Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Keeping Up With...Workouts (5/21 - 5/27)

I'm going to keep this post short and sweet this week.  We have a lot going on this week and then the next two weeks so my motto for those weeks is do what I can when I can and don't sweat it.

I took a few much needed rest days this weekend.  I had planned to take off Sunday then go to a Zumba class on Monday (Memorial Day).  But I was feeling so tired that since I didn't "have to" be there on Monday I decided to take another rest day.  I heard I missed a good time, but I had a fun day here with the family and was even able to get ahead on some chores around the house.

Quick update on my injury from a few months ago.  After about six months of mostly being in pain, I think I finally have my plantar fasciitis under control!  It got really bad about a month ago and I was very concerned I would need surgery.  But the foot doctor did another injection and I have been stretching like crazy, wearing my brace every night and wearing good supportive shoes all the time.  Once in a while the pain comes back, but it's manageable and I can get it under control with one of those three things.  Hoping this continues!!

OK, like I said, short & sweet this week.  Here's my rundown for the past week:
Wednesday, 5/21 - Took a one hour TBC class
Thursday, 5/22 - Taught a 45 minute Zumba class and a one hour Zumba class
Friday, 5/23 - Taught a one hour Zumba class
Saturday, 5/24 - Taught a one hour Zumba class
Sunday, 5/25 - Planned rest day, although I cleaned a ton & did 7 loads of laundry!
Monday, 5/26 - Another rest day, with more cleaning but no laundry
Tuesday, 5/27 - Taught a 45 minute Zumba class

Weigh in:
5/21 weight - 212
5/28 weight - 214
Change -up 2

Seeing a pattern?  Yeah, me too.  I'm sure it will continue on this upward trend for the next two weeks then June 17 it gets serious!

Monday, May 26, 2014

Keeping Up With...Family (Memorial Day Weekend)

I love a long weekend!!  Normally we plan a few fun things and also take some time to catch up on some things.  This weekend has been all catch up (and trying to get a little ahead).  We were so busy the past 2 weekends, then we have AJ's birthday & vacation for the next 3 weekends.  So we really had to have a "no fun" weekend this weekend.  The good news is that almost my entire to do list is checked off and I'm actually starting on this week's stuff today.

This past week was also the last full week of school.  AJ has 6 more days and Daniel has 2.  I spent the past week signing them up for their summer activities.  AJ & Daniel are doing bowling camp, art lessons, golf camp and swimming lessons.  Zachary is doing gymnastics and swimming lessons.  And AJ wants to go back to hockey as soon as it starts up again.  So much for a calm, relaxing summer!!

Also on this Memorial Day we got some sad news.  Adrian's grandfather passed away over night.  He was 93 years old and has lived an amazing life.  He's been hurting for the past few months and we are all glad he is no longer in pain.  He will be missed by all of us in the Jones family.  I'm happy he knows that his family name will live on for at least one more generation in our 3 boys.

On a happier note, here are some quick pictures of our week.  Hope you are all enjoying your three day weekend!!

Zachary helping me make mac & cheese
Live concert!  AJ & Daniel are singing ABC's & Twinkle, Twinkle. Zak loves it!

First day with our pool out!  The big one will come out after vacation.

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Keeping Up With...Food (Menu Plan 5/26 - 6/1)

Wow, last week passed in a flash!  I'm sure with the summer almost here every week is going to feel this way.  I did great sticking to my menu plan last week, cooked everything when I was supposed to.  Actually my plans changed & I didn't go out one night like I was planning so I added a brinner to my weekly plan and made a spinach egg casserole to use up some spinach that was close to turning.

There was a lot of interest last week on the Cajun Quiche that I planned to make.  It was delicious, but I strayed quite a bit from the recipe since I used cauliflower for the crust instead of rice.  I wasn't thinking & I "riced" the whole head of cauliflower which was considerably more than the 2 cups the recipe called for.  I realized it would not fit in a pie plate.
Crust in my 9x13 pan
I switched to a 9x13 pan and then realized that the filling would probably need to be bulked up as well.  I increased the veggies, sausage, egg and seasoning, leaving only the cheese the same as the recipe.  I also used all egg beaters because I ran out of egg whites & I hate to waste the yolks of regular eggs.
Straight out of the oven - it smelt delicious!
The only problem with doubling-ish the recipe was the cook time.  I had to have it done in time to eat and leave for a Zumba class.  That didn't happen.  I was able to eat about half of it before I left and then reheated the rest when I got home.  It was awesome!  I used the rest for leftovers for lunch for the week and it reheated well too.  Will definitely be making this again!


Here is my plan for the week.  It's another full week for us and ends with 2 birthday parties for AJ's seventh birthday this weekend!  This is also probably my last "plan" for the next 2 weeks because we go on vacation very soon and the days leading up to that will be leftovers and very, very simple cooking (if needed) so we don't leave much in the fridge while we're gone.

Monday, 5/26 - Shrimp & Sausage Flatbreads (Relish recipe)
Tuesday, 5/27 - Vegetable Soup (Relish recipe)
Wednesday, 5/28 - Lasagna Roll Ups (Relish recipe)
Thursday, 5/29 - Blueberry Pork (Relish recipe)
Friday, 5/30 - OUT - date night of dinner & shopping to prep for parties & vacation
Saturday, 5/31 - BBQ for family birthday party including hamburgers, hot dogs, bean salad, broccoli salad, potato salad and homemade ice cream cake
Sunday, 6/1 - Pizza for friends' birthday party

As always, I'm linking up with Laura at Mommy, Run Fast & Jill at Fitness, Health and Happiness.  Go check them out for some more yummy recipes! 

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Keeping Up With...Workouts (Two Weeks in Review)

This post fell by the wayside last week, I have just been very busy and overwhelmed.  But things have been moving along pretty well.  I did pretty good with my workouts over the two weeks, although I missed a few that I didn't plan to. 

I finally have a plan for when people don't show up for my Zumba classes.  I make sure I have new songs to practice, do my fitness challenge for that day, then jump on a machine and read for a while.  Being prepared helps me to still burn the calories that I need to burn to stay under my goal for the day.

Zumba classes are going along pretty well.  We're having a hard time getting it going at Bob Evans because they are super busy with year end and a huge meeting.  This week I had a class and they all said they'll be back on Thursday.  A group also said they will be back in June because work will be significantly lower.  I am down to "only" 6 classes right now, I voluntarily gave up my Sun morning class because no one was coming.  We are trying to change it to Tuesday night and I have a few leads for a Wednesday night class as well.  And I was just hired on by a new gym opening in the area, that schedule should be set up by the end of July.  So with all of that, I'm sure I'll be up to 7 (or 8 or 9) again very soon.
Feeling thin and ready for Zumba!

I'm keeping up with my strength training by doing my daily fitness calendar every day and taking strength training classes whenever I can.  I was doing two daily challenges, but that got to be too much for me, especially since they were both abs this month.  I've dropped out of one but am still keeping up on the Shrinking Jeans one.  I'll wait and see what June looks like before I commit to both challenges again.

Here is what the past 2 weeks have looked like:
Wednesday, 5/7 - Took a 60 minute TBC class (am), took a 60 minute Zumba class (am), taught a 60 minute Zumba class (pm) = tired!
Thursday, 5/8 - Taught a 60 minute Zumba class
Friday, 5/9 - Rest Day (planned)
Saturday, 5/10 - Taught a 60 minute Zumba class
Sunday, 5/11 - Rest Day (Mother's Day)
Monday, 5/12 - Took a 60 minute Zumba class (am) and taught a 45 minute Zumba class (pm)
Tuesday, 5/13 -Rest Day (no one showed for Zumba)
Wednesday, 5/14 - Rest Day (wasn't feeling well)
Thursday, 5/15 - Taught a 60 minute Zumba class, rode the bike for 20 minutes
Friday, 5/16 - Taught a 60 minute Zumba class
Saturday, 5/17 - Taught a 60 minute Zumba class
Sunday, 5/18 - Did elliptical for 25 minutes, practiced new Zumba songs
Monday, 5/19 - Taught a 60 minute Zumba class (am) and taught a 45 minute Zumba class (pm)
Tuesday, 5/20 -Taught a 45 minute Zumba class

Weigh in:
5/7 weight - 212
5/14 weight - 214
5/21 weight - 212
Change - nothing

I'll take it!  As you can see that first week I had a few rest days.  And there were also some (a lot of)  days of eating bad.  The past week there was only one day that I wasn't under my calorie goal and I was so OK with that.  The next few weeks are super busy with Memorial Day parties, AJ's birthday and vacation so my goal is to maintain until 6/18 and then really hit the gas and lose a bunch this summer...or at least until we go to Disney at the end of the summer!

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Keeping Up With...Family (Culture Weekend!)

This past week was a pretty normal week for us with school, tee ball, work and a few play dates.  I did volunteer in AJ's class on Tuesday and it was my last time volunteering in his first grade class.  I'm so thankful I was able to go in once each month to work with the kids.  I mostly did sight words and reading with them, but also did math a few times.
First grade Selfie!
The other excitement for AJ this week was losing tooth #2!  He woke up Tuesday morning and it was gone.  I thought we lost it again, but he had it upstairs under his pillow.  Thankfully it fell out in the morning or I would have had to explain why the tooth fairy didn't know to come in the middle of the night!

Other than that, it was a pretty normal week for the boys.  On the other hand, Adrian and I had a great weekend!  We got to do all kids of fun and interesting things.  It started with our last play of the Broadway in Columbus season, Book of Mormon, on Friday night.  It. Was. Awesome!!  I laughed so hard through the whole show.  The cast was great, the songs were amazing and the jokes were plentiful, if a little inappropriate at times.  But it is from the writers of South Park, so I was expecting it.  I highly recommend this show, it was a great night out!

Saturday was a jam packed day.  I taught a class in the morning, then ran a bunch of errands.  Then we spent the afternoon at a birthday party for one of Daniel's classmates.  The boys had a great time, as did I since I actually had some time to chat with my friends.  The highlight was the pinata, especially after the candy went flying!
AJ hitting the pinata
Zak loved this toy!  He rode it up and down the drive way for close to an hour
Saturday night Adrian finally took the big boys to see The Lego Movie.  We wanted to go as a family, but there is no way Zak can sit through a movie right now.  So the 3 of them went out and Zak and I stayed home and watched The Wiggles.  The boys loved the movie and are now constantly singing "Everything is Awesome" or screaming "Where are my pants??"  I assume it's much like what you parents with kids who actually watched Frozen are going thru.

Sunday Adrian and I had another date!  This time it was a double date with Carl and Sarah to go to Shadowbox Live.  We won four tickets to a show at the Breakfast with Santa that AJ's school had (that was SO well put together by the amazing PTO of which I am a member).  We saw their musical show "Bigger Than Jesus" which was a rockumentary about The Beatles.  It was a great show!!  I love The Beatles music and to see some of their interpretations of the songs was great.  They also had little snippets of info about the band and their music between each song so I learned a few things.  The cast was super talented & it was really a great way to spend an afternoon!  I can't believe I hadn't been to Shadowbox before, I will be back soon.

So now we are gearing up for the end of school, AJ's birthday and our first vacation of the summer.  Busy, busy times!!

Monday, May 19, 2014

Keeping Up With...Family (Adrian's Birthday)

After taking Mother's Day off, I fell behind on stuff around the house and still haven't really caught up.  I'm doing my best this week and really looking forward to this 3 day weekend to catch up and hopefully get a little ahead of the game.

So I told you about Mother's Day, but didn't tell you about the week before, or Adrian's birthday which was the day before Mother's Day.  The week before was teacher appreciation week.  AJ dressed up most days to go with the theme that his school was doing.
AJ as a pirate - Arg!
The boys also colored a thank you card for each of their teachers and gave them a candy bar that we are selling for tee ball anyway.  The teachers were all very happy to get the special treat.  It doesn't seem like enough, we are blessed with amazing teachers for the boys and I am SO thankful for that!!

Adrian's birthday is May 10th so we always take the whole weekend to celebrate both holidays.  We had big plans this year, but most of them didn't work out because of weather and other commitments.  So we had a calm celebration this year.  It started with picking up Chinese for dinner Friday night for dinner, then having Graeter's Ice Cream "Uncle Tom style" - which means I bought a bunch of flavors and we mixed them up at home.  Yum!

Saturday the weather was horrible so we had to cancel a planned outside day and relocate to inside.  I had to teach that morning so I stopped and got us a treat on the way home:
Gigi's Cupcakes!
We spent the rest of Saturday playing games with the kids, both board games and video games.  We gave Adrian his presents - Game of Thrones Season 3 and 2 new video games.  We also made sausage calzones for dinner, they were so good I forgot to snap a picture.  And between Fri and Sat nights, Adrian & I finished up the most recent season of Parenthood.  Such a great show!  It wasn't exactly how we planned it, but we made the best of it and had a really great weekend!

Happy Birthday Adrian!!!

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Keeping Up With...Food (Menu 5/19 - 5/25)

Wow, this week and weekend have flown by.  I did OK keeping up with my meals last week, although Friday night I was exhausted so I asked Adrian to pick up dinner on the way home.  My favorite salad is back at Panera, the strawberry chicken poppyseed salad.  Yum.  So I have one meal from last week bumped to this week.

This week is also very busy with our normal schedule plus a tee ball make up game, night out for me, volunteering at the school and an extra Zumba class.  At least the weather is supposed to be perfect all week!  I'm thankful I've already shopped for almost the entire week.  I just have to get a few things and we'll be good through Saturday.  I'm thankful for the long weekend next week so I can catch up on some stuff and get ready for the marathon of end of the school year plus AJ's birthday plus our vacation.

Here is the menu plan for the week:
Monday, 5/19 - Meatloaf & Mashed Potatoes (Relish recipe)
Tuesday, 5/20 - I'm going out so the guys are on their own (probably leftovers or sausage)
Wednesday, 5/21 - Cajun Quiche - will do a cauliflower rice crust - hold over from last week
Thursday, 5/22 - Chicken Parmesan Bake (Relish recipe)
Friday, 5/23 - Chicken Caesar Spinach Salad (Relish recipe)
Saturday, 5/24 - Going to my brother's for an (early) anniversary dinner
Sunday, 5/25 - Asian Beef Lettuce Wraps & Peanut Noodles (Relish recipe)

As always, I'm linking up with Laura at Mommy, Run Fast & Jill at Fitness, Health and Happiness.  Go check them out for some more yummy recipes!  

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Keeping Up With...Family (Mother's Day)

We had so much going on this week and weekend that I'm going to break it down into two posts.  This one will be all about the fun things we did for Mother's Day and it will be very picture heavy. 

The holiday spanned two different days here and I had a fun time with my guys.  It started with Mother's Day Tea at Daniel's school.  He came home Monday with an official invitation for me:

Of course I accepted and showed up Friday morning dressed in a blue shirt (Daniel's favorite color). 



We started the morning with muffins and "tea" (iced tea for the moms, water for the kids).  Then we did a craft together.

After the craft, we played a guessing game using papers the kids filled out about their Moms.  I love that Daniel thinks I'm 20!!

And we finished up the day with some dancing together and then the kids gave us some presents they have been working on.

This says "I Love You Because...You Do Nice Things For Me."
 

Sunday morning started with AJ running downstairs to give me his Mother's Day present:
And then everyone gave me the presents they bought me:
I mean really, who doesn't want a punching game for Mother's Day??  ;-)  After the presents, we spent a few hours relaxing, then got together with Carl, Sarah and Isabelle for a fun dinner together celebrating Mother's Day & Sarah & Adrian's Birthdays.  We did sides and brats & they took care of some other meats and cake.  It was a really nice day filled with love.

Now I'm dealing with the aftermath of taking it easy this weekend.  Anyone else feel behind all week??

Tomorrow I'll catch you up on the rest of the fun weekend!


Monday, May 12, 2014

Keeping Up With...Food (Menu Plan 5/12 - 5/18)

Hope all the mothers that read this had a fabulous day yesterday!!  We were busy celebrating all weekend between Mother's Day & Adrian's birthday, which is why I'm a little late with this post this week.

We had to juggle a few things around last week because I wasn't able to get to the store early enough in the week.  I luckily had everything on hand to make these delicious Egg Stuffed Potatoes and a salad for dinner Thursday night.  Then I went to Kroger and restocked my fridge and freezer.  And then the birthday boy decided he wanted Chinese for dinner on Friday so we did that too. 

One of my favorite meals this week has been my afternoon snack.  I was picked to do an in home market research test on these new peanut butter pairs.  The one we have now is chocolate & peanut butter.  I've been eating one cup with an apple every day.  Delicious, nutritious and filling.  I pick up the second flavor tomorrow, I'm hoping for peanut butter & marshmallow.  Drool.
Afternoon Snack
 Zak enjoyed one of the cups too.  He started with pretzels, but deteriorated to just eating with his hands.
Here is the menu plan for the week:
Monday, 5/12 - Asian Chicken Salad (Relish recipe) - hold over from last week
Tuesday, 5/13 - Slow Cooker Chicken Pot Pie (Relish recipe)
Wednesday, 5/14 - Meatball Subs (Relish recipe) - hold over from last week
Thursday, 5/15 - Cajun Quiche - will do a cauliflower rice crust
Friday, 5/16 - Scallop & Corn Chowder (Relish recipe)
Saturday, 5/17 - Crock Pot Pizza Pork Chops (Relish recipe)
Sunday, 5/18 - Chicken Parm Bake (Relish recipe)

As always, I'm linking up with Laura at Mommy, Run Fast & Jill at Fitness, Health and Happiness.  Go check them out for some more yummy recipes!  

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Keeping Up With...Workouts (Cap City Non Race Recap)

So this isn't a race recap so much as it is my thoughts about why I pulled out of a race.  I love the CapCity Half Marathon.  I have done the 1/4 twice and was finally signed up and ready to do the half this year.  The first 1/4 was my first big race in 2011 and I was hooked after it.  I missed 2012 because I had Zak in Feb of that year.  The second time was last year and while it didn't go according to plan, it was an awesome race.  I love looking at pictures of these 2 races, true before and after pics.
After the race - 2011
After the race 2013

This training season started off rough with horrible weather, sickness and conflicts for my long walk days.  I was also thrown off course when my gym closed (I may have mentioned that before).  But I still felt like I was going to be OK after my 8 mile long walk a few months ago.  I felt great after it and even went and nailed a Zumba audition after it.

Then my Zumba schedule started to fall into place.  And I got a class on Saturday mornings.  I would either have to find a sub for class or miss the race.  Plus I couldn't do my long walks with my MIT group anymore on Saturday mornings so I would have to find another time to do them.  And I know myself, I'm not good at that.  I was debating switching to the 1/4, which I knew I could easily walk without training (which is a great feeling!)

And then I got my current Zumba schedule.  I'm teaching 7 classes per week.  The only day I don't teach is Weds.  And I'm trying to take 2-3 classes from other people each week as well.  That's a lot of exercise.  And not a lot of free time for racing.

Then it came down to economics.  To change to the 1/4 I would have to pay a $20 fee.  Plus I wouldn't be able to teach my class that morning so I'd be out another $20.  Or I could drop out of the race all together and get 1/2 of my entry fee back.  Plus teach class and earn that money.  It was more economical to drop out. 

I really agonized over the decision, but in the end it was the right one.  I taught a great class on Saturday morning and there were 3 new people there that loved it and plan to keep coming.  Zak had a rough sleep weekend so I was up quite a bit and was happy to not have a race on my plate as well.  We have let our house work take a back seat to fun recently and we really had a lot to do this weekend so we were able to get all caught up on that.  And I was involved with the Three Bags Full consignment sale this weekend which I would not have been able to do if I had raced.

I guess that is the problem with signing up for races really far in advance.  While you do save some money on the entry, your plans and goals often change.  I signed up for this race back in June of last year.  A lot has happened in that time.  The biggest thing being, I just really don't love racing long distances.  I'll still do an occasional 5K or 10K, but I think I'm done with longer races.  I just like my workout variety too much to commit to training for anything longer.  Then again, that's what I'm saying now.  Check back in a year to see if I stick to that or finally jump in and do the CapCity 1/2!

Here's how the workouts I did do this week looked:
Wednesday, 4/30 - Took a one hour TBC class
Thursday, 5/1 - Taught two one hour Zumba classes
Friday, 5/2 - Taught a one hour Zumba class
Saturday, 5/3 - Taught a one hour Zumba class (did not do CapCity)
Sunday, 5/4 - No one showed for class so I practiced a new song for about 20 minutes, then did the elliptical for 25 minutes
Monday, 5/5 - Took a one hour Zumba class and taught a 45 minute Zumba class
Tuesday, 5/6 - Again, no one showed up for class so I practiced for 15 minutes, did the elliptical for 15 minutes and rode the bike for 15 minutes

Weigh in:
4/30 weight - 214
5/7 weight - 212
Change - down 2 lbs.

Great week of working out and staying under my calorie goal every single day.  Woot!!  And look at that, I saw the results you would expect, lost 2 lbs.  I'm happy!  Slowly approaching my lowest weight on this journey (I was 207 right before Halloween last year).  Of course we're cheating this weekend for birthday and Mother's Day celebrations, but hopefully the damage won't be too bad.

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Keeping Up With...Family (Sports, Art & Outside!)

Last week was a pretty typical week for us.  I had a little bit of a break on Monday and Tuesday because Adrian was home from work sick so I got to do a few things without dragging Zak along with me.  I was able to do all my grocery shopping Monday morning while the big boys were at school and that made it a surprisingly easy week.  Maybe I need to start doing all my shopping on Sundays instead of trying to do it throughout the week with the kids.

Monday AJ had a fun day at school, COSI on wheels came to do an assembly.  He was so excited to tell me about how they tried to make a thunderstorm in the gym.  He also did an experiment about what things would float in the wind and which wouldn't.  Thanks to the PTO for putting on such a great day!  AJ also got to leave school early that day because he and Daniel had their routine dentist appointment.  The dentist said their teeth looked great and no one has any cavities, yay!! 

Tuesday Daniel started his next adventure, art classes.  He loves doing crafts at school and at home so when I saw a friend was teaching classes for preschoolers, I looked into enrolling him.  It's a mommy & me class so I get to work on the projects with him.  Last week we made texture drawings with paint, sponges & stencils.  The other boy in the class has a 2 year old sister, so it's also a play date for Zak, yay!!
Daniel's art work
Wednesday AJ had his last hockey class for this session and they played a 5 on 5 game the whole time.  He LOVED it!!  He wants to keep playing, but will take the next 10 week session off to focus on tee ball and the end of the school year.  He really wants to start league play, but we feel he needs a few more sessions of learning the basics.  He'll be back to it mid-summer.

Saturday AJ and Daniel played their first tee ball game.  They are both (thankfully) on the same team this year, the Reds.  They have been having fun with practices and are getting pretty good at catching and throwing.  They both had a fun time at the game (they don't keep score in this league) and did such a great job of trying their best that they got the game balls!
Zachary had a great time all weekend playing outside.  He is obsessed with lawn mowers and whenever anyone in the neighborhood is mowing, Zak is watching.  He especially loves when Daddy mows.  He also loves chasing bubbles, swinging and continuing to learn how to ride his bike.  He will even go outside and play by himself now for a short while, although he prefers when someone is out there with him.  This is the boys' new favorite game, AJ & Daniel push Zak in his swing.  They all crack up while they do it.


Sunday, May 4, 2014

Keeping Up With...Food (Menu Plan 5/5 - 5/11)

This past week for the first time in a LONG time I stuck with the menu all week!  I'm super proud of myself for not only sticking to my plan, but also stayed under my calorie goal for this whole weekend.  That has been a huge struggle for me.  And of course both things go hand in hand.  Because when I don't follow my plan, I usually order out and eat things that are a ton more calories than what I had planned.

This week's biggest success was making our own homemade calzones.   I don't know why we have never made these before.  Adrian makes amazing dough when he makes pizza and we always have a few dough balls leftover.  We made healthy-ish calzones this weekend by using kale & mushrooms for the filling.  They were amazing.  I think we're going to use sausage and make them again next weekend.
Drool

This week is actually fairly light compared to the past few weeks.  We have a few extra things, but it will feel like a vacation compared to the marathon we've been doing the past 2 weeks.  And then this weekend will be a ton of fun...celebrating both Adrian's birthday and Mother's Day.  Not 100% sure of our plans, but I know a lot of relaxing and family time is on the docket.

Here is the menu plan for the week:
Monday, 5/5 - Kale Smashed Potatoes with Sausage
Tuesday, 5/6 -  Asian Chicken Salad (Relish recipe)
Wednesday, 5/7 - Cajun Hash Brown Skillet
Thursday, 5/8 - Meatball Subs (Relish recipe)
Friday, 5/9 - Tex Mex Chicken Skillet (Relish recipe)
Saturday, 5/10 - Adrian's Birthday!  My brother & his family are coming over to celebrate.  It is also my SIL's birthday.  We're BBQing, I think.
Sunday, 5/11 - Mother's Day!  I'm NOT cooking at all.  I think we're going to do sausage calzones.

As always, I'm linking up with Laura at Mommy, Run Fast & Jill at Fitness, Health and Happiness.  Go check them out for some more yummy recipes!  

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Keeping Up With...Workouts (4/23 - 4/29)

Girls Night Out - at a running store - don't judge!  :)
So Saturday night, one of the local running stores, Second Sole, had a girls night out event.  My friend Amy (in the pink shirt) invited our walking group & shockingly we were all free!  We met up at the store to enjoy a little (FREE!) Mexican food & beer & have some fun.

They also had free bra fittings and of course were trying to sell us bras.  I actually was in desperate need of new sports bras.  Your bra is not supposed to celebrate a birthday.  The ones I have been rotating were bought before I did the half marathon in Oct 2012.  Yeah.  They weren't pretty.  One actually broke on me during a Zumba class.

This got me thinking about support.  Yes, the support of good friends is awesome.  But I'm talking about support for my girls.  It really shouldn't be this hard for me to find a sports bra that fits and holds the girls in place.  I understand that I'm bigger in that area than most, but doesn't that mean I need more support?

It's one of the things that is most frustrating to me on this journey, that I am unable to find plus size bras and workout clothes without working really hard.  I'm thankful Meijer carries a great line of workout pants/capris & I'm FINALLY in an XL (down from XXXL when I started).  But the bras are a whole other animal.  I can only find bras that work at running stores.  For $50 each.  I bought some from Meijer to try to cut the cost a little.  They all fit, but offered NO support.  Sigh.

The good news is I found a bra that I love.  It's a New Balance bra and it fits awesome!  It comes in a lot of pretty colors, including a bright blue that I bought Sat night.  I now have 2 of those and one more on order from Amazon (it shipped today, should be here Fri).  Those 3 should get me through for a while.

The other good news is that I won one of the door prizes.  I got a new pint glass, 2 new pairs of socks and some chews.  Yay!!

But if I ever come into a ton of money, I'm starting a plus size fitness apparel line with affordable prices!

Now on to my week in workouts.  It was a pretty good week, until I had 2 classes in a row when no one showed up.  I need to figure out a plan B for when that happens, especially when it's an evening class and no one shows up.  I don't mind having one rest day each week, but would rather not have two.

Here's how the last week looked:
Wednesday, 4/23 - Took a one hour Total Body Conditioning class
Thursday, 4/24 - Taught a one hour Zumba class, Did the elliptical for 15 minutes and did the bike for 15 minutes
Friday, 4/25 - Taught a one hour Zumba class
Saturday, 4/26 -  Taught a one hour Zumba class
Sunday, 4/27 - Rest Day because no one showed up for my Zumba class
Monday, 4/28 - Rest Day because no one showed up for my Zumba class
Tuesday, 4/29 - Taught a one hour Zumba class

Weigh in:
4/23 weight - 217
4/30 weight - 214
Change - down 3 lbs. 

I'm not sure how this happened, but I'm thrilled!  I did a lot of exercise but didn't eat great yet again.  I'm going to work really hard this next week to stay within my calorie goal.  My goal is to do this until Mother's Day weekend (also Adrian's birthday) then take 2 days "off" for cake and other goodies.