Stuffing a Turtle Down My Shirt

In the words of Ron White, “It’s gonna be a good day, Tater.”

I mean how could it not be? It’s the Friday before a three-day weekend!

Plus, it was a b-e-a-utiful morning in Central Florida.

Downtown Orlando

This morning Ryan and I soaked up the warm Florida sun during a lovely morning walk with our crazy dog.

My Little Lovers

We walked around Lake Eola and even saw a little bird eating a fish… or so I thought.

Bird with Fish???

As I got a little closer to snap a picture, I saw that the bird’s prey was not a fish at all. It was a tiny turtle. 😦

I used to own a little turtle just that size when I was in high school. His name was Eli and I bought him in Myrtle Beach when I was on vacation with my friends. When I went to bring him back to Illinois with me, the security people told me I couldn’t bring a live animal through.

After sneaking off into the bathroom, I stuffed the little turtle down my shirt and walked through a different security line to sneak him aboard. A little gross? Maybe. But it worked and little Eli made it to Illinois safe and sound!

As if seeing a little baby turtle on our walk wasn’t exciting enough, I think I saw Healthy Ashley running, but since we’ve never met in real life I didn’t want to be a super-freak and stop her mid-run to ask if it really was her… So I smiled awkwardly instead.

Workout

Today’s workout took me through a total-body weights routine after a quick 10-minute warm up on the elliptical.

I did three sets of 15 reps of the following exercises:

• Lunges (15 reps on right leg followed by 15 reps on left leg), 15 lbs.
• Shoulder raises, 8 lbs.
• Incline bicep curls, 12 lbs.
• Tricep extensions, 20 lbs. (total)
• Leg extensions, 35 lbs. (I made sure to do Ryan’s flex method on these and they were killer!)
• Prone leg curls, 40 lbs.
• Bridges, 20 lbs. (total)
• Crunches, 100 total

I completed this routine by super-setting two exercises at a time, so after one set of lunges, I did a set of shoulder raises before going back to lunges and repeating the sequence. I love super-setting because it makes the workout go by a lot faster and keeps your heart rate UP!

Breakfast

After a good workout and a nice walk with Ryan and Sadie my stomach was growlin’!

Feed meeee.

I opened the fridge and looked around the kitchen for inspiration.

An old banana caught my eye…

What To Do with an Old Nanner?

After peeling the banana and promptly devouring about 3/4 of it on the spot, I assembled a delicious breakfast that included a cup of Chobani Greek yogurt, honey, Flax-Z-Snax butter pecan hot cereal (chilled) and the remainder of the banana.

It's Friday! Things Are Looking Up! (Note the Arrow.)

This was a winning combination.

The Spoonful of Food Pictures Are My Favorite

The banana made the meal! I think the fact that it was on its death bed made it extra sweet and flavorful. Yaaa-um.

Now it’s time to work!

I have a hot lunch date today with El Ryan, so I’ll see ya in a bit with a lunch recap that will likely involve our favorite lunchtime spot! 😀

Question of the Morning

Who is your favorite comedian?

Mine is a toss-up between Ron White, Ellen DeGeneres, Sinbad and Robin Williams. Love ’em all!

Am I Off My Rocker?

Cheesecake for dinner and now cake for breakfast… Am I off my rocker?

No, no, no. I haven’t completely abandoned my healthy ways!

Today’s cake for breakfast came in the form of a protein cake!

Protein Powdaaa!

To make this sweet mini cake, I simply combined the following ingredients:

• 1 scoop All the Whey chocolate peanut butter cup protein powder
• 1.5 tbsp. unsweetened applesauce
• 1 egg white
• 1 large pinch of baking soda
• Enough water to moisten everything (1/8 cup?)

Protein Cake Ingredients

After stirring everything up, I microwaved the mixture on high for a minute, monitoring it to make sure it didn’t poof up too much and overflow the container.

After a minute, my protein cake was ready for eatin’.

Protein Cake

I paired my protein cake with a cup of cold, creamy Greek yogurt.

Friday Breakfast

Take a Bite!

This lil’ recipe was inspired by a concoction I saw on Janetha’s blog a while ago that used pumpkin in place of the applesauce.

This recipe is a lot like my normal protein brownie recipe, but the addition of the applesauce really helps make this lil’ cake nice and moist! It’s also delicious smeared with peanut butter or with a handful of chopped nuts thrown in! The possibilities are endless. 😀

Question of the Morning

• Protein Powder: Love it or hate it?

I cannot stomach protein shakes made with just protein powder and water or milk, but I love protein powder used in recipes, stirred into oatmeal or incorporated into ice cold smoothies.

An Almost Restless Workout

Ryan always leaves the gym super sweaty.

His strength training workouts are no joke. To me, they seem like a combination of cardio and strength training because he never stops moving. In between sets of one exercise, he does another less-intense exercise that typically only uses his body weight (such as crunches), so his heart rate never drops too low.

Though my workout today wasn’t nearly as fast-paced as Ryan’s, I did make an effort to not rest for more than 30 seconds between sets of each exercise. At first I thought this would be plenty of time, but those 30 seconds of recovery fly by!

My workout today looked like this:

Slam Jam Those Muscles!

I also did 10 minutes of cardio on the stair master to warm up and completed 10 minutes of cardio on the elliptical to cool down.

Post workout, I came home to shower and made a concerted effort to tone-down my Swamp Beast habits. (You guys should know I’ve come a long way in my Swamp Beastliness, though I still hop out of the shower right away because it’s grossss to linger. 😉 )

Breakfast

I was achin’ for some bacon for breakfast today and turned to the freezer to grab some Morningstar Farms veggie bacon to include in my morning meal.

Morningstar Farms Veggie Bacon Strips

I used the fakie bacon in a breakfast sandwich that I made with a wedge of Laughing Cow light Swiss cheese and an egg white.

Veggie Baconified Breakfast Sandwich

On the side I also enjoyed a cup of strawberry banana Chobani Greek yogurt.

Strawberry Banana Chobani

If you’re not so sure about the whole Greek yogurt thing, you should know that Ryan thinks plain Greek yogurt is gross, but loves this flavor. The strawberry banana Greek yogurt has officially replaced his typical plain strawberry yogurt.

I think he was swayed to convert to Greek yogurt when I showed him that a serving of the yogurt he was buying had almost 40 grams of sugar… more than a serving of ice cream (which is 10x more delicious… I’ll take my sugar consumption elsewhere, thankyouverymuch).

Tonight

Stay tuned for information about our plans tonight! I am beyond excited for what we have in store. I felt like it was Christmas Eve as we were going to bed last night… Okay, total lie, but I am pumped! 😀

Question of the Morning

What is your favorite sugar-laden food?

Do I really need to tell you mine? ICE CREAM!!!!!!

For Your Entertainment

I’m feeling a little random this morning, so here are a couple of random musings for your entertainment!

1.) Last night my friend Merri, Ryan and I had a great time watching the season finale of So You Think You Can Dance. During the finale, the dancers performed some of the best routines featured throughout the season.

I think one of my favorite dances was the “My Chick Bad” hip hop dance that Lauren and Twitch totally killed! I think I loved it so much because I secretly wish I could dance hip hop like a bad ass. A girl can dream!

Here’s the video in case you missed it:

2.) Yesterday Ryan was tagged in a pretty phenomenal picture from his bachelor cruise on Facebook from the night that all of the guys dressed up in ’80s attire for the cruise’s formal night.

You gotta get a load of this…

Ryan's Bachelor Cruise

(As you can see he took your advice and chose the ’80s outfit you guys voted for!)

3.) My friend Merri has been staying with us the past few days and has really bonded with Sadie.

Sadie the Snaggletooth

Merri even confessed to talking to Sadie when they’ve been home alone together (something I do all the time). Merri also snapped an adorable picture of Sadie waiting for her to get ready in the morning that I thought you Sadie lovers out there might enjoy.

"Hurry Up, Miss Merri! It's Time to Play!!!"

I have a feeling Sadie is going to go through Merri withdrawals when she leaves us tonight!

And there you have it! My three random musings. 😀

Breakfast

Holy random breakfast, Batman!

I really wanted to make oatmeal protein pancakes, but we were out of oatmeal and eggs, so I put together quite the random breakfast using a hodgepodge of food from the fridge and freezer.

Friday's Random Breakfast

Chobani Greek yogurt + Dole frozen mango + string cheese

I must say I was quite impressed with the frozen mango cubes. They were sweet and almost creamy and I really enjoyed eating them frozen! Plus, cutting up mango is in the top five of my “most annoying things to do” list, so I appreciated the convenience of the pre-cut fruit.

Frozen Mango Cubes

Totally random, but totally tasty. 😀

Workout

Today’s workout was a good one! Ryan and I initially planned to wake up at 5:30 so he could workout and I could take my typical 5:45 a.m. BodyPump class, but that wasn’t happening when the alarm went off today.

We decided to sleep in for a bit and I hit the gym around 6:40 for a total-body weights workout that looked like this:

Total-body Workout

(In case you’re interested, you may see one of my other go-to total-body workouts here.)

After pumpin’ some iron, I took Sadie on a quick one-mile walk around our neighborhood which made her a happy lil’ dawg.

"Thanks for the Walk. Now Let's Go Again."

Stay Tuned

Coming up on PBF: My post half marathon thoughts regarding training, body changes, appetite, the actual race, etc. I’m excited about this one! 😀

Question of the Morning

If you could be an awesome dancer in one style of dance, which style would you choose?

Though I think ballet and contemporary dance are absolutely beautiful, I would pick hip hop because I would love to be able to work this booty like a baller!

Drop it like it’s haaawt… 😀

Savannah Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon, Here I Come

Where has the time gone? Holy moly, sometimes the day just gets away from me when my to do list is jam packed.

I flew thorough lunch today and enjoyed every bite.

Another Salad Gem

I made myself a lettuceless salad that included:

• Kidney beans
• Edamame
• Sweet corn
• Cucumber
• Beets
• Water chestnuts
• Honey mustard dressing

It was pretty darn delicious!

On the side I enjoyed a cup of Chobani strawberry banana Greek yogurt. This flavor is a great one to try if you’re new to the whole Greek yogurt thang. It is sweet, flavorful and oh-so-creamy.

Strawberry Banana Chobani

Smile! 🙂

I was initially concerned that I wouldn’t be full after this lunch, but I definitely felt satisfied. Beans + edamame + Greek yogurt = filling.

I’m Such a Sucker

Those Rock ‘n’ Roll marketing people sure know what they’re doing.

Less than two weeks after running in the Chicago Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathon on August 1, I received an email from the Rock ‘n’ Rollers about another half marathon that was just added to the race schedule: Savannah, Georgia!

Savannah Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon

Last year Ryan and I visited Savannah en route to a wedding in North Carolina and loved the city! Savannah is unbelievably adorable and we had a great time exploring the area and learning about the history of the city on a historic trolley tour.

Me & Ryan in Savannah, May 2009

Since I adore Savannah and had such a great experience with the Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicago half, I emailed Ryan about the race.  He said it sounded like a great one and would happily come with me to Savannah to cheer me on.

That’s all I needed! I used the sch-weet coupon code for $30 off my race registration from the email I received and signed up! I’m such a sucker for coupons.

Now you know where to find me on November 5, 2011! (While I’m there you better believe I plan on hittin’ up Paula Deen’s restaurant! YUM!)

Immediately after registering, I emailed Ryan to let him know I signed up under his last name. I already received a confirmation email addressed to me with his last name on it and it feels so crazy! I can’t believe we’ll be married in 2 ½ months!

Of Possible Interest:

• Confession: I Gain a Few Pounds Every Summer (dailySpark.com) <–I’m quoted in this article! 😀
• How Long Does it Take to Fall Out of Shape? (FitSugar.com)
• Healthiest Fast Food Breakfasts (CookingLight.com)

Questions of the Afternoon

• Are you a coupon clipper?
• Do emails containing coupons or promotional codes sucker you in?