A midday well spent!

I told you I was going to do better, two posts in two days, WIN!

I've been meaning to do deep cleaning in my apartment for a while now. I become a slacker over the winter and keep my place picked up but I don't get the heavy duty stuff done the way I do when it's nicer out. I started last weekend and finished the bulk of my apartment on Saturday. However, when I went to start on my bedroom I promptly changed my mind because there was no way I had the drive to do the kind of work that needed to be done in there. Of all the rooms in my apartment, my bedroom suffered this winter the worst. It was awful. I can't believe that I'm actually going to show you this (please, judge me if you need) but I want you to understand why I had to spend pretty much an entire day cleaning one room.

I didn't cut any corners while cleaning in there today. I washed all of the bedding, moved all of the furniture, dusted, vacuumed, tossed a bunch of crap, wiped down the baseboards and I even pulled the crevice tool out and sucked up what was probably years worth of dust, hair and only God knows what around the edge of the floor (eeww)!  I really love my mom but she could have kept her poor housekeeping skills to herself; that sort of thing doesn't need to be passed onto the next generation. Oh yeah, I also tightened up all of the screws in my mirror as it's gotten quite wobbly over the years.

Anyway, after a few hours of cleaning, I have a butt load of laundry to sort through but I'm pretty pleased with my final product:

p.s. I just love the panoramic function on my iPhone. Everybody said it was hard to use but I think it's user friendly and I get to take nifty pictures!

I have no excuse...

except that I'm a slacker. I could try and come up with some fancy-schmancy reason that I haven't blogged in OVER TWO MONTHS but that would just be a lie. Sure, I've been busy but you're all busy and manage to blog. Therefore I offer my sincerest apologies and promise to try to do better.

Although it's been a while, you haven't really missed out on much. I've been doing a great job with my workouts. Between spin class, boot camp and going to the gym I've been managing to get four to six good workouts in each week. Thank God too because my eating has been so abysmal it's the only reason I'm maintaining and not gaining. I go through spurts where I do really well for about 10 to 15 days and then I'm really crappy for the next week. Then I realize that I just lost all of the ground I gained, get disgusted with myself and hop back on board. When I don't see the progress that I think I should I say fuck it (yeah, I gave up on that not swearing thing a few weeks after the new year) and start eating poorly again. It's a vicious cycle that is leading me to believe I should just throw my scale away. Anyway, I'm working on the eating thing. I've decided to become a part-time vegetarian which amounts to me maintaining a vegetarian diet every other week. I'm not one of those people who feels that a meal isn't a meal without meat and I eat a fairly plant based diet when I cook for the most part so it's not such a big leap for me. I have a lot of really tasty vegetarian recipes and I so love to cook. I know that if I just get a little discipline I'll be doing much better.

I'm really loving my exercise classes right now. Sadly I'm over half done with my boot camp. On the bright side, they just released the catalog for the next Mhealthy session which starts at the beginning of May. I'll have to take a look at what's being offered and see if there is anything I'd like to sign up for. I also just purchased my next 20-session card for spinning. I think once the summer rolls around I'll only spin once each week instead of twice. I want to try and take advantage of free, outdoor activities if at all possible. The one thing that I really want to do is get back into running. I honestly haven't been running consistently in months and will probably just need to start over. However, now that I've made the shift to working out at night, I want to focus on outdoor running as opposed to treadmill. There are a lot of really nice trails, paved and otherwise around Ann Arbor and I've never taken full advantage of that. I hope to rectify the situation this coming outdoor season.

Outside of fitness things are going well. I'm happy to announce that we survived our Joint Commission visit at work this week without me going homicidal so that's good! I'm looking forward to my back-to-back visits this spring from Jessica and Jenny!!  I cannot wait to have some quality bonding time with two of my best girls! I'm also counting down the weeks (it's still a bit early to start counting days) until my trip home this summer. As of today it's 18 weeks!  I know that might seem like a lot but it's been a long time and  I'm chomping at the bit to get back.

I've been doing a lot of reading and a lot of watching between my bouts of physical activity. I finally managed to finish the second, painful season of The Walking Dead. I have been reassured by several people that season three is so good it makes season two worth the effort. If they've lied to me, I will hunt them down and do unpleasant things to them. I also started watching the first season of Breaking Bad. I don't remember who recommended it to me but it's been pretty good so far. I'll let you know what I think when I've watched more than a handful of episodes.

As for reading it's been mostly of the supernatural persuasion. The latest book in the Kim Harrison series was really good and I'm just finishing up her collection of short stories. For the most part it's a pretty solid read. I'm also trying to work through Max Brooks' books. I listened to the abridged version of World War Z (the movie comes out this summer) and it was fantastic. It's told in a series of vignettes from various people affected by the zombie war. It intrigued me enough that I'm now waiting for the full length book from the library. While I'm waiting, I'm reading The  Zombie Survival Guide. For something that reads like a how-to manual, it's actually quite fun.

Holy crap, time really does fly when you're having fun. I have to get ready for spin class so I should go. Have a great weekend and I look forward to catching up with you as I read through the many unread posts I see before me.

Maiden voyage at Planet Fitness

As my title suggests I made first trip to Planet Fitness this morning. As far as I can tell, I think I'm really going to enjoy having a membership there. I arrived around 7:20 (after wandering around Meijer for 20 minutes looking for a lock for the locker room) and there were about a dozen or so other patrons in the gym. I was able to easily get on a treadmill and get my week 3, day 1 of C25k finished. I took a look at both of the circuits they have set up, a 12-minute ab routine and 30-minute whole body resistance circuit but I didn't get a chance to try either of them. Mostly because I'm not really sure how you're supposed to go about it. I mean, I know what a circuit is but everything is driven by this light system which my early AM brain was not capable of figuring out. There is a class on Tuesday and Thursday nights that focuses specifically on using the circuits so I figure I'll swing in on one of those to figure out what I'm doing. I might as well get the most out of my membership, right??

Even though I skipped the circuits I did manage to get a pretty good lift in. I focused mainly on machines this morning because, while I know how to use equipment, every brand is just a little different and sometimes it's hard to figure out how certain pieces of equipment work. If I'm going to get stumped by the machines I'd much rather do it without 70 people watching or a line forming behind me. I have to admit, I'm really glad I did it this way because I could not figure out the leg press for the life of me which is sad because the leg press is, or at least should be, one of the most intuitive pieces of equipment in a gym. Oh well, I managed in the end so I guess it all worked out :-)

After lifting I was going to head out but I just felt really good so I thought I'd give the elliptical a try. I have a love/hate relationship with ellipticals. I loved the ones at Luther. They were perfect for my stride. I was able to use them, find a good rhythm and not feel awkward at higher speeds. Every other elliptical I've tried has been a let down. I just can't seem to make them work. I don't know if it's the stride length or the angle but something just doesn't fit. I didn't have high expectations when I got on the elliptical this morning but was promptly surprised. The machines at PF fit me exceptionally well. I only planned on doing 10 minutes but ended up going 25.

All in all, I was very pleased. Very pleased indeed!

Boot camp baby!

OK, I did it. Even though it scares the holy bagpipes out of me (see, no swears) I signed up for my first ever boot camp. I'm going to be honest, when I woke up this morning I had no intentions of joining a boot camp. However, after a brief chat with another supervisor in my department, I suddenly had an overwhelming desire to sign up and see what I could get this old body of mine to do.

My original intention was to sign up for the same class that four other women in my department are doing. It meets on Thursday nights for one hour starting at 5:15. It would have been perfect because I could just walk over with the gals, get my sweat on and then catch the bus home for a shower. However, when I went to sign up, the class was already full...boo. I was just going to give up on the idea but then I decided that I was really looking forward to the prospect of getting my butt handed to me on a platter for 15 weeks. So, I did a bit of investigating (read Google-mapping) and found that on Wednesday nights I could easily take the class at the NIB building. It's no more than a half-mile walk to the building on an outdoor route and if it's cold, I can cover most of the distance (a little less efficiently mind you) by cutting through the other hospitals. Again, it meets at 5:15 and will get me out just in time to catch a bus back to my car!

I figure that two nights a week of spinning and one night of boot camp will offer some nice variety to my workout routine. I got a chance to check out Planet Fitness tonight and I was really impressed. They have a good number of what appear to be really nice cardio machines but they also have this 30 minute cardio/resistance circuit set up. I still haven't had a chance to get to Anytime Fitness but I think I'm strongly leaning towards Planet. The price is right and I really liked the facility.

Anyway, I think that's it. I'll let you know how my first boot camp goes next week. I just hope my instructor doesn't resemble this guy...

Year end and looking forward

Happy 2013! I have to admit, I'm really glad that the Mayans were wrong and that the world didn't end last month. I have so many things left to accomplish in life and I'm hoping to get a good start on that to-do list in 2013.

The end of 2012 ended without much flourish or bang. I had a fairly nice Christmas and new year. I spent Christmas with a friend and her family. It was very nice to have a place to go as opposed to staying home alone. I did that one year and it was awful. However, I think this year it wouldn't have been so bad. After being away from home for so long I think I've gotten used to spending major days on my own. I think that's part of growing up. I've come to realize that any days spent with the people I love most in the world are special, regardless of where they fall on the calendar. Anyway, Santa was good to me this year. I got a new Blu-Ray player, a few movies, an insulated water bottle that I've been looking at FOREVER and refused to pay for, a lovely care package and socks, socks and more socks!  I also got a really nice bottle of sparkling wine from one of our doctors. Oh yeah, did I mention the chocolate? I LOVE chocolate!

My new years eve was very quiet. I had plans with friends and they had to bail at the last minute. I was bummed because I didn't really have time to make new plans (3:00 on NYE is too late for plan making) but I had a decent night. I ended up cooking a nice dinner and drinking the aforementioned bottle of wine. I didn't set out to drink the whole bottle but before I noticed it was gone, it was gone.  The only downside to drinking the whole bottle is that it made me overly sleepy a lot sooner than I was hoping. I tried to make it to midnight but at some point I must have passed out because I was awake and watching a movie and the next thing I know my phone is vibrating on the sofa arm next to my head. I'd have to ask Jessica to be sure but I don't think the 'I wasn't just drooling on my couch pillows' tone that I was attempting to pull off was very convincing. At least she had the good grace to not call me out on it. I really hope I wasn't on speaker phone...

Now it's back to business as usual. Work has been really slow through the holiday week. It's nice to have a day to catch up on things but by the end of the fourth slow day in a row it starts to get old. I did find a website online where I could read the Hunger Games books for free so that was at least a nice way to spend some of  my time, even if I should have been working. Although, in my defense, there was literally nothing to do. We got all of the stocking, cleaning and paperwork done on slow day one. Basically we had no busy-work left and no patients to fill our time. It was bad. I could have used PTO but I hate wasting PTO when I could save it for fun times with my friends from home. Oh well, if a few slow days is my worst complaint at work I'm pretty lucky.

As 2013 was approaching, I was thinking a lot about my resolutions for the year. Last year I set two real goals, one fitness and one life resolution.  I didn't do well on either. I'm not saying last year was completely wasted, I did run my first 5K, however, I followed it up with my second 5K which was a disaster (excepting the fabulous company I had). It's really frustrating to me that I'm in worse shape right now than I was at this time last year. I have nothing and nobody to blame but myself and my lack of dedication. So, my fitness resolution is very simple: do better in 2013 than I did in 2012. I figure this can't be that hard to accomplish but it's open enough to grow into what I want.

I think that my other resolution, my life goal, is going to be the harder of the two. I've recently decided that there is simply too much profanity in my life. I feel like the well placed swears that are meant to really show impact no longer do because I curse too freely otherwise. Because of this, I have decided that I am going to omit profanity from my life. I don't know that I will be entirely successful, this could be a very arduous task but I want to really cut down on my sailor talk. I'm 36 hours into the new year; so far, so good!

Lastly, I'm currently searching for a new gym. They still haven't fixed the equipment in the exercise room at my apartment (I would really like to use a few vulgar words at them) and I'm tired of waiting for them to get around to it. I've put my feelers out and I'm going to be touring the Anytime Fitness and Planet Fitness gyms closest to me. As far as I can tell the only really difference is the price but I'll hold off on judging until I see the actual facilities and talk about the options I'd have available at each.

Back and ready to kick ass!!

I can't believe it's December, mostly because it means that my vacation has come and gone and now I'm trapped in Michigan until July. However, I have so many fond memories to keep me company that I'm sure the next eight months will just fly by...

My plans didn't work out exactly the way I was expecting but there isn't much that I would change about my most recent trip home with one major exception, I needed to spend more time with my friends to detox from my family. Don't get me wrong, I love everybody in my family to bits and pieces but by the end of the second week I could have used some friend time a day sooner and probably a few of Kevin's magic margaritas! Can I just say how much fun I had my last night home? Honestly, we didn't do anything too spectacular, well with the exception of a bit of hip waggling, but it was a perfect night nonetheless. It was the same the night I spent hanging out with Jenny in Ankeny. I sometimes forget out here, where I truly prefer to be a bit of  a hermit, how much fun it can be to just hang out with the people you love. God I miss that.  I don't think it's ever been more difficult for me to get in my car and drive away from home than it was this time. That includes leaving after my mom's funeral...I think that means something. I really need to move home. I even told my boss today. I don't think he believed me. I hope to shock him one of these days ;-)

Just a brief recap:

Opened in Iowa with Cody and his family. He's finally cleared to drive with his knee and Tasha got a job...PARTY!

Turkey Trot with Rishy (AND BEN!!, color me surprised) which just increased my love for my friends and proved to me that being a lazy lump does not pay off. Fixing the situation pronto!

Thanksgiving with Rishy and her family. Not planned but awesome just the same.

Back to Iowa to see the Stefanovic clan and spend some quality time with my family.

Two thanksgiving dinners, one trip to the salon to chop my locks, one girls day out with Karla and Kim, lunch with my favorite per-kindergartener EVER (school lunches have not changed much), my first solo dinner with my little brother Brad (need to do this more often), a fabulous day with my Jenny who I NEVER get to see, a day spent with Cody, date night with two of my favorite little men (Wreck-It Ralph is really cute btw) and one fabulous evening playing with some of my favorite people in the world (even though Kevin kept cutting off the circulation in my fingers, we watched too many bad SyFy movies, Ben downloaded the bouncing boobs ap and Kevin, Ben and I invested way too much time trying to find tasteful sideboob which I'm still not convinced really exists despite what the boys claim).

Whew... and that's just the Reader's Digest version. I could gush on and on but I won't. I'd also post pictures but it's so hard with my new phone so if you want to cyber spy, just check out Facebook.

I got back to Michigan late, late Sunday night and took Monday off of work. It's been really hard to get back into a sleep schedule, my brain is still on vacation, and I'm so tired in the morning. I think my families plague finally hit me so I don't think it's helping me in the feeling rested category. If I'm asleep before midnight tonight (the last two nights have been very late) I plan to get up and run tomorrow morning. I'm also happy to say that I decided to purchase a package at the studio where I've been doing my spin class. Twenty classes for $130 seems really reasonable to me. I think I'm going to be spinning on Monday and Friday nights this winter. I'm really hoping to work on my cardio over this winter, it needs all of the help it can get. Assuming the Mayans are wrong, I have some very specific fitness goals in the next year that I will be meeting, including running the 10K (without feeling like I'm dying) at the Dexter-Ann Arbor run and my half marathon with Rishy in the fall. I won't accomplish any of that sitting on my ass. Also, if I don't look amazing at Andy's wedding when I'm back in July, I just might cry!

Back in the saddle...

No pun intended.

I'm sure you've noticed I have not been faithful to the blog lately. If it makes you feel any better, I haven't exactly been faithful to any part of my weight-loss/health-gain plan in the last few months. Yes, I said it, months. In fact, I just weighed myself in what seems like FOREVER and I gained 25 pounds back from my lightest. It was worse than I thought it would be, but I won't let that stupid number on the scale discourage me and keep me from moving forward again. In fact, it's a bit liberating to finally log the number. I kept thinking this summer, 'once I get back to my light weight then I'll log.' Let me tell you, it doesn't work that way.

I had a really nice talk with Jessica last night and I was telling her that I finally realized what's going on. My backsliding isn't a physical thing. My body wants to move and be good. It's all in my head. I've been trying to figure out where my head is and why it's in such a bad place right now and I honestly think I have a few things to resolve from this summer. I am ashamed to admit it, but I have so much anger towards Dean for what he did this summer. The anger got worse as Alecia's pregnancy was progressing and now that Gracilyn is here, I'm really pissed. I know he was going through something awful and I can't begin to understand the feelings he was trying to work through but I still can't validate the decision that he made. I look at pictures of that little girl, who looks just like Dean, and I get fuming mad thinking that she might not get to know her daddy. Yes, we'll tell her all about him, but it's not the same thing. I get heart sick every time I  hear one of Cody and Tasha's kids tell me how much they miss uncle Dean. When Brooklyn was here with Karla and Justin last month, she kept tell me that Dean got sick and had to leave. How do you help a 2 year old process the loss of someone she loves so much? Especially when he mad the decision to go. I know this all probably makes me sound really cold and selfish but these are the thoughts that are rolling around in my head and I have to deal with them before they consume me. I love Dean with all of my heart, please don't doubt that, and I'm working through this anger that I have. I've been talking with family about it and writing down here seems to be pretty cathartic. I think that working through these feelings and moving forward will be a really good thing, not just for me but for others in my family as well.

Anyway, moving on, I have decided to start NO NONSENSE NOVEMBER! There has been a lot of nonsense these past months and I need to end it now. I have a 5K that I'm running with Rishy on Thanksgiving morning. It's going to be bad and she's going to kick my butt because I haven't been training like I should, or at all. I honestly don't know if I can even run a 5K on the treadmill right now (guess I'll find out tomorrow monring). However, humiliating myself in front of my best friend on turkey day should be really good motivation to get my butt in gear. I've also decided that when my spin class through AA Rec/Ed is up (I only have two classes left), I'm going to purchase a package through the studio and keep going. It's less expensive per class and I'm not locked into going on Friday nights only. It will cost $130 for 20 classes that have to be used within 90 days. I figure I'll purchase the package when I get back from Iowa in early December. If I go twice per week, it should get me through the first part of the winter nicely. When the time comes, I'll decide if I want to purchase another package or maybe try something else.

Finally, I have to stop eating like a hog. I would explain but I think the words I just used describe the situation pretty clearly. It's bad and I need to stop. NOW.

Anywho, I'm going to try to be more active on the blog. I don't make any promises for this month though. I only have two weeks and then I'm gone and things could get really crazy at work (for reasons I can't currently mention in a public forum) but I will try my hardest to check in more regularly.

Now, I have lots of reading to catch up on so I can figure out what has been going on in your lives since last month. Have a great day all!

Autumn update

Happy October ladies!  I am so happy to be enjoying this beautiful fall. The weather has been a bit brisk but I'm really OK with that. I love the cool temps and all of the amazing fall foliage that we've been having. When we moved into the new hospital we had high expectations in regard to the view from our eleventh story windows. I don't think even our greatest expectations could have come close to the beautiful autumn scenery that we have available to us. It's gorgeous from the ground but it's simply breathtaking from this height. It doesn't hurt that the trees go on for what seems like miles and miles!  The best part is that it changes so much from day to day. Can you tell I'm just a bit enthralled by our view??

Besides enjoying the autumnal flora, I have been keeping busy with many random things. I am working on a blanket for my soon-to-be-born neice. It is very close to being finished and I couldn't be happier. I'm so bad at these things. I'm always really motivated when I start and then my desire to crochet diminishes and I'm left with half projects. Fortunately with baby blankets there is a fairly solid deadline so I can keep on task. I pieced all of my granny squares together last night. Now I just have to do is finish the border and I'll be done. This is the first time I've done a granny square blanket. I don't know if I used the correct method for assembly but it's stuck together and I think it will stand up to multiple washings. I'll take a picture and post it when everything is finished.

I'm currently working on two books. I've been hoping to read the first book in the Game of Thrones series for some time but there are always a billion requests on the 20 copies that my library has. However, my friend Julie's lovely husband Mike heard about my predicament and managed to get his hands on a copy from his library. I'm about one third of the way through and I'm really enjoying it. It's a somewhat slow read and I feel like I already know what's going on because I Netflixed the first season last spring. I'm actually surprised how closely the first season of the show mirrors the book. There are usually many changes that take place but so far I feel like the first book was very truly adapted. Granted, there is still two thirds of the book left so there is plenty of time for them to trow in some really oddball stuff that I'm not expecting.

I am also listening to a book on my commute each morning and evening. Please feel free to judge me when I tell you the title. I've never claimed to have the greatest taste in the world. I have 5 words for you: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Yes, you read that correctly, your eyes are not deceiving you. I would describe the book to you, however, the name pretty much sums it up nicely. Take the classic love story of Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy and throw in a bunch of brain munching zombies. It's just about as ridiculous as you would imagine and I LOVE IT!! I only have 1 disc left and I'm surprised how good it is. Yes, the thought of zombies running around Austen's England is incredibly silly but I think she would have appreciated it. She wa a bit of a rebel herself, you know.

Last but not least, I've started my spinning class and although it's hard work it is great fun. I've had two classes so far and I'm really enjoying it. Don't get me wrong, it's not easy at all and my legs are like jello-o when I'm done but I enjoy the workout so much I don't realize how much it sucks until after. Oh, and the sweat, have I mentioned the sweat?  I sweat like a hog while spinning which wouldn't be so bad but then I have to take a bus back to my car. I'm choosing to believe that people don't want to sit next to me because I'm a stranger, not because I smell like a gym sock. Anyway, I have six weeks left and my only real goal is to be able to get out of and back into the saddle without hurting myself or the bike by the end of class. I have confidence that this can happen!

Recipe: turkey white bean pumpkin chili

It's soup season again and this is the first new soup I've tried. I already have others but I've been a blogging slacker so you'll have to have patience.

I know this might sound like a strange soup but it's really quite tasty. Don't let the pumpkin scare you off. There is so much other flavor going on that there isn't an overly pumpkiny taste.  You'll just have to trust me on this one!

You will need:

• 2 lb lean ground turkey
• 1/2 tsp olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp chili powder, to taste
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp oregano
• 2 (15 oz cans) of white northern or navy beans, rinsed and drained
• 15 oz can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 4.5 oz canned chopped green chile
• 2 cups low sodium, fat free chicken broth
• fat free sour cream for topping (optional)
• chopped cilantro and chives for topping (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste

 Cook the ground turkey, onion and garlic in a heavy sautee pan until turkey is brown and broken up. Add to the crock pot. Add the remainder of the ingredients (save the toppings) into the crock pot. Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours. Top with sour cream and chives/cilantro if desired.

Tis the season...

to get crafty! As the weather turns cool, I get an itch to start working with my hands.  Yarn work isn't very much fun when the weather is hot because yarn is very warm and who wants a blanket or throw on their lap when it's 90+ degrees outside and the air is on. However, the crisp weather we've been experiencing lately is getting me in the mood to start some new projects.  I'm currently working on a baby blanket for my new niece who will be joining us in the very near future and while I need to get my butt in gear on that or it will never be finished, I decided to pick up a side project I saw on Pinterest.  My dear friend Lindsey posted a hat a while ago that she was contemplating buying for $45. It was just a crochet hat with a felt flower on it.  I thought I might be able to whip something up that was similar for a lot less money.  Boy was I right.

After about 2-3 hours of work and a whopping $7.00 (maximum) I think I came up with a hat with a very similar feel. The crochet of the hat is a bit different and the colors are not the same but I think it worked well in the end...

The original by MojoSpaStyle:

The replicate by me:

 

Migraine Mayhem!

I would like to start by saying that the fact that my primary care clinic has Saturday appointments ROCKS!  It is so much more convenient than having to schedule time off of work to go see my doctor. Way to go Ypsilanti Family Medicine!

As you might have guess by my oh so subtle title, I had a bit of migraine mayhem this week, at least I really hope it is migraine mayhem and not some other nasty lurking in the shadows. I was having a very nice, normal week.  I was eating well, getting my runs in, getting plenty of rest and with the exception of yesterday I wasn't dealing with much stress beyond the usual stress of being alive and a working adult. However, I had a very strange episode, for lack of a better word, on Thursday.

I was sitting all by myself in the EKG lab when the entire right side of my body went completely numb. I'm talking from the top on my head to the very tips of my toes.  Even my throat was numb.  I was hesitant to stand up because I wasn't sure if I was going to be dizzy or not.  After a brief moment of head spinning I was able to walk up to the clinic. I had full control of my body, I just couldn't feel anything other than an incredibly strong tingle. I felt my pulse and it was strong, steady and regular and our MA told me that she didn't see any drooping in my face. It took about 5 minutes and the tingling stopped and the numbness subsided. I felt fine other than a low grade headache, a bit of shakiness and some mild visual distortions (which I get when I have my migraines).

I honestly wasn't terribly concerned about the event and chalked it up to increasing neurological symptoms of my headaches. However, when I told my sister what happened she flipped out on me. She called me an idiot and told me that if I died in my sleep because I had a stroke or aneurysm she would never forgive me.  I wasn't quite ready to jump to all of the wrong conclusions yet so I called Tasha for a second opinion. I figured she loves me and she's a nurse so I can get a family member/medical professional opinion. While she didn't feel strongly that I should have gone to  the ED (did you know it's not the ER anymore??) she did advise me to make an appointment with my PCP.

I had my appointment this morning and the conclusion was what I thought it would be.  Because I have good blood pressure, I don't and have never smoked or used smokeless tobacco, exercise regularly and try to eat well, the odds that I had a stroke or even a transient ischemic attack, are very low. Yes, I have a strong family history in my mom but as Dr. Velez said, 'your mom is another beast,' meaning the fact that she smoked and had a severe vascular disease as a direct result of that habit doesn't really increase my risk of stroke. She didn't recommend imaging at this time but she said she'd leave it to me if I want a neurology consult.  I think for now I'll probably leave it; if the symptoms return or get worse I'll get in to see a specialist.

Damn you stomach bug!!

Happy weekend ladies.  I have to admit that as glad as I am for the weekend, I am even more excited to have finally kicked whatever stomach bug was wreaking havoc on my system all week. I was able to eat breakfast and lunch today with only minimal stomach discomfort...yay!! I'm still eating with a bit of trepidation just to be on the safe side but all seems to settling well. I have had to re-think my menu for the week as I was planning on working my way through the plethora of leftovers I have in my freezer, however, apparently everything I cook is spicy and I don't know how well spicy will sit (at least for the next few days). Oh well, I was able to come up with a few fairly mild and inexpensive replacement dishes.  I can always eat leftovers the next week.

Sadly, due to my illness, I only got one good workout in this week.  I ran on Monday, took Tuesday off because of an early morning meeting and then planned to run the rest of the week. That did not happen.  I figured excruciating stomach pain and a diet of ginger ale and saltines didn't lend itself well to hearty workouts. Even though I haven't been getting my runs in I have decided that this week won't be a total loss. I'm going to go for a nice walk this afternoon to the mailbox which is about three miles. I also hope that after eating some real food today that my legs won't be too angry if I try a nice run tomorrow. I figure at least get out for some intervals. Tomorrow is supposed to be as beautiful as today so I think I might spend a chunk of the day wandering around Gallop Park exploring the trails.

I don't really have much else to share.  I honestly spend the majority of my week lying on the couch dying, at least when I wasn't at work.  I did get a lot of sleep which was pretty amazing, I won't lie.  Sleeping from 8:30-5:30 is a pretty amazing thing.  Who knew nine hours of sleep could be so refreshing?!?
 

Speed intervals and spinning class

Pretty much all summer I've been thinking that I really need to add more variety to my workouts. I really enjoy running.  I'll be honest, I don't always enjoy the early mornings and sometimes I really feel like I want to die while I'm running but I have this sense of accomplishment when I complete a run.  Even if it's not my best it's still leagues beyond what I was capable of when I first started this mission. I just think that I'm at a point where I really need to make a change to start seeing progress. I've been stagnating for far too long and I know it's because I haven't really made any changes recently.

I have no intentions of giving up running, or even making another activity my cardio go-to.  I do, however, know that I have to make changes to the way I approach running. It's no longer good enough to just jog 2-3 miles and call it good.  If that's my plan, then I might as well plan on staying where I'm at physically. As such, I have decided to really work at increasing my speed and my endurance. I tend to fall to a 5 mph pace when I do my longer runs.  I'm working hard but I can still maintain it for a 5k.  However, it's not really a challenge.  There are certainly moments when it's not easy but I never feel like I really have to dig deep to keep going.  My latest run consisted of intervals, walking alternating with running.  My running intervals were anywhere from 5mph to 7 mph.  Let me tell you, I had to dig deep to keep running 7 mph for 1:40 minutes.  I know it might not seem like much but that's a pretty fast pace for a girl like me. I'm not exactly built for 8.5 minute miles. It's funny how slow and easy a 12 minute mile feels after that :-)

I've also signed up for a spinning class this fall.  Every quarter the Ann Arbor RecEd catalog comes out.  I always look at the classes and think if only I weren't such a chicken I'd sign up for something.  Well, this fall I decided to not be a chicken and signed up for a spinning class. It's 8 weeks and meets on Friday nights from 5:45-6:30.  It ends the week before I head home for my November trip so I shouldn't have to miss any classes.  I realize that there is a really good chance that I'll get to this class and get my ass handed to me on a platter. I might end up just pedaling while everybody else is doing the real spinning stuff but I'm going to get as much out of it as I can. I'm hoping that adding some variety will not only jump start my body to get headed in the right direction, I also hope that it will give me a renewed motivation to keep making the changes I need and want to make.

Recipe: tomato pie

It's that time of year again.  Every person lucky enough to have a garden seems to have veggies coming out of their ears and they're trying desperately to foist them off onto the gardenless so all of that delicious produce doesn't go to waste. Unfortunately, I'm one of the sad gardenless; however, I am rolling in fresh, free produce courtesy of my overly-productive co-workers. I've gotten my hands on garden fresh eggplant, zucchini, cucumbers and tomatoes and have enjoyed coming up with new and exciting ways to prepare them.  I recently stumbled across a tomato pie recipe on Pinterest (have I mentioned how much I LOVE pinterest.com??) and simply knew I had to try it. 

Now I realize that tomato pie might sound just a wee bit strange.  However, this is a savory pie meant to be a meal, not a sweet pie for dessert. I won't lie, there is a bit of sweetness from the cooked tomatoes and onions but it's a very nice compliment to the tart and salty yogurt-cheese topping. I won't lie, I had my doubts about how this would turn out; but the first tomatoy-cheesey bite was sheer bliss!  And bonus, it was ridiculously easy to make.

You will need:

• 1 whole Deep Dish Pie Crust, Store Bought Or Your Favorite Recipe
• 4  Tomatoes
• 1 cup Monterey Jack Cheese, Grated
• 1 cup Cheddar Cheese, Grated
• 1 cup Greek-style Yogurt
• ¼ cups Fresh Basil Leaves
• ½ cups Chopped Vidalia Onion
• ½ teaspoons Salt Plus Extra For Sprinkling On The Tomatoes To Remove Moisture
• ¼ teaspoons Black Pepper

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Put your pie crust into your deep dish pie plate. Using a fork poke holes in the bottom of your pie crust. (This is called docking.) Place into the preheated oven and allow to bake for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

While your pie shell is cooking slice tomatoes thinly and layer them in a colander in your sink. Sprinkle with salt and allow them to drain while your shell is cooking. You can also dab the tomatoes with a paper towel to get some of the excess water off of them. This is an important step because if you do not get most of the liquid out, the bottom of your pie will be soggy.

By now your pie crust should be removed from the oven. Allow it to cool for a little while while you make the topping.

Combine the two cheeses and yogurt in a medium bowl.

Layer the tomatoes, then the basil and then the onion into the pie shell. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread your cheese and yogurt mixture on top of the tomatoes. Put it into the oven and allow it to cook for 30 minutes or until the top is lightly browned. Garnish with more basil if desired.

When making this dish, I used two red tomatoes and two yellow heirloom tomatoes, you can use whatever you like or can get your hands on. I also used caramelized onions because I couldn't find sweet onions and figured it couldn't hurt to add a bit more flavor.  While they were a delicious addition, I think just dicing a Vidalia onion would still be quite tasty and less time consuming. I definitely cheated and used a Pillsbury pie crust. I mean, why reinvent the wheel?
 
All in all this was a very satisfying meal.  I had it with a tossed salad and it was light and refreshing. There was a bit of extra moisture from the tomatoes that I drained off of the pie once it was cut but I think really pressing the tomato slices before baking it would eliminate the need.  This is definitely going into the will make again file.

Recipe: chipotle butternut squash soup

I know it's only August and therefore too early for soup season but while I was cleaning this weekend I found a Taste of Home recipe book for soups under microwave and started thumbing through. There were many recipes that caught my eye but only one had a 'must make now' appeal to me.  I love squash and I love chipotle peppers and the two together are a magical combination. The soup didn't end up as sweet and spicy as I thought it would but for a first attempt it wasn't bad. I think the next time I make it I'll have to add another pepper or two.  However, for those who don't like soups quite as spicy as I do, this recipe is probably just about perfect!

What you need:

• 2 cups diced peeled butternut squash
• 1 small carrot, finely chopped
• 1 green onion, sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cups vegetable broth, divided
• 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 package (3 ounces) cream cheese, cubed
• 1/4 cup minced fresh basil
• 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, chopped
• 1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can (11 ounces) Mexicorn, drained
• 2 cups fresh baby spinach

Directions:

In a large saucepan, saute the squash, carrot, onion and cumin in oil for 10 minutes. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Add 1-1/2 cups broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until vegetables are tender; cool slightly.

Transfer mixture to a blender; add the tomatoes, cream cheese, basil, chipotle pepper and remaining broth. Cover and process for 1-2 minutes or until smooth.

Return to the saucepan; stir in the beans, corn and spinach. Cook and stir until spinach is wilted and soup is heated through.

I made very few changes to this recipe. I used plain frozen corn because I couldn't find this Mexicorn that the author spoke of. I also didn't add the spinach, not because I don't like spinach but because I completely forgot to buy it. I more than doubled the cumin and threw in some chipotle pepper powder to add a bit more spice to the dish. I think this would be good with a bit of sour cream or plain Greek yogurt served on top (if that's your thing).

I am NOT a statistic

This is the first time I've blogged in over a month and unfortunately I'm not doing this in the right frame of mind. I don't use the phrase hot mess lightly.  When I say hot mess, I mean hot mess and that's how I feel. I have so much drama in my life right now that I can hardly stand it at times.  And to be fair, I don't deal with this much constant stress well. LeAnn, have they changed the rules yet?  Am I allowed to start a sentence with the word and??  It wouldn't be so bad if the stress and drama were limited to one area of my life but they seem to be taking over everything.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I have been very bad for the last month. I haven't been eating or working out the way  I should be, the way I need to be. Especially considering the fact that I was in such a good place before I left for home last month. I was so dedicated to my exercise and eating so well that the weight was just falling off.  Now, I'm scared to step on the scale. In all honesty, I stepped on the scale this morning for the first time since July 15th and it made me so sad. Once I got over being sad, I was MAD AS HELL. I am becoming the one thing I promised myself I wouldn't become when I really started to lose weight. I am becoming a statistic.  I am on the verge of becoming one of those people who lose a significant amount of weight and then gain it back.  I've read the articles. Depending on the research there is evidence that anywhere from 70-90% of all people who lose weight gain it back, and then some. Screw that.  That is not that path that I'm on. I refuse to give up. I've come so far and I am not going back.

So, this weekend is officially my reboot. I cleaned my apartment so I can start in a nice, tidy environment. I'm working on menus for this week so that I have no excuse to eat out and I'm going to make sure that I'm getting my runs in where they're supposed to be.  I mean, come on. I have a 5K that I'm running with Jessica in November, I better get my butt in gear or she'll be kicking it on thanksgiving. I'm actually glad that we decided to do the Gobble Wobble (how cool of a name is that?!?!) because it gives me something concrete to work towards.

I'm enlisting Julie's help as well as she's my only local fitness friend.  She's been experiencing some of the same issues as me and we've decided to keep each other on the straight and narrow. I know I can do this because, well I've done this before. I just need to stop letting stress and drama that I can't control affect the things in life that I can. That's what this 'lifestyle' change is all about right? Being able to see when you're getting nutty and spiraling out of control and then being able to pull everything back together.

On that note, I need to get my grocery list finished and head out to the store.  I promise it won't take this long for me to blog again and I also promise that I will catch up on all of the blog posts that I haven't been reading in my absence!

Couch to 5K Redux

Bah...I should be showering or cleaning or menu planning/grocery shopping for the week.  Instead, I'm sitting at my computer doing a whole bunch of nothing. Seems how I can't quite convince my legs that they want to get up yet, I figured I'd stop by the old blog which I have been woefully neglecting.

I've been feeling pretty good about things lately.  Before I left for vacation I was struggling. I was eating out far too often and not eating as well as I should have been when I was eating in. I was getting maybe three workouts in each week and I wasn't really pushing myself like I need to if I want to keep losing weight. I put 6 pounds on when I hurt my back and I just couldn't shake them (mostly because I was being a slacker).

I decided that when I got back from vacation and had seen how great Jessica was looking I needed to get back to work. I can't let her get all skinny without me! Vacation was was just what I needed and when I got home and I had a renewed vigor for this weight loss thing! My first decision was to start Couch to 5K again. I know that I want to increase my running speed and just doing short intervals wasn't getting me where I wanted to go. I figured C25K worked for me last summer, it couldn't hurt to give it a try again.  Last year, my run pace was 4.5 mph, this time through I'm running at 6 mph which is where I would really like to live for a standard pace.  It will be really nice to crank out a 3 mile run in 30 minutes.  It's perfect for early morning workouts! I skipped the first week seems how I was already doing 1 minute intervals.  So far, so good.  I just completed week 4 yesterday.  I know myself well enough to know that I need structure and I really love checking off my workouts.  It gives me a sense of accomplishment.  Next week is a bit scary because I have a pretty good idea of how unpleasant that 20 minute run at 6 mph on Friday is going to be. Oh well, I know I can do it so I'm just not going to think about it until then.

Saturday morning happy dance...I just did my first continuous 5K since March.  After coming back from a 6-week physical therapist induced hiatus I had lost a lot of my endurance. I have done multiple 5K distances over the course of a workout but it usually resulted in either three individual miles with walks between or 2 miles-walk-finish the 5K.  Around the 2 mile mark this morning I was hoping to get closer to 3.5-4 miles but I was exhausted by the time I got the 5K finished.  I'm not going to be too hard on myself, I feel a 5K is a pretty decent workout regardless.

OK, I have so much more to share (like a few reviews and a recipe) but I am so distracted right now I should go do something that doesn't involve my brain...like showering or cleaning.  Anyway, happy weekend!!

Back to the real world...

BAH!  Sadly my vacation is OVER and I don't like it...not one bit!  I had the most amazing time and, quite honestly, I think I did a good job at staying on top of being 'healthyish.' With the exception of consuming too much beer (and I mean WAY too much beer) the last night I think I did fantastic for vacation.  Besides, any questionable calorie consumption was counteracted with things like...

Football

'Mountain Climbing' at Sleeping Bear Dunes

Kayaking

Deep Sea Fishing on Lake Michigan

Wading on the beach

and most importantly, planning a life of piracy!

I can't believe how fast my time with my friends went. I miss them already and I can't wait to start planning our next excursion which will hopefully be to Wyoming!  I finally get to go out West!

p.s. just one more for the road

I told you...too much beer!

Feeling just a bit reminiscent

Lately I feel like I've been in a bit of a blah place when it comes to my weight-loss life.  I feel like I haven't been making any progress (which I am entirely to blame) and I just feel really overwhelmed with the thought of getting from where I am to where I eventually want to be. To get a little bit of perspective, I decided to read through some of my old blog posts.

As I was reading through some of my older posts, I kept going back to my original blog from September of 2008. I would love to say that the Nicole who wrote that post was on her way to losing weight, but honestly, at that point I wasn't.  I think the reason that I kept coming back to this post is because when I wrote it, I really didn't have high expectations for a positive outcome.  Which, it turns out, wasn't so far off the mark.  Not only would it take me over two years to start making any progress on my health and well being, I would also gain an additional 30 pounds. I think I sometimes forget how far I've come. I know that might seem silly but when you lose 100 pounds and still have so far to go it's easy to lose sight of how far you've come. I find that I focus on how much distance is between me and the finish line and completely ignore the distance I've come from the start. I don't want to sound like I'm whining.  Don't get me wrong. I'm ecstatic about the progress I've made, however, sometimes it seems like no matter how far I've come I won't ever make it to that blessed finish line.  Anyway, the point to my tired ramblings and multitude of racing references (it really wasn't planned that way) is that I think sometimes I need to be less critical of myself and really remember what I've accomplished up to this point.  So, this summer I'm going to try to pull out some 'oldie but goodie' blogs to keep things in perspective; and, hopefully get a bit of motivation from my former self.

So, without further ado, here is a glimpse of a much younger, much less healthy Nicole. Enjoy!

321. I’ve heard that half of the battle of overcoming any problem is just to admit that the problem exists. From where I’m sitting, 321 is a major problem. When I first saw 321 I could hardly believe the number that was flashing in front of my eyes. How in the world could I have let things get so out of control that my scale could possibly be reading 321? No, not just 321 but 321.7 (if I’m going to be honest I might as well be honest).

For as long as I can remember I have been the heavy girl. I was overweight when I was in elementary school (my earliest memories of trying to lose weight are from 3rd grade when my sister and I had aspirations of turning our front porch into a makeshift gym) and the weight issue followed me through adolescence and even now into early adulthood it hasn’t subsided. Like most men and women who have struggled with weight issues their entire lives I have made several attempts to lose the excess weight. And, like most people in the same boat as me, I have failed time and time again.

I would love to be able to say that this time is guaranteed to be different. I would love to say that I will not fail, that failure simply is not an option. Unfortunately, it would delusional to make that sort of a claim. Failure is a possibility. It’s not pretty, but there it is. I, however, will be doing everything within my power to make sure that failure is not my outcome this time around. So here it is, I know what I need to do to make myself healthy (my background in exercise science basically mean that I can’t claim ignorance as a defense). I also know what the benefits are to changing my life yet I simply don't do what needs to be done. Why??? It’s simple. Lack of honesty.

For the past 26 years I have been lying to myself. Every time I try to lose weight it's the same damn thing. I tell myself that my current lifestyle isn't so bad. I tell myself that for a heavy person I eat pretty well and I get more physical activity than the average overweight person. I tell myself and others (generally those who are trying to lose weight with me) that I don't have gigantic lifestyle changes to make. Well, I've finally decided that that's BULLSHIT!!! After years of deluding myself I have finally found the nerve to admit that my lifestyle is my problem. Sure, I eat well when I cook, but lets face it, I don't cook all that often. I am ashamed to admit it but I eat out more during a week than I cook in, and it's not like I'm eating healthy take-out foods, no I'm eating crap. McDonald's, pizza, takeout Chinese and Chipotle. What’s worse is that I then go home to my apartment and spend the night watching TV or reading a book, not exactly high energy activities. Basically I have become the stereotypical heavy woman...go me!

Basically it’s this honesty that led me to project.180.gone. A friend and I (who would like to lose a combined weight of 180 pounds) have had the same struggles and have been trying to find a way to finally make the lifestyle changes that will result in healthier lives for the both of us. Although we don’t have any magic answers on how to be 100% successful on this journey we do know that we cannot succeed alone and have therefore started this blog as a way to share our thoughts, successes, set backs and goals with each other and anybody else who chooses to read this blog. If we can help others on our journey it will make the final destination that much more rewarding.

Recipe: crock pot pork carnitas

With summer quickly approaching and summer temperatures already here, I have been trying to utilize my crock pot more.  I generally see the crock pot as a winter cooking tool but there are some many wonderful, season appropriate dishes that can be make in the crock pot.  I've recently tried a few new crock pot recipes and I have one cooking away on the counter as I type.  The first I'm going to share with you is for these super tasty pork carnitas.

Now, I'm not going to lie.  There is definitely a bit of prep work that goes into this recipe.  However, once the prep is done you just stuff everything in the crock pot and it's AMAZING!  If you like pork and Mexican food this is a must try recipe!

 You will need:

• 2.5 lb pork shoulder blade roast, lean
• 6 cloves garlic, cut into sliver
• cumin
• dry adobo seasoning (if you can't find this just omit)
• garlic powder
• 3/4 cup 99% fat free chicken broth
• 2-3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. (These add spice so start with less and add more if you need)
• 2 bay leaves.

Season pork with salt and pepper. In a medium sauté pan on medium-high heat, brown pork on all sides for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Using a sharp knife, insert blade into pork, cutting small holes and insert garlic slivers. Season pork generously with cumin, adobo and garlic powder all over.

Pour chicken broth in the crock pot, add bay leaves and chipotle peppers. Place pork in crock pot and cover. Cook low for 8 hours. After 8 hours, shred pork using two forks and combine well with the juices that accumulated at the bottom. Remove bay leaves and adjust salt and cumin (you will probably need to add more). Let it cook another 15-30 minutes.  



I ate this three ways.  The first night I just put the carnitas on tortilla shells with a bit of sour cream and taco sauce.  Divine, but high in calories if you eat your fill. The second night I ate this I roasted a spaghetti squash and tossed the carnitas with squash, black beans, cheddar cheese and bit of sour cream.  It was wonderful eaten with a fork and in a tortilla.  I also took it as a carnitas salad for lunch a few days.  I didn't do anything too fancy, just some shredded lettuce, black beans, carnitas, onions and tomatoes.  Such a good lunch!

Seriously, I couldn't believe how wonderful this recipe turned out.  It's worth the time and effort, trust me!