Waffle Sandwich

My egg-topped waffles were so darn delicious last night, that I decided to enjoy another egg + waffle combo for breakfast this morning.

Egg 'n' Waffle Sandwich

I made a simple breakfast sandwich using two Eggo Nutrigrain waffles as my “bread.” I smeared a Laughing Cow light Swiss cheese wedge on one waffle before topping it with a slice of Canadian bacon. I added two egg whites to the other waffle half and voilà!

Friday's Breakfast

The waffles added a little extra spunk and were a neat change from the typical English muffin or bagel-based breakfast sandwich.

Workout

I got a late jump on today’s workout, but it was intentional. It’s amazing how waking up at 6:30 a.m. feels like a treat! I guess when you’re used to hoping out of bed at 5:30 a.m. every morning, that extra hour makes a difference.

What time do you wake up in the morning?

Though I’m tempted to go to BodyPump three days a week as my only form of strength training, I am trying to go two times and do my own total-body weights routine one day to keep the ol’ bod guessing. Today my workout looked like this:

• 25 min. cardio (10 min. run, 5 min. incline walking, 10 min. stair master)
• Hamstring curls
• Leg press
• Leg extensions
• Deadlifts
• Bicep curls
• Tricep extensions
• Shoulder raises
• Ab work on exercise ball

Unfortunately my extra sleep time cut into Sadie’s walk time a little bit, but Ryan and I have plans to take her to the dog park tonight to expend some of her never-ending energy.

Happy Friday! 😀

Feeling Poofy

I woke up this morning feeling poofy.

Poofified

I blame the numerous bowls of ice cream I ate over the weekend and the goodies I consumed yesterday at my friends’ Super Bowl party. All were delicious, but I am ready to introduce vegetables back into my life. 😉

What are your favorite Super Bowl party eats?

Yesterday I enjoyed lots of Parmesan cheese artichoke dip and the cream cheese apple dip that I brought to the party.

Cream Cheese Apple Dip

Cream Cheese Apple Dip

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. light cream cheese
• 8 oz. fat free cream cheese
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• Peanuts (honey roasted work well)

Directions:

Blend all ingredients together in a food processor until combined, but small chunks of peanut remain.

This dip is so easy and a nice alternative to the typical chips and dip appetizer fare. Yum!

Today

My body is cravin’ some nutritious food!

I started off the morning with a yummy breakfast bagelwich.

I melted a big slice of Swiss cheese on one half of a Thomas’ Bagel Thin and topped the other with Canadian bacon.

Swiss Cheese + Canadian Bacon Bagelwich

I bought a pack of Thomas’ whole wheat bagel thins at the grocery store yesterday. I had never seen them before and they caught my eye. I really enjoyed my bagelwich on the bagel thin, but if I was really craving a bagel, I think the thin version would have come up a lil’ short.

Fortunately I typically use bagels in breakfast sandwiches and have never really been a bagel and cream cheese kind of girl, so the bagel thins suit me perfectly.

I also sipped on a hot mug of sugar cookie tea.

Monday's Breakfast

My belly is warm. 🙂

Opossum Question

Last night on the way to our friends’ Super Bowl party, a little opossum was trying to cross the street. It was moving really slowly and hobbling a bit. The back, right leg of the opossum was injured, though it wasn’t bleeding.  I slowed down and Ryan got out to help the lil’ guy over the curb. He clearly was hurt and both of us felt a little helpless since he wasn’t in an area near a field or anything.

When we were driving home from the party, we saw him trying to cross the street again. Someone else was helping him along this time. It was really hard for us to drive away thinking that he might attempt to cross the street yet again.

Is there a place where you can take injured animals that many consider “pests” like raccoons or opossums?

Ryan and I both wanted to take the little guy to get some medical help, but didn’t know where we could take an injured opossum. Any insight is appreciated! 🙂

I Smell Greasy Goodness

I’m glad you all had fun watching Sadie’s birthday video. 😀 I think she really enjoyed her birthday treat. I totally forgot to ask you though…

Which would you choose… a cheeseburger or an ice cream cone?

Pick One!

I’m without a doubt an ice cream girl. If I could exist on only one food for the rest of my life, I would pick ice cream.

If you could exist on only one food (nutritional value doesn’t matter) for the rest of your life, what would you pick?

I love foodie questions! Your answers always make me smile.

Workout

As Ryan and I walked to the gym this morning, I told him I was feeling majorly lazy. I didn’t anticipate a good cardio workout… but somehow I had a great one! 🙂 Yay!

I’ll call this the “ 50 minute Fight Boredom and Laziness Workout.” By changing things up a lot, the workout goes by very quickly:

• 10 min. warm up on cardio machine of your choice (I chose the stair master)

Switch to the treadmill for the remainder of the workout:

• Walk at 4.0 at 7.5 incline for 5 minutes
• Jog at 6.5 at 1.0 incline for 5 minutes
• Jog at 6.5 at 2.0 incline for 3 minutes
• Run at 7.0 at 1.0 incline for 3 minutes
• Run hard at 8.0 at 1.0 include for 1 minute
• Jog at 6.0 at 1.0 incline for 1 minute
• Run hard at 8.0 at 1.0 incline for 1 minute
• Run at 7.0 at 1.0 incline for 1 minute
• Jog at 6.5 at 1.0 incline for 3 minutes
• Jog at 6.0 at 1.0 incline for 2 minutes
• Walk at 4.0 at 7.5 incline for 5 minutes
• Walk at 4.0 at 5.0 incline for 10 minutes (or cool down of your choice)

Breakfast

After my cardio blast, I leashed up Sadie for a walk around the lake by our apartment. On our walk, we passed a bed and breakfast that was cookin’ up a mean smellin’ spread of what I can only assume was greasy goodness. I smelled eggs and bacon!

I knew I wanted eggs and bacon for breakfast after smelling that deliciousness. I made myself an egg sandwich on a whole wheat Arnold sandwich thin with Canadian bacon and Swiss cheese.

Breakfast Sandwich

Thursday's Breakfast

I enjoyed my sandwich with a hot mug of Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride tea.

Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride Tea

I heard wonderful things about this tea, but couldn’t find it anywhere in Orlando! The wonderful Jessica from Living in the Kitchen, Gym and Mall sent me some, all the way from Illinois! It arrived in the mail yesterday and I couldn’t wait to try it this morning.

Sadie wanted to try it, too.

Sugar Cookies!?!?!?

In case you were wondering… it’s phenomenal. Thank you Jessica!!! 😀

Overcoming the Steady-State Cardio Hump

For some reason I seem to have slipped into the mindset that on my cardio-only days, 50 minutes is the correct amount of time to spend gettin’ my sweat on. I tend to prefer steady-state cardio, or cardio done at a continual pace and heart rate (such as running five miles).

Steady Run

Today I was determined to change it up a bit. I was determined to make myself stop after 30 minutes of cardio. This may sound ridiculous, but it’s really hard for me to stop because I have this weird feeling that my workout is incomplete. I’ve read so many articles touting the benefits of interval and HIIT training, done in a much shorter amount of time, so my plan was to complete a 20 minute interval workout.

To fight my natural inclination to do 50 minute of cardio, I planned to attend a yoga class at 6 a.m., so by the time I got to the gym, I only had 30 minutes to spare before the class.

My  interval workout included a five minute warm up and a five minute cool down and 20 minutes of interval training:

Minutes            Speed                                                                      Incline

• 1-5                 4.0                                                                   6.0
• 5 – 12            9.0 for 20 seconds, 4.5 for 40 seconds     1.0
• 12 – 13         10.0 for 20 seconds, 4.5 for 40 seconds   1.0
• 13 – 23         9.5 for 20 seconds, 4.5 for 40 seconds     1.0
• 23 – 25         10.0 for 20 seconds, 4.5 for 40 seconds   1.0
• 25 – 30         4.0                                                                 5.0

Total time: 30 minutes, Calories burned: 320

I hopped off the treadmill just in time to make it to yoga. Yoga was meh. I have such a hard time getting into the proper mental state to enjoy a yoga class. My mind is always racing and I have the worst time concentrating on my breathing. I literally start singing songs in my head.

Are you a fan of yoga?

I desperately need to incorporate more stretching into my workout routine… I’m just not sure that yoga is the way for me to do it. I may try taking a Pilates class, because I’ve enjoyed those more than yoga in the past. We’ll see!

Breakfast

Today’s breakfast wrap came together in a flash and included:

• Joseph’s lavash bread
• Two slices of Canadian Bacon
• Laughing Cow light Swiss cheese wedge

Canadian Bacon and Cheese

Wrapped Up

I really wanted to throw an egg in this bad boy, but we’re all out! A trip to the grocery store is a must tonight!

Special Birthday Shout Out

Happy birthday to my best friend, Michaela! Michaela and I have been friends since elementary school and lived across the street from each other in Palatine, Illinois until I moved to Florida after my senior year of high school.

Me and Michaela... and our Miller Lite Microphones 🙂

Though she’s currently in optometry school at Indiana University (yeahhh, she’s a smartie pants 😉 ), we’ve still managed to see each other at least once a year since I moved down south… last year we met up in Arizona to visit our other friends from high school.

You’ll definitely see more pictures of this pretty girl because she’s going to be a bridesmaid in our wedding in October and I’ll see her in Chicago for my bachelorette party before the big day.

I love you Kay Baby! Happy 25th! 😀

Out of Commission iPod

iPod complaints in a minute…First, breakfast!

Onion Bagel Breakfast Sandwich

2009 is going out with a bang! My last breakfast of the year was a yummy onion bagel sandwich (bagelwich?) with Laughing Cow light Swiss cheese, Canadian bacon and an egg white.

Open-Faced Bagelwich

Achin' for Some (Canadian) Bacon

Yummy!

Before breakfast I went on a nice lil’ walk with Ryan and Sadie. It’s not nearly as cold in Orlando today as it has been, so our walk was quite enjoyable.

The nice weather made Sadie extra chipper this morning. She was a sweetie pie and even gave me a hug before I left for my last day of work in ’09!

"Awww, Mom..."

Me & My Sadie Girl

An iPod Bites the Dust

I don’t know about you, but music is imperative for me to have a good cardio workout.

Since my iPod bit the dust on Tuesday, I’ve been struggling to get through my Tuesday/Thursday cardio days at the gym.

Today I heard one of the trainers say something as I was about 20 minutes into my workout:

“Enjoy your last workout of 2009!”

For some reason this simple statement really resonated with me and motivated me to log 50 quality minutes of cardio. My last workout of 2009. I started to think about just how many workouts I’ve completed throughout the year.

I felt proud that this year I’ve exercised with a new mindset: health. Before I, like so many women, was motivated to workout simply to keep my weight in check. While that is still important, I now workout for my overall health (gotta keep the heart happy!).

I love the way a good sweat session makes me feel all day long. It’s refreshing to workout for myself and not for how my body appears to others. This new mindset is probably my greatest personal accomplishment of 2009 (well, that and landing a pretty amazing fiance!).

I know it probably sounds trivial to many of you out there, but for others still running or lifting weights  only to look good, making a goal to adapt a mindset to exercise and eat well for you and your health might remove some of the pressure you feel to look perfect and change your thinking to a desire to look and be healthy.

Do you work out for your health, your appearance or both?

Another question for you iPod lovers out there… when I turn on my iPod all the music is blank. It’s as though there are no songs on it at all. Anyone know what’s up???

I hope all of you enjoy the last day of the year!