What! It’s Wednesday?

Wednesday…really?!?

I can’t believe that it’s already Wednesday!  Work has been super nutty.  Yesterday I had a block of conference calls from 1230-430pm with no breaks!  GAH!  I actually planned in breaks but somehow over the course of the day random calls snuck their way in.  I think my Blackberry earbuds are dying the slow death of technology…meaning they work sometimes and then decide to crap out in the middle – you know, just to keep things spicy!

So how about a couple of pictures to make it worth your while to keep reading this bloggedy blog.  Eats, Sweats and who knows what…

Easy snack. Warm me up a Clif bar

Fixings for Lunch Eats

So that’s what it looks like all made up

So hot, need Coke

Sweaty start to the day

Breakfast repeat on Wednesday

Then just in case all of that didn’t make you hungry (less the randomly stuck in sweaty pic) check out this fantastic dessert treat from the ol’ Trader Joe’s…

Dark Chocolate Speculoos Bar

HOLY COW!!!!   This thing is so unbeliveably good.  I ate two little pieces (they were kind enough to make these so you can clearly see where a piece starts and ends.  Those two little pieces were so rich, so decadent as it melted on my tongue then BONUS with the Speculoos PB in the middle.  It’s like a healthy version of Rolos‘…where instead of ooey gooey caramel you get sorta good for you peanut butter.   This is a 5 star recommendation.  🙂

So anyhoo…I need to get a bloggedy blog schedule.  I love to do morning workouts because by the end of the day I’m ready to just lie down on the couch as I run through my DVR‘d tv shows.  During the day is ridiculous busy with shuttling 12yo to & from school, work, planning whatever dinner delight I’m making, then chilling out until I collapse in bed.  That’s on my TO DO list…number 31 I think.  🙂

Have a great Wednesday.

See ya later

Cathy

Weekend Wrap-up

Monday already???  October already????   Jeesh!  Time sure flies.

We had an extra little person this weekend.  Nephew came over so the boys played XBox all night Friday and all day Saturday until he got picked up.   They only took breaks for food and to handle their “business”.  Must be nice to be a kid.

Weekend Eats

Balls of Wonder!

Friday night we had Annie’s Gluten Free Mac & Cheese and hotdogs.  I should clarify that we does not include me.  I scored left over Cobb salad – Whee (said sarcastically)…I love love hotdogs with JUST MUSTARD.  Slurp!  The kids go ape over Mac & Cheese and HunBun gets to enjoy it too now that they have the GF version.  Saturday morning I made scrambled eggs, Open Nature Turkey Bacon and these Balls of Wonder – Trader Joe’s Danish Pancakes.  Simply warm up in microwave and sprinkle with powdered sugar.  Those kids ate these up likedy split.  I had a thin sliced wheat round with Trader’s Speculous Cookie Butter (Oh Man that stuff’s good), since I was going to do my circuit workout and didn’t want a pile of food jouncing around my belly.  I don’t know if any of you have tried this stuff but I highly recommend you get some.  At 90 calories a TBSP it’s actually got less calories than other nut butters…but I haven’t read the rest of the nutrition facts so am not sure how “good for you” this nut butter is.  I can imagine using this to make PB Balls at Christmas time…with the gingerbread taste it would be perfect.  Except HunBun couldn’t eat it because of the biscuit bits inside…I’ll have to come up with an alternative GF version for him.

Saturday Lunch was Turkey, Cheese and Spinach sandwiches or Cookie Butter & Jelly Sandwich (I take orders around here don’t you know), Ruffles Sour Cream & Cheddar chips and apple slices.  Nephew pulled out his spinach, 10yo didn’t eat his apples, 12yo ate it all.  I can’t even remember what I ate..boot. 😦

Saturday Dinner was Sausage & Peppers, Red Potatoes and Zuchinni rounds.  HunBun said “hotdogs again?”,  12yo said “no it’s sausage”  🙂  I had the veggies from the dish and spinach and goat cheese on top.

Sunday Breakfast was “help yourself” as I was in Campbell running with my MeetUp group.  Sunday Lunch was “what’s in the kitchen” as I have been procrastinating the grocery store visit.  Sunday Dinner was crockpot salsa chicken and rice – because I had to come up with something.  I had the chicken on spinach greens, that was tasty.  12yo tried goat cheese and LOVED it…so he put that on his corn tortillas.  Also ate a fruit salad, oranges were super sweet!

Weekend Sweats

I’m clean again…

So after my Trail Hog run my new shoes were like Cinderella…covered in dust with random grass pieces sticking out of the mesh.  So I took a brush and cleaned those kicks till they looked almost new.  I like to use these New Balance sneaks when I do the circuit workouts at home.  The Brooks almost have too much padding or weight that I feel like I lose my balance when I do certain circuit moves.  From this view it looks like I’m totally bow-legged…weird how the camera can put those optical illusions out.  Had my low rider socks on, you can barely see them peeking over the edge of the shoe.  I don’t get how people can wear sneakers with no socks, ick!   I did a lot of body-weight moves on my Saturday workout…felt it in my thighs and calves – BURN!

I wish I had one of those Body Bugs to measure my calorie usage during circuit training – now it looks like I didn’t use any calories when I enter it onto MyFitnessPal.  Fail.  I’m working on those pudgy spots – not to lose weight but more to tighten and tone.  I can feel those ab muscles when I poke my fingers into my tummy…I’d rather see them then have to go on an expedition to find them though.  Am I preaching to the choir or what?!?

Sunday morning I met up with my MeetUp group, Go Far Run over in Campbell for a 6 miler.  Met a new grouper and ran with her as it was her first time in the “real world” and not on a treadmill.  Didn’t meet my pace goals but she really appreciated me sticking with her and pushing her to run a little further.  The one thing about running at Campbell is that you need to decide how far you’re going to run when you start because it’s a “there & back” track – meaning you go half the distance you want to finish at then turn around.  So if you start off wanting to do 6 miles it’s too late to do less after you’ve ran to the 3 mile turn around point.  You’re doing 6 miles no matter what.  🙂

To finish out the weekend I worked in the yard with HunBun then lounged around to decompress before the work week started up again.

See ya later!

Cathy

Birthday celebration

Sunday BBQ & Cupcakes!

We celebrated my birthday with a end-of summer BBQ of hotdogs (Miller’s hotdogs are the best!) and Hamburgers.  I ate too much of the chips and onion dip – my brain WAS trying to tell my hands to stop grabbing more but obviously my eyeballs had taken over the controls.  UGH.  I should just scoop a ploop of onion dip in a bowl and that is that…but that’s for people who have more self-control than I when it comes to salty snack food.  Oh, well.

Of course I have no pictures of the food, DER, other than my Cupcake Love…

Birthday Cupcake Lovin’

Now that’s attractive.  🙂  Thanks family for the laughs and the gift cards.  We will certainly use the Disney ones soon (I wish sooner…) and will get some new workout gear from Lucy and Athleta as soon as I log onto their websites.

My solo birthday buy-obration

So yesterday was my actual day of birth…thanks mom & dad for doing what you did so I can be around (that sounds gross…but it’s the truth – well unless you were mixed in a tube or something – but that’s another discussion).  Since it was a normal day – for everyone else – I took the day off and buy-0brated my brains out at TJ Maxx, Ross, JC Penney, Marshalls and Trader Joe’s (that visit was to up the snack volume in our pantry).  Get it???  I bought a lot of stuff to celebrate my birthday…a “Buy-obration”.   Dorky, I know…but I laughed.  🙂

My intent was to buy a couple of tops for work – you know to go with all my black pants (see earlier posts).  I guess you could say I was successful IF I want to wear work-out tops to work.  UH, that’s a no.  I did buy a blouse, black, but it’s one of those that wickedly hard to get on & off – you know, no zippers or buttons just a sheer overlay with an attached silk camisole.  After struggling to get the darn thing off I decided that was a “return” for sure along with a pair of super cute lace overlay shorts that was a size “M” written in teeny tiny print that I obviously didn’t see.  Bleah!

So on to the goods…in collage form 🙂

Loads of goodies!

So clockwise we got some workout clothes (those shorts were only $5!), Kelly green cardigan, 3 tops (hoorah), different printed skinny jeans, some socks (mine all shrank), really comfy Michael Kors bronze flats and some really cute boots!  I got another workout tank and shorts but wore them this morning on the treadmill for Time Trials.

Then I bought a couple of things for the house – I forgot to photo a cute glass stand with a bird on the lid.  I’ll remember to do that once I find something suitably adorable to put under the dome.  I found a really cool rustic looking 2 tier wood shelf that I put in the living room, a black metal jewelry stand (that is too tall for my wardrobe so now it’s sitting on my bedside table) and some awesome pantry organizers.  So I went hog-wild cleaning up our pantry…so pretty!

Organization is lovely

I moved the cereals up a shelf and this morning 12yo said “Hey mom where’s the cereal”… I said “right in front of your face”.  Kids, jeesh!

The best buy of the day was this awesome Lucy jacket I found at TJ Maxx!

Love me some Lucy

I can’t wait for the cold weather to get here so I can use it!

We finished my birthday with dinner from PF Chang’s – oh so good!  They are slowly expanding their Gluten Free menu options which is great.  We got Sichuan Beef, Mongolian Beef, Dali Chicken, Spicy Chicken and Chicken Fried Rice.  I also got their newest menu item: Vietnamese Noodle Salad with Crab.  Oh My!  Fully recommended!  I even had some left over for lunch today.  It comes with a citrus dressing that is practically drinkable.

So that was a round up of my birthday celebration.  Hope you enjoyed it!

See ya later!

Cathy

Do you prefer to celebrate your birthdays solo or with others?

 

 

Sunday smoosh

Sunday morning run…

Morning Run

This morning I joined my Go Far Run meetup group at Gilman park in Campbell, CA.  Most of the group is training for the San Jose Rock N Roll Half, I am hoping to stay in running shape for my two Halfs coming up in January & February.  I signed up for a bunch of Brazen races…with the bulk of them happening in November.  These are 5K’s and 10K’s…just enough to keep me motivated to stay on the running program – but not too taxing to wear me out before the 2013 races.

New running shirt from the Disney Half Expo

Cute running clothes make me like running

I bought 2 super cute running shirts from Raw Threads.  They are so soft and don’t feel like your normal “technical” running shirts.  I got the Red Queen, wore that one today, and the Sea Witch.  On the back side of the Red Queen shirt is a white rabbit with the word “Run”.  Cute, huh!  Before hitting the trail I decided to fuel up.

What you shouldn’t do with a water bottle

I ate the Chocolate Peanut Butter Clif Builder’s protein bar I got at the Expo and some Nuun water in my pink bottle.  Isn’t that a neat looking aerodynamic – fitted to the palm of your hand – water bottle?  Well it used to look like a regular symmetrical water bottle that stood up straight…but after going through the steam cycle of our dishwasher it got a little bent.  At least the part the water comes out still works – so use it I shall!

Did 4.5 miles today…just to keep the legs used to the punishment.  Bwahahaha… 😀   I sprinkled in some sprints too…not only when people were around…but weird how it always turned out to be exactly when that was.  Hahaha.

Trader Joe’s stop

Stopped at the Trader Joe’s right near the park to grab some GF bread for HunBun along with a whole bunch of snack’ish food…Chocolate PB cups, Roasted Plantain Chips, Flattened Bananas….Almond Butter, Mango Butter…Cinnamon Sugar grinder…  JEESH!  Thank goodness I don’t stop there often or I’d have to up my mileage!

Anyhoo.  This week’s a business meeting bonanza!  Which means I’ll have to pinky swear to exercise (I took up valuable carry-on space for the 3 exercise outfits I need), eat right (I’ll take some of the TJ’s snacks I just bought) and photo blog daily (I’d tattoo it on my forehead…but my company frowns on those).

Have a great rest of your Sunday!

See ya later!

Cathy