Psycho Squirrels

If you follow my blog with any regularity, you know I am a huge animal lover.

I adore nearly every animal with the exception of two creatures: Catfish and squirrels.

You may be thinking, “You’re crazy, Julie. Squirrels are adorable.”

"Would You Like a Bite?"

Yes they are cute. But they are also unpredictable, beady-eyed and a little too friendly at times.

Ninja Squirrel!

I suppose I should explain my issue with squirrels.

During college I worked as a campus tour guide for UCF. I would take prospective students and their parents around campus, highlighting important buildings and answering questions.

One time a father asked me what I disliked the most about UCF.

I answered, “The squirrels.” He laughed and asked me why. I explained that the squirrels were crazy and would stalk you for food since they were overfed by the students.

About 30 minutes later, we were walking by one of the dorms on campus and we heard a chirping noise. As we all looked up to see what was causing the commotion, a squirrel came falling down right in the middle of our tour group.

Eeeeeee!

I took off running as the same dad I previously talked to about squirrels screamed the f-word nice and loud.

Once we all reconvened, the dad said, “Man, you weren’t kidding about the squirrels on this campus, were you?”

No sir.

(Just FYI, the squirrel was okay and got up and ran away after about two seconds of lying on the ground, stunned.)

Well, today my issue with the unpredictability of squirrels was reinforced yet again on my morning walk with Sadie.

It must be mating season, because all of the squirrels around the lake by our apartment are coupled up and acting especially nutty.

About 20 minutes into our walk, Sadie and I passed a tall tree. Two squirrels were chasing each other around the trunk and as they came off the trunk to cross the side walk, they literally scurried underneath Sadie’s torso.

I thought my dog was going to pee herself on the spot.

I screamed, the woman behind us jumped about three feet in the air and Sadie, once she got over the shock, jumped around in front of me like it was Christmas.

Breakfast

Holy squirrel overload! Let’s move on to breakfast, shall we?

Wednesday Breakfast

Though not as exciting as the possibly rabid squirrels, breakfast was pretty darn delicious.

Today I made myself a yogurt bowl that included:

• Cold oatmeal
• Greek yogurt
• Granny Smith apple chunks
• Sliced strawberries

Take a Bite!

The tart apples made this dish.

I can’t wait to make my first apple pie when the air gets a little cooler!

Question of the Morning

• Are there any animals that make you feel a little uncomfortable?
  

Bonding with Bondi

Check out what I got in the mail yesterday!

Bondi Band!

I was the lucky winner of a Bondi Band through a giveaway on Shelby’s blog and couldn’t wait to slip this bad boy on.

I wore it throughout the night last night, feeling a lot like Brett Michaels.

Totally Agree Brett, Every Rose Has Its Thorn...

Apparently I need to work on my hard-core rocker face. 😉

Two things crossed my mind as I wore my new Bondi Band to the gym this morning:

1. Wow, that’s a lot of face
2. I wish I had one of these when I was training for the Chicago Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon

This headband is no joke! I wore it to the gym this morning and it kept all of the hair out of my face without slipping off or feeling too tight and uncomfortable.

It made it through 30 minutes on the elliptical and a power yoga class with ease. Thank you, Shelby!

Breakfast

Breakfast was a tribute to my love of cold oatmeal!

Oats

I made a yogurt bowl using a cup of Greek yogurt, 1/2 cup of cold oatmeal, a sliced peach and several dashes of pumpkin pie spice.

Oats + Yog + Peaches + Pumpkin Pie Spice

Fruity Oatty Yogurt Bowl

The combination was super tasty thanks to the cold oats.  They added a touch of whole grain goodness to the bowl.

Cold Oatmeal is GOOD

YUM.

Aaand it’s back to the grind. Work, work, work. 😀

Flash Freeze

Going to bed last night I figured I’d wake up and make myself a healthified Egg McMuffin for breakfast.

Fast forward to this morning and my body was screamin’ for oats.

Gimme oooooats. Make ’em coooooold. Stop talking to yoursellllllf.

I’m not one to ignore a craving (Lord help me when I’m pregnant), so I switched my eggy plan and opted for a big ol’ bowl of cold oats with Greek yogurt and a chopped peach.

The Goods

Since I didn’t plan ahead and cook my oats last night, I prepared the oats this morning and stuck them in the freezer to chill while I showered. Gotta love the last minute flash-freeze!

By the time I was all cleaned up, my oats were sufficiently chilled.

Cold Oats, You are Fantastic

Before digging into my oatty yogurty peachy (“y” overload!) bowl of delight, I sprinkled the mix with some beloved nutmeg.

I'm Nuts for this Stuff

If you’re a cinnamon lover and haven’t branched out to other spices, put nutmeg on your to-try list. You won’t be disappointed. And if you are, come back and look at this picture and just tryyyy to stay angry. 😉

"If you're still mad, I'll come give you a sloppy kiss... and then breathe on you and invade your personal space until you're happy again... or really irritated."

The nutmeg was a welcome addition to my breakfast and made the whole meal taste a little more special.

Peach + Nutmeg

Food on Spoon Photo - My Fav

How It Really Looks When I Eat It

D-to-the-lish.

I think Ellie was spot-on when she described the texture of the cold oats and yogurt combo as “a lot like rice pudding.” Ellie, you’re a smart cookie (and I love the name of your blog: Inside I’m Still Dancing)!

Workout

Breakfast was a fantastic thing to come home to after a good workout this morning! I took my usual 5:45 a.m. BodyPump class, and followed it up for 20 minutes on the elliptical.

Half way through the ‘Pump I realized I probably won’t be doing any strength training for a week! I leave for my bachelorette party weekend after work tomorrow (Hooray!) and won’t be back until Monday evening.  I love strength training and will miss the muscle burn, though I’m sure my legs will feel some burnin’ during Sunday’s half marathon. Yow-zaa!

Question of the Morning

It’s a random one this morning…

Do you like rice pudding or tapioca pudding, or does it totally gross you out? What’s your favorite flavor of pudding?

I like all flavors of pudding, but I’m a little partial to plain ol’ chocolate. If you’d like to throw some Oreo pieces in there too, I won’t object. 😉

Strawberry Oatty Yogurt Bowl

This week is my final week of training before I tackle the Chicago Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathon on Sunday.

Eek!

This morning I checked my second-to-last five mile run off my training plan list.

Second-to-Last Running Blast

One five mile run down, one to go… Then it’s race day!

I think it’s interesting that my pace during my 10 mile run on Saturday was actually faster than the run I did with Sadie this morning that was half the distance. My quads felt a little sore and I kind of zoned out on this run and actually told myself to slow down and enjoy the run, so maybe that had something to do with it?

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, because pace-wise my 5k times are often a bit slower than my 10k times. I think that once I get in the running groove, I can keep going, but I struggle to get into a comfortable stride until about 3 miles in. Funky monkey.

On to breakfast!

Breakfast

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…

I love cold oatmeal!

I prepped a good portion of my breakfast last night when I cooked up some oatmeal to refrigerate overnight. When the oatmeal was still hot, I added a handful of frozen strawberries to the oats so they could thaw and disperse their glorious flavor into the oats as they cooled.

This morning, I added a cup of Greek yogurt to the chilled strawberry oats and dusted the oatty yogurt bowl with ground flax seeds for some omega-3s.

Strawberry Oatty Yogurt Bowl

So Check Me Out, Hey!

I loved how the strawberry flavor really infused into the oats and made this whole bowl taste summery and sweet.

Pink is Always Pretty

Stir, Stir, Stir

I know many of you out there swear by overnight oats, but this combo takes the cake for me. The texture of this breakfast bowl rocks my socks, while overnight oats kinda start to gross me out as I get toward the end of the bowl. With this concoction, I want the bowl to automatically refill as I approach the end. 😀

Question of the Morning

Are you better at running short or long distances… Or no distances at all? 😉

Pump Up the Jam

“Pump up the jam, pump it up

Pump it up yo pump it!”

My morning was pumpin’ in two different ways…

Pump One: BodyPump

I think taking Friday off from strength training made me feel extra powerful as I tackled my typical Monday morning BodyPump class. It felt good to push my muscles and feel the burrrn. After spending several years in the gym as a cardio queen, it’s funny that I now definitely prefer strength training to cardio.

I actually have a little plan in my head once my half marathon training is over that will really focus on strength training. I think I may try waving goodbye to long cardio sessions, replacing them with short, fast interval or HITT sessions to see how my body responds. I think my body will be ready for some time away from running and steady-rate cardio after the half on August 1. Should be interesting!

Pump Two:Pumped Up Protein Oats

Super simple breakfast this morning: Pumped up protein oats!

Only two ingredients were used to create this filling bowl of protein-packed oatmeal.

• 1/2 c. old fashioned oats
• 1/2 scoop All the Whey chocolate peanut butter cup protein powder

Oats + Protein Powder

I combined the oats and protein powder and decent amout of water and stirred everything up before placing it in the microwave for a minute, stirring it every 20 seconds or so to prevent overflow. After a minute, I added a little more water and microwaved it for another 30 seconds, stirring it every ten seconds.

Chocolate Protein Oats

Come in Close for the Good Stuff

I ate this combination a lot during the winter months when it was chilly, but it still tastes wonderful even when the weather is scorching.

On the side I enjoyed dark cocoa Pumpkorn, a tasty combination of cocoa powder-dusted pumpkin seeds.

Dark Cocoa Pumpkorn

This was one heck of a chocolatey breakfast… Just the way I like it! 😀

Question of the Day

Did you listen to Jock Jams CDs?

I did and I still love classics like:

• Technotronic – “Pump Up the Jam“
• C&C Music Factory – “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)“
• Reel 2 Real – “I Like to Move It“
• DJ Kool – “Let Me Clear My Throat“