1029

We split this beer – cheers!

weekend

I look so tired in this picture.  Guess that is because I am LOL!  The beer is good.  Hints of pumpkin and spice.  Dinner was a stirfry made with a batata, which is a Mexican sweet potato.  I’ll do a GVE on it tomorrow in detail.  It tastes kind of like a chestnut, but has the texture of a potato.  Kicked it up with some chopped seranno peppers, too.  Bring on the heat! Fun!

stirfry1029

In true weekend decadence fashion, we ate in the living room on the couch with the TV on.  Sometimes it just feels good to be really casual.

I am so happy it’s the weekend!  It feels so great to be free for a couple days.  I am just about done with that soap order.  I’ll finish up the last 2 batches tomorrow.  Then I need to get a couple pumpkins to carve if I can still find some around.

pink1028

Pink item of the day!  Only a couple more days in October for this.

I am going to have a relaxing night with my 10 candy corn kernels, some tea, and Project Runway (if I can stay awake for it….).

I am shaking things up with the football dinner and am having John take me out for breakfast instead!  Hopefully we can bike there in the a.m.

Question:  Do you ever eat in front of the TV?

NROLW and balloon festival bust.

Thank you for all of your opinions on my 2 dresses.  I should also note that those are the only 2 dresses I own!  As I lost weight, I have always worked without needed them, so I just got these recently.  I have John’s opinion on the 2 dresses, now I just need to make up my mind.  😀

Didn’t sleep really well last night (like that is anything new….).My legs are also a bit stiff from yesterday’s run.  We have a long bike ride tomorrow, so hope they feel better soon!

NROLW Stage 5 B

  • Deadlift/bent over row:  4 x 4  at 75 pounds
  • Single leg partial squats:  4  x 4
  • Wide grip lat pulldown:   4 x 4 at 70 pounds
  • Back extension:  4 x 4 at 100 pounds
  • YTWL:  4 x 4 at 10 pounds
  • Crunches, reverse crunches, lateral flexion:  3 x 10
  • Prone cobra:  3 x 2 minute holds

Then I walked on the treadmill for 15 minutes. Almost done with stage 5 – only 2 more workouts to go.  Then it’s the scary chinup stage :O

Yummy protein pancakes for brekkie!

brekkie

This plate is a little small for the blueberry sauce.  I almost made quite a mess.

Pixie was falling asleep watching me eat (yes, I was in a computer chair by the printer….).  P9250007_edited

Spent a good portion of the morning cleaning the house.  It’s amazing that we both work at home, and yet the house gets out of control at times.

Lunch break!

wrap

Tuna wrap and Kiwi!

I picked up a sweater at one of my favorite consignment shops today, plus the black shoes that you saw in in the dress photos.  I am addicted to consignment shopping!

The hot air balloon fest tonight was a bust.  It was pretty windy and cold, but we biked there anyway to see what was up.  Lots of people there, lots of food vendors, but no balloons.  At least they weren’t going up for a while.  There was a chance it would be later, but because we biked there, we couldn’t stay too late and had to leave time to bike home before dark.  We brought along a couple protein bars to eat instead of eating the stuff for sale there.

Hopefully balloons will go off tomorrow!  We decided to stop for some warmth on the way home:

dd

No donut for me, though!  I had this when I got home:

pear

So, Saturday should be a long bike ride to Greenwich for their fall festival, if my legs can hack it. They are a bit tired (shouldn’t have biked tonight). It’s 32 miles round trip. Going to pack some lunch foods and snacks and hit the road. Gonna be chilly, though. It’s perfect for a fall festival!