Movin’ and Groovin’

I try not to let my blog stress me out. Most of the time I succeed by reminding myself that the lil’ blog is my hobby and that helps me to put things into perspective.

I did feel a little bit of blog-related stress yesterday as my blog made the move from WordPress to Bluehost. I’ve done nearly everything related to my blog myself (except for the wonderful redesign which I owe to The Blog Fairy).

I am not tech-savvy at all, but with the help of some online tutorials and many, many Google searches I’ve been able to get by… That is until I started looking into changing the host of my blog.

Time to Move

Holy information overload! Since I didn’t want to lose any of my blog in the transfer process, I knew I wanted to have a professional’s help, if not for their skill than for my peace of mind.

I want to give a huge shout out to Seth for being my go-to web guy! He was so, so easy to work with and answered all of my questions in a language I could understand (not web-speak). Thank you mucho, Seth! 😀

So, as you may have noticed my blog was flip-flipping back and forth bewteen my peanutbutterfingers.wordpress.com domain and it’s real home, right here at pbfingers.com.

Subscribing to PBF

Since many of you seemed to appreciate my previous blog post for the non-blog savvy folks, I thought I would quickly post easy-to-find links for those of you who may wish to subscribe to my blog or receive automatic updates.

Subscribe Me, Please!

• If you want to subscribe to this blog via email, click here.
• If you want to add this blog to your Google Reader, click here.
• If you want to add this blog to your Google homepage, click here.

I hope this helps!

Now let’s get away from the movin’ and head onto the groovin’…

Workout

My workout this morning was a sweaty one! I initially planned to take Sadie for a run, but it was pouring outside!

Plan B: Take a spinning class!

One of the benefits to keeping track of my workouts through the Exercise Log on this blog is that I can see when I last took certain classes. The last time I took a spin class was in March. Clearly I was long overdue!

I forgot two things about spinning classes:

• They make me unbelievably sweaty
• They’re really hard!

I think my time away from the bike made today’s class feel extra challenging.

The instructor said something that resonated with me though and made me push through.

“If you’re not working you’re not living.”

I know you can take this statement in many different ways, but I took it to mean that when we truly work our bodies and minds to our full potential, that’s when we’re really living!

I always feel so much more alive after a great workout and I kept telling myself that whenever I wanted to kick back and relax on the bike.

Breakfast

Breakfast today was a new combo!

Peach + Coconut Yogurt Bowl

I made myself a yogurt bowl that contained:

• 1 c. Fage plain Greek yogurt
• 1 sliced peach
• 1/2 c. old fashioned oats
• 1/2 scoop All the Whey cake batter protein powder
• Three pinches unsweetened coconut
• Dash of nutmeg

I cooked the oats and protein powder together with a bit of water in the microwave and let the mixture chill in the fridge for a bit before adding the remaining ingredients.

After topping the cake batter oats with the yogurt, fruit, coconut and nutmeg, my breakfast was ready!

Scoop it Up!

Tuesday Breakfast

Great combo! 😀

Yoga: It’s What You Put Into It

I am by absolutely no means a yoga guru, but as someone who all but hated yoga less than six months ago, I had a revelation during today’s morning class.

Yoga is all about what you put into it.

You can make each and every yoga class a walk in the park. You can day dream your way through it and do the bare minimum.

Pigeon Pose???

Or.

Or you can push yourself further into every pose, stretching your muscles and making your body work.

Today I pushed myself and it was definitely a workout.

I’ll be 100 percent honest when I say that I used to think yoga was not a work out. I now know I wasn’t pushing myself and I wasn’t immersing myself in the stretches and sun salutations. Yoga is not the same kind of workout as a BodyPump class or intervals on the treadmill, but it is a workout.

Breakfast

After yoga and a long walk with Sadie, I was more than ready for a cold breakfast!

Apple Yogurt Bowl

I made myself an apple yogurt bowl by combining the following:

• Vanilla Greek yogurt
• 1/2 sliced Granny Smith apple (the other half went into my mouth)
• 1 c. cooked Flax-Z-Snax butter pecan hot cereal
• Three dashes nutmeg

Nutmeg Makes Things Prettier... And Tastier

Well Hello There!

What It Really Looks Like When I Eat It

I love the serious staying power that I get from a breakfast that combines high-protein Greek yogurt, whole grains and fresh fruit.

Sch-weet!

Question of the Morning

It’s an open-ended one…

What are your thoughts on yoga? Love it? Hate it? Think it’s a bunch of boo-hockey? Think it’s life-changing?

Share away! 😀

First Chill

For the first time since the end of winter Ryan and I walked outside this morning and the air was chillier than it was inside.

Helloooo, autumn!

I immediately said “I hope this means cooler weather for our wedding!”

Ryan then made the astute observation that everything is about the wedding these days. Yes, yes it is.  I mean, c’mon! We’re 45 days away and our invitations were mailed out yesterday (VICTORY!). 😀

Workout

Today’s morning sweat session included a BodyPump class, followed by 15 minutes of light cardio on the elliptical. I’m not sure what it was about the bicep, tricep and shoulder tracks during BodyPump today, but my arms feel like Jello right now!

Breakfast

Breakfast this morning was a yogurt bowl that included a cup of Oikos vanilla Greek yogurt, 3/4 cup of 1% cottage cheese and a sliced nectarine.

Nectarine + Greek Yog + Cottage Cheese

I topped the bowl with a sprinkle of nutmeg before digging in.

Spices Make Everything Nice(s)

Aaaand, since it was a little chilly outside, I also enjoyed a tumbler full of Barnie’s cinnamon butter cookie coffee that I snagged for free from my gym.

Drink Up!

Yum!

This little glimmer of hope for cooler weather has me all excited about fall fashion!

What fall fashion item are you most excited about wearing?

I think I’m most excited to bust out some cute boots!

Workout Playlist: Disney Style

This post will do one of two things to you:

• Make you roll your eyes at me and think I’m 5-years-old
• Make you feel so happy inside that you want to sing Disney songs aloud for the rest of the day

Let’s hope most of you fall into the second category. 😉

Last night I was updating my iPod with new music (hello, Dynamite!), and inevitably found myself searching iTunes for upbeat songs that always make me happy and make my workouts feel like a positive experience.

Enter Walt Disney. 😀

Disney

Disney music always makes me happy. I think it’s the nostalgia I feel when I hear one of my favorite songs from my childhood. I instantly feel care-free and all warm inside.

Plus, Sadie loves singing to Disney songs.

La, La, La

Last night I created this Disney-inspired playlist to enjoy during my next cardio workout. I think it might be a little too heavy on the Disney music (I typically like to throw in a song or two among my normal music), but, then again, how bad can a Disney music overload really be?

• I Just Can’t Wait to Be King – The Lion King
• I’ll Make a Man Out of You – Mulan
• Friend Like Me – Aladdin
• Circle of Life – The Lion King
• I Wanna Be Like You – The Jungle Book
• Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious – Mary Poppins
• Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah – Song of the South
• Be Our Guest- Beauty and the Beast
• Under the Sea – The Little Mermaid
• Just Around the Riverbend – Pocahontas
• One Jump Ahead – Aladdin
• True to Your Heart- Mulan
• Why Should I Worry – Oliver & Company
• Be Prepared – The Lion King

Breakfast

Breakfast this morning was rather exotic.

Kool Kiwi

Okay, not really, but the addition of kiwi to my yogurt bowl sure did feel a little tropical.

Along with a cup of Greek yogurt and two sliced kiwis, my breakfast bowl included half of a sliced apple and pearled barley for some whole grain goodness.

Look Haaaaarder (Rafiki, anyone?)

Yum!

Workout

Today was my first day back at BodyPump after a week away from the class.

It’s amazing what only seven days away from something can do to your body. This class felt HARD, but in a good way. BodyPump, you’re the best! 😀

Question of the Morning

Do you like Disney songs? What is your favorite Disney song? Any songs I just have to add to my playlist?

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!