Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Keeping Up With...Workouts (1/22 - 1/28)

We had another week of craziness here and my workouts (or lack there of) reflects that.  Some of it was unavoidable (sickness, weather) some of it was my fault (laziness, lack of motivation).  It is what it is and I will continue to move on.

It is always so apparent to me how positively working out effects my life, but it's even more apparent when I'm not working out.  I tend not to be as productive around the house.  I'm also crabby, short tempered & not as patient.  It's a combination of the endorphins from the exercise and the social aspect of the group fitness classes I take.  I miss my friends when I don't get to the gym!  I'm so happy everyone is healthy and that I can head out & teach my class today.  Hoping I will be in a good rhythm for a while now! 

 I really need to get serious and do all the remaining long walks for my half marathon training.  This week we have 6 on the schedule which is about the max that I feel I can do without any training.  We are supposed to get more snow Fri & Sat so it could make for an interesting 6 miles.  I am hoping to do 1-2 miles today, tomorrow & Fri on the treadmill around classes. 
What it looked like on Sat when I should have been walking.  I don't mind the snow but with the cold I had to sit this one out.
I'm super excited that I am almost finished with my monthly workout challenge.  I can't believe how many pushups & squats I have been doing.  This is the first time I have made it through a whole month and I could not have done it without the support of my friends who are doing it with me.  I'm excited to see what the February challenge is!  Want to join??  Let me know & I'll send you an invite on Facebook!

Here's how the past week looked:
Wednesday, 1/22 - Taught a 60 minute Zumba Class, Took a 45 minute barre class
Thursday, 1/23 - Taught a 60 minute Zumba Class (am), Taught a 60 minute Zumba Class (pm), Biked 15 minutes, Elliptical 10 minutes (great day!!)
Friday, 1/24 - Rest Day due to sickness
Saturday, 1/25 - Rest Day due to sickness
Sunday, 1/26 - Lazy day :-(
Monday, 1/27 - Took a 45 minute barre class (review coming next week!)
Tuesday, 1/28 - Lazy day :-(

Weigh in:
1/22 weight - 215
1/29 weight - 213

Yay!  I'm excited to see a loss even though it wasn't the best week.  I did work really hard on Saturday & Tuesday to stay as close to my calorie goal as possible so I think that helped.  I hit my first goal with this weigh in, I've lost 5% of my starting weight on 1/1.  Next goal - get back to my lowest on this journey (207 on 10/23).

Monday, January 27, 2014

Keeping Up With...Food (Menu 1/27 - 2/2)

Our menu this past week got a little messed up with all the sickness in the house.  We weren't able to go on our date night (Boo!), so I bumped Sunday's dinner to Friday night.  Then we didn't have my brother over for the huge meal we planned on Saturday so I bumped this Monday's dinner to Saturday.  I'm very thankful that I'm always a few days ahead on my menu planning and shopping so I was able to do that.

I also don't know when I'm going to get to the store this week.  The cold weather & sick kids are making it very rough.  Thankfully I have a pretty well stocked pantry and freezer.  Monday we will have a freezer meal, then I'm able to cook Tuesday's meal with stuff I have on hand, the only thing I'm missing is the pepper.  My plan is to get out tonight to buy most of the stuff I need, but if I can't get to the store by Wednesday afternoon, I may need to do another freezer meal.  We'll see what the week holds!

The good news is that I will be ending my "empty the freezer so I can defrost it" project today!  Between what we've already eaten, the 2 freezers that we have (one in the house & one in the garage fridge) and the fact that we probably aren't getting above zero until at least Weds afternoon I'm going to empty the freezer tonight & defrost it.  My friend did this with the last polar vortex we had & I thought it was brilliant!  I will put whatever can't fit in my 2 freezers in coolers on the deck without ice.  They will be fine for the night while the freezer defrosts.  I'm so excited!!

Here is what the menu looks like as of now:
Monday, 1/27 -  Freezer Meal, probably Stuffed Eggplant from Market Day, yum!
Tuesday, 1/28 -  Taco Casserole 

Wednesday, 1/29 - Slow Cooker Chili (Relish Recipe)
Thursday, 1/30 - Keilbasa & Pierogies Sheet Meal - 2 of my favorite things, can't wait to try this!
Friday, 1/31 - "Linguine" with Spinach & Chicken (Relish Recipe) - will sub spaghetti squash for the pasta
Saturday, 2/1 - We're trying this again - My brother, SIL & niece are coming over for dinner so I'm not cooking lunch this day.  We are having turkey as part of my clean out the freezer mission, plus it will yield a lot of leftovers for the week.  I'm doing healthy sides including zucchini boats, garlic cheddar biscuits, balsamic brussels sprouts, spaghetti squash bake and balsamic green beans.
Sunday, 2/2 - Frozen appetizers in honor of the Super Bowl!  I will be cheering for the Seahawks since I briefly lived in Seattle.  They have also never won a Super Bowl & I enjoy the spread the wealth idea instead of one team (or player) winning all the time.  But really, I don't care who wins I just really want to see a good game!



I'm linking up with Laura at Mommy, Run Fast & Jill at Fitness, Health and Happiness.  I am loving checking out all the blogs on this link up!

What's on your menu this week??
Who are you cheering for on Sunday?

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Keeping up with...Family (Sickness, Dentists & Lots of Words)

This week has been marred with sickness in our house.  Wednesday Daniel's nose was running, but not enough to miss school.  He (thankfully) never got worse than that.  Zak started to get snotty & crabby on Thursday & is still trying to recover.  AJ & I had it on Friday, I'm better, he is still coughing really bad.  And Adrian started on Friday & is still recovering.  Thankfully he was able to work from home so he didn't have to miss any work or take the chance of infecting anyone in the office.  Best of both worlds!  We are also lucky that this doesn't seem to be nearly as bad as what some people are dealing with.  It's just runny noses, sore throats & coughing.  Looking like we'll probably have one more down day (Monday) & then hopefully we'll be back up & running...just in time for more sub-zero temps.  Sigh.

Sick boys on the couch all day Friday
We also had a visit to the dentist for AJ this week.  He hasn't lost any of his baby teeth yet.  This wasn't a concern for us until we noticed that one of his adult teeth is coming in behind his baby one.  I had never seen this or heard of it so of course I was concerned.  We went in to have it checked out & found out it's pretty common.  The dentist said the baby tooth will come out in time, probably in the next month or so.  AJ has instructions to wiggle it out and get it out so he can get a new Skylander (thanks Dentist!)

The other very cool thing that is going on is how verbal Zachary is becoming.  He has a huge vocabulary for not even being 2 yet.  He can tell us what he wants, what he doesn't want, what is bothering him and he can speak in full sentences most of the time.  Each of the boys has started talking sooner and better than the previous one, probably due to so much talking in the house as there are more people.  It's very exciting to be able to communicate so well with Zak, but a little sad with how quickly he's growing up.

Not sure how much excitement we'll have going on this coming week.  We have lots of snow right now, more forecast over night & temperatures going down to negative 13 degrees on Tuesday (windchill of near negative 30).

Hope you're all staying safe and warm during this extreme winter weather!!

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Week in Workouts (1/15 - 1/21)

This was not a good week for me.  It started with a rough morning with the boys on Friday and went downhill from there all weekend.  I didn't do most of the exercise I had planned, some because of circumstances I couldn't control (dirty diapers, bad weather, etc) and some because I was just worn out, tired & didn't want to (I hate hormones!)

I realize this is going to happen every freaking month from time to time so I'm trying not to beat myself up about it.  Really it was only 3 of the 7 days that weren't great, and I moved for at least 20 minutes on each of those days.  I also kept up on my squat and pushup challenge that I'm doing this month.  And I got right back on the horse on Monday, mostly because of the following quote:



Since I'm teaching 4 Zumba classes a week and have the possibility of a 5th coming up soon, I'm trying to work on a new song each week.  I know the students don't really need a new song each week, but I like to keep it fresh.  And if I'm not changing up the songs, my body gets used to what I'm doing and it's not as effective for me.  I'm excited to debut a new song today in class and start working on the next one this weekend.  I also got approved for my first Zumbathon supporting Daniel's preschool, so watch for details of that coming up as soon as I finalize everything.

Here's how my week looked:
Wednesday, 1/15 - Taught a 60 minute Zumba Class, Biked 20 minutes
Thursday, 1/16 - Taught a 60 minute Zumba Class (am), Taught a 60 minute Zumba Class (pm)
Friday, 1/17 - Biked for 10 minutes, Did Elliptical for 25 minutes
Saturday, 1/18 - Practiced a new Zumba song for 30 minutes
Sunday, 1/19 - Practiced Zumba for 10 minutes, Did 10 minute Kick Boxing DVD
Monday, 1/13 - Taught a 60 minute Zumba Class, Did Elliptical for 30 minutes
Tuesday, 1/14 - Took a 45 minute Barre Class - it was awesome!  More on that next week.

Weigh in:
1/15 weight - 215
1/21 weight -215
Totally not surprised by this weigh in.  I'm actually thrilled that I didn't put any weight on with how much I ate this weekend.  Back at it now, 2 days this week so far have been great.  Hoping to be under calories every day until Superbowl Sunday.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Menu Plan (1/20 - 1/26)

As I shared over the weekend, we are happily getting back to our routine over here!  Thankfully I've meal planning all along so that as we get busy I have that taken care of.

Last weekend I was overtaken by my hormones & didn't cook on Friday night (Chipotle) or Sunday night (pizza, again).  I bumped one of the recipes to this week (tonight actually) and the other recipe we will not be making, I used the ingredients in other things.  I'm really hoping to stick to our plan this week.  Not only does it help with being organized, but it helps me stay within my daily calorie goal.  This weekend I ate pretty much everything that wasn't nailed down so I'm not really looking forward to weigh in on Wednesday.

I thought I'd share today how I've been cooking zucchini.  Adrian & I both love zucchini and tend to eat a lot of it.  I do it all different ways, but recently it has been really good.  I'm not doing anything amazing, but these specific flavors are just really blending nicely.  I saute 2 tsp olive oil, 1 tsp minced garlic, 2 small/medium zucchini (cut into thin coins), 1 tsp Italian seasoning & 1 tbsp Parmesan cheese.  So easy & so delicious!  We had it with eggplant parmesan last week, yum!
Eggplant Parm & Sauteed Zucchini
Here's what I'm cooking up this week:
Monday, 1/20 Lunch - Smokey Butternut Apple Soup
Monday, 1/20 Dinner - Balsamic Orange Fish (this calls for a specific cod.  I used tilapia & it was awesome!)
Tuesday, 1/21 - Chorizo Chili (Relish recipe)
Wednesday, 1/22 - Belgian Beef Stew over Cauliflower "Rice" (Relish recipe)
Thursday, 1/23 - Million Dollar Casserole (Relish recipe)
Friday, 1/24 - OUT for date night to Basil Thai Restaurant!!  :)

Saturday, 1/25 - My brother, SIL & niece are coming over for dinner so I'm not cooking lunch this day.  We are having turkey as part of my clean out the freezer mission, plus it will yield a lot of leftovers for the week.  I'm doing healthy sides including zucchini boats, balsamic brussels sprouts, spaghetti squash bake and balsamic green beans.
Sunday, 1/26 - Chicken Cordon Blue Back (Relish recipe) - I will sub out turkey for the cooked chicken in this recipe.  I also hope to make this Turkey Noodle Soup at some point on Sunday, but it may have to wait until next week.

I'm linking up with Laura at Mommy, Run Fast & Jill at Fitness, Health and Happiness.  I am loving checking out all the blogs on this link up!

What's on your menu this week??

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Family Update - Back to our Routine

We finally are back to our normal routine!  And we hit the ground running this week with everything we normally do plus a few extra things.  Friday was a really rough day for all of us and I think it was a combination of doing all of our stuff for the first time in almost a month & the full moon on Thursday.  Now we have a 3 day weekend.  Hopefully we'll be well rested to head into this upcoming week.

I thought I'd share what our normal week looks like this week.  This is just the stuff we do every day or week, not including other things that come up like doctor's appointments, meetings, play dates, parties, date nights, etc.  I also have to squeeze in other gym time, Zumba practice, food shopping, cleaning, cooking, homework for both AJ & Daniel, volunteering, etc.  Wow, I'm tired just thinking about it!

Monday:
7:30 am - 4:00 pm - Adrian Work
8:45 am - 11:30 am - Daniel Preschool
9:00 am - 4:00 pm - AJ School
9:30 am - 10:30 am - Christa Teach Zumba

Tuesday:
7:30 am - 4:00 pm - Adrian Work
9:00 am - 4:00 pm - AJ School
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm - AJ & Daniel Ice Skating Lessons

Wednesday:
7:30 am - 4:00 pm - Adrian Work
8:45 am - 11:30 am - Daniel Preschool
9:00 am - 4:00 pm - AJ School
9:30 am - 10:30 am - Christa Teach Zumba
5:30 pm - 11:00 pm - Christa Work (on-going interpreting assignment)

Thursday:
7:30 am - 4:00 pm - Adrian Work
9:00 am - 4:00 pm - AJ School
9:30 am - 10:30 am - Christa Teach Zumba
6:45 pm - 7:45 pm - Christa Teach Zumba
6:50 pm - 7:30 pm - AJ & Daniel Soccer Class

Friday:
7:30 am - 4:00 pm - Adrian Work
8:45 am - 11:30 am - Daniel Preschool

9:00 am - 4:00 pm - AJ School


Saturday:
8:00 am - 10:00 am - Christa Long Walk with MIT
10:30 am - 11:00 am - Zak Soccer Class
12:15 pm - 1:15 pm - AJ, Daniel & Mom Ice Skating Practice

Sunday:
7:00 am - 9:00 am - Adrian long run for training
11:00 am - 12:00 pm - Christa Weight Loss Group
1:00 pm - 4:00 pm - Christa Work

And poor Zachary gets dragged along to almost all of this stuff.  It's no wonder we are all tired come Friday!! The flip side is we all also hate being home and after a day or so of doing nothing, we're getting on each other's nerves.  So I guess it's a balancing act!

Finally, here are some pictures of the boys from the past week.
Zak "helping" with the laundry
AJ enjoying a rare day that it was nice enough to walk home from school
Daniel racing cars down the hallway

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Weekly Workouts (1/8-1/14)

So over the weekend I talked about how last week the boys had a case of the "don'twannas."  Well, I wouldn't be entirely honest to say it was only them.  Saturday morning I got up & got dressed to go meet my Marathoners in Training (MIT) group for a 5 mile training walk.  And I DIDN'T wanna.  I had no problem getting up & getting dressed, but the thought of getting out & walking was making my miserable.  I tried to convince myself to go.  I knew once I got out there I would have fun.  Then I opened the door to go start the car and it was pouring.  I hate walking in the rain.  So I flaked and curled up on the couch with my coffee and my boys.

I had some a lot of guilt over missing the walk.  But there is still 4 months left until the race.  That's a lot of miles & long walks left.  And I am pretty confident that I can easily walk a 10K (about 6 miles) without any training right now.  Last summer I did a 10 mile race with very little training (I don't recommend this, it wasn't pretty).  I am now OK with missing the walk.  I know I will be ready for the CapCity Half Marathon in May.

However, the worst part about deciding to skip my workout was how the day ended up going.  I decided I was pretty tired & worn out so I would take a rest day.  Then I was cleaning out the pantry & found a ton of candy.  There is now less candy.  And then there was pizza for dinner.  And the whole day was an unhealthy one.  Sigh.  I was hoping to make it the whole month of Jan without "cheating" but that didn't happen.  I still had a really good week & saw a very nice loss so all in all I'm happy.

Here's how my week looked:
Wednesday, 1/8 - Taught a one hour Zumba class, walked 1 mile
Thursday, 1/9 - Taught a one hour Zumba class (am), Taught a one hour Zumba class (pm), walked 1.1 mile
Friday, 1/10 - Walked 2.2 miles, Biked for 15 minutes, Did elliptical for 15 minutes
Saturday, 1/11 - Rest Day
Sunday, 1/12 - Took an hour Zumba class
Monday, 1/13 - Taught a one hour Zumba class, walked 1.3 miles, took a 45 minute Barre class
Tuesday, 1/14 - Walked 3.1 miles, Elliptical for 20 minutes, biked for 20 minutes

Weigh in:
1/8 weight - 218
1/15 weight - 215
Down 3 pounds this week, yay!!  My first goal of the year was to lose 5% of my weight, which I will accomplish in just 2 lbs.  Hoping for that next week.  :-)

Monday, January 13, 2014

Menu Plan (1/13 - 1/19)

Last week our food was really great again!  It was so good, I didn't even take any pictures of it.  :)

We did have one day where we strayed from our plan...and our diet.  Saturday I just wasn't feeling the diet & didn't feel like cooking dinner.  So since Adrian & the boys were out shopping, they stopped & picked up pizza on their way home.  Last year, I finally found a place that I like here in Ohio, Jets Pizza.  So yummy!

The only problem is we used to be able to get their extra large & it was enough for all of us.  On Saturday, it was barely enough.  Adrian & I both wanted more.  I guess that's what happens with growing boys.

So with that, one of our meals from last week shifted to this week.  This is a busy week, so I'm hoping I have time to make everything.  If not, we may have more than one freezer meal this week.  I'm going to do my best to keep up with the cooking though.

Here's what we're eating this week:
Monday, 1/13 - Eggplant Parmesan (bumped from last week, recipe from Relish)
Tuesday, 1/14 - Butternut Squash Chili
Wednesday, 1/15 - Leftovers
Thursday, 1/16 - Butternut Taquitos
Friday, 1/17 - Chorizo Chili (Relish recipe)
Saturday, 1/18 Lunch - Quinoa & Veggie Salad (Relish recipe, repeat from 2 weeks ago)
Saturday, 1/18 Dinner - Pesto Pasta (Relish recipe, will sub spaghetti squash for pasta)
Sunday, 1/19 - Belgian Beef Stew (Relish recipe)

Starting on the 19th our Sundays become super busy (Adrian has his long run & basketball, I have weight loss group, work & Zumba) so I will only be cooking dinner on those days.  Lunch will be salads or leftovers.  This will last about 8 weeks.

I'm linking up with Laura at Mommy, Run Fast & Jill at Fitness, Health and Happiness.  I get so many recipes from them and their link up, I actually have my menu planned for next week as well.  Go check them out!

What's on your menu this week?

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Family Update - Extreme Cold Edition

This week started with our Christmas vacation being extended due to extreme cold.  Monday & Tuesday the air temperature was around 0 and wind chills made it feel like as cold as -20 (yes, negative 20).  So the schools closed both days, I cancelled Zumba class on Monday and we stayed in the house for both days.

Monday went really well, I kind of enjoyed having the extra time with the boys.  Tuesday was the exact opposite.  I guess 17 days of togetherness is enough for all of us.  The boys were all fighting.  No one was listening.  I was yelling.  It was ugly.  Adrian got home & I went upstairs to calm down for 15 minutes, I was much better after that.  And I was giddy when I got to drop everyone off at school on Wednesday.

We struggled a little getting back to our routine, mostly with getting up in the morning.  Zak wasn't sleeping well this week so that makes it hard for me to get up and get moving.  He's been better the past few nights, so hopefully it was just a fluke.  We also had some "don'twanna's" like I "don'twanna" go ice skating, I "don'twanna" do what he wants to do, I "don'twanna" get up & go to school, etc.  Hoping now that we will have a full week of routine things will be back to normal...just in time for a day off for MLK weekend.

Some comedy from my week:
Thurs Morning -
Me: AJ, please take off your pajamas & put them in the blue (laundry) basket.
AJ: Mom, I can't put them in the basket, it's super full. I think you need to do some laundry.

That afternoon while we were emptying the dishwasher together Daniel says "Wow Mom, there are a ton of spoons to put away. Maybe if you didn't cook so much we wouldn't have so many dishes to put away."


The highlight of the week for me was date night on Friday.  We saw the musical "We Will Rock You" at the Palace Theater & it was great!  It is a musical using the songs from Queen, which really lends itself well to a musical since the songs are so theatrical.  The story was smart, the lines were hysterical, the performances were great & it felt like both a sophisticated theater experience and a rock concert.  Highly recommend this show if it comes near you!!

Finally, some pictures from the week.  I'm doing the Year in Pictures project again but am stepping it up a little this year.  I'm making sure I take at least one picture of each boy every week.  Here are the pics from this week.
AJ enjoying Sunday brunch
Daniel showing off their new Skylander - Stink Bomb (tee hee)
Zachary climbed into the sink for a swim.  He was wishing for summer!


Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Weekly Workouts & Race Recap

I started out my New Year with a 5K walk, First on the First in Westerville.  I did this race last year and had a great time so I knew I wanted to do it again this year.  It's a nice, flat, easy course and it doesn't start until 11:00am so no getting up early.  It's not far from home & it is very well run.

I was super excited this year because it would be the first race that I was doing with my walking buddies since this summer.  There were lots of injuries over the last 5 months of the year and we weren't able to walk much together at all.  We met up before the race in the community center & bundled up to head out to the start line since it was pretty cold.

Ready to walk!
 We headed out right at 11:00 and I felt great!  The start line was pretty crowded but we weaved our way thru and found a nice pace.  It was freezing at first but before we hit mile one my hat was off and soon after that my jacket was open.  I think at one point I even took my coat off, then we turned a corner & the wind hit me & the coat went back on.  The course is part roads and part paved trails thru Heritage Park.  It was really beautiful out there that day.
We look so happy to be racing!

Another shot of the 4 of us
The miles passed super quickly, mostly because we were chatting and catching up the whole time.  I felt great thru the whole thing, no pain in my foot or knee and didn't even feel tired when we were done.  I was happy about that since I haven't been walking much.  This race also kicked off my half marathon training plan.

We finished right around 50:00.  It was not my fastest time, but considered how little training I've been doing, I'm super excited.  We got our medals, some water & headed inside for more free stuff.  They had tacos for everyone, but they didn't sound good to me at all so I skipped them.  Very fun morning race!!  Looking forward to many more races with my girls this year.  Special thanks to Dana and Kim for coming out to cheer us on!
We're done!!
Other than that, this week has been pretty typical with lots of Zumba.  I couldn't leave the house for two days because of the extreme temperatures, but I still managed to work out both days.  I was able to try out my new kick boxing DVDs (more on that another week).  I also took my first Barre class, I'll go back for more next week (more on that soon too).

Here's how the week looked:
Wednesday, 1/1 - First on the First 5K, official time 50:38
Thursday, 1/2 - Taught a one hour Zumba class, cancelled pm class due to snow
Friday, 1/3 - Last second sub to teach a one hour Zumba class
Saturday, 1/4 - First 45 Barre class, 30 minute parent participation soccer class with Zak
Sunday, 1/5 - Took an hour Zumba class with a new instructor, whom I loved
Monday, 1/6 - Practiced 2 new Zumba songs, 2 mile Walk Away the Pounds DVD, 20 minute kick boxing DVD
Tuesday, 1/7 - Practiced 2 new Zumba songs, 20 minute kick boxing DVD

Weigh in:
1/1 weight - 225
1/8 weight - 218
Down 7 pounds this week, yay!!  It's amazing what a little exercise and clean eating can do.

How were your workouts this week?  What did you do during the extreme cold spell we had to still stay active?

Monday, January 6, 2014

Menu Plan Monday (1/6 - 1/12)

Last week our menu was pretty tasty, and I pretty much made everything that was on my menu.  I forgot to buy an extra bag of hashbrowns, so I didn't get a chance to make the BBQ Chicken Hashbrown Casserole, but luckily I was able to bump up a meal planned for early this week (Chicken Tostados from Relish) and we still had a yummy, healthy meal.
Sunday's lunch - Quinoa, Asparagus, Beans & Roasted Red Peppers - Yum!
One of my goals for the next few weeks is to empty my deep freeze in the basement.  We have been having problems with it and it's really iced over right now.  We need to defrost it and see if this happens again, we may be in the market for a new one.  So in addition to healthy eating, I'm also trying to use up everything in that freezer, including some freezer meals.  My goal is to have one freezer meal on the menu each week until they are gone.

Here's what we're eating this week:
1/6 - Pork Chops with Creamy Dill Sauce (Relish)
1/7 - Slow Cooker Meatloaf with Mushrooms (Relish)
1/8 - Meatball Canellini Soup (Relish)
1/9 - Freezer Meal
1/10 - Parmesan Spaghetti Squash with Italian Sausage
1/11 Lunch - Kale and Bean Soup
1/11 Dinner - Eggplant Parmesan (Relish)
1/12 Lunch - Sausage Quiche
1/12 Dinner - Pork Chops with Spicy Roasted Red Pepper Sauce (Relish)

You will notice I cook a lot with spaghetti squash.  I love this vegetable, so filling and versatile.  If you have never cooked with one before, you should give it a try.  My tip for using them...cook it first before you try to cut it.  The first time I tried to cut it & then roast it and I nearly lost a finger or two.  Ever since then I roast it first for 45-60 minutes depending on the size, then cut into it.  Much easier!!

I'm doing my first link up today & linking up with Laura over at Mommy Run Fast.  I love her blog and get some really good ideas for recipes from her.  She also hosts free virtual races, I've done 2 and am waiting for her next one.  She has some pretty exciting things going on that she announced today so go check her out!

What's on your menu this week?

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Weekly Rewind - New Year Edition

This past week has been a weird mix here in the Jones house.  We had an amazing Christmas and now we all kinda have the Christmas hangover.  We're still enjoying all of our new toys and all, but we also had to get back to real life, at least a little.

Adrian went back to work on Monday, although he then ended up with half day on Tues and Wednesday and Thursday off.  I had to work a bunch this week as well teaching Zumba so that required having the boys someplace by a specific time, which we were kind of out of practice doing.

Our New Year's Eve was pretty quiet.  We were going to have a movie night watching "Despicable Me 2," but RedBox didn't carry it yet.  So the boys have lucked out & we used the rest of our Christmas return money to buy the movie for them (although we still haven't watched it).  For our movie night we decided to watch our other new movie "Planes."  Daniel was not a fan and about 30 minutes into it, he and I were in the play room playing instead of watching.  AJ loved it and Adrian thought it was OK.

We have also been watching a lot of football between the Bowl Games and the NFL playoffs.  Now that all our favorite teams are done for the season, we are kind of enjoying just watching the games as a fan of football.  I'm jumping on the band wagons for the Bengals, since they are kinda the home team, and the Panthers, since I know Domenic Hixson's Mom.  Other than that, I just want good games, and yesterday's did not disappoint!

Finally we, like most of the country, are dealing with this winter storm.  We pretty much had steady snow all day Thursday which made driving hard, but not impossible.  The roads are still a little snow covered and now we are bracing for more snow & frigid temps.  I'm assuming the boys' break is going to be extended for at least a day or two, boo!  I am really looking forward to getting back into our routine next week!!

Stay safe and warm everyone!!
Our back yard Friday morning

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Week in Workouts

I'm going to start sharing each week again about what I did in exercise including my upcoming half marathon training.  I will also post my weekly weigh in.

The past week has been a somewhat lazy week, other than teaching my Zumba classes & subbing for one of the other instructors at my gym while she was on vacation.  I got a lot of workouts in, just not much variety.  That is my biggest goal for 2014, to make sure I'm doing different things.  While I love teaching Zumba, doing my routines all the time isn't the most effective way to lose weight.  I'll be sharing about some of the new things I'm doing as the weeks go on.

One new thing I did in the past 2 weeks was teach a Zumba/TBC fusion class with my dear friend Beth.  She teaches TBC at my gym & takes all of my classes as well as some of the other classes that I take.  Our gym cancelled all classes on Christmas Eve & New Years Eve, but our students friends were all upset & wanted to have classes those Tuesdays.  So Beth & I threw this class together.  We taught 2 Zumba songs for cardio then slowed it down with one song of strength training.  We went back & forth like that for 90 minutes.  It was a GREAT workout!  My muscles are still sore from yesterday's class.  We are actively pursuing having this class added to our gym's schedule going forward.  I'll be sure to keep you updated!


Beth & I before our New Year's Eve class - those hats lasted like 2 songs - too hot!


Here is what the last week looked like for me:
Wednesday, 12/25 - Nothing but playing & enjoying my boys  :)
Thursday, 12/26 - Taught a 60 minute Zumba class (am) & practiced Zumba (pm) for 20 minutes when no one showed up for my class
Friday, 12/27 - Walked around COSI for about 4 hours
Saturday, 12/28 - Taught a 60 minute Zumba class
Sunday, 12/29 - nothing
Monday, 12/30 - Taught 2 60 minute Zumba classes, one am and one pm
Tuesday, 12/31 - Taught a 90 minute Zumba/TBC fusion class

1/1 weigh in - 225 lbs
I'm up almost 20 lbs since my lowest weight in Oct.  I'm no longer looking back at that, only looking forward at what I can do in 2014.  I'm recommitted to myself & also have multiple friends & challenges to hold me accountable.  I'm ready for a great new year!!

Happy New Year to all!!

How have your workouts been over the holidays??  Try anything new recently??