Rush Rush Rush June 23, 2010

Hello Friends!

Just finished another Treadmill workout – schweaty mess!

I added a new Page at the to keep a semi detailed log of my workouts.

Haven’t done any P90X since last week But hopefully later today we will tackle shoulders/arms/ab ripper.

Anywho, I am leaving for a Road Trip to Florida with my 2 besties TOMORROW!!! I have not even begun packing – hence the title! After I finish here I am off to shower, layout all my clothes (well the clean ones), start laundry, head to AAA to get a Trip Tik, go to Kohl’s for some last minute clothes/shoes, and then off to the sisters for a farewell workout and din din 🙂

Starting with yesterday, here are some pics of my eats, which were pretty clean and yumz.

First, post workout water in this Ridic cute glass from Wegmans.  It was $2!

PB & J Smoothie! By far my fav smoothie – I will post the recipe soon on my new recipe page at the top.

  

Lunch was this salad at the ‘rents:

Mixed greens

Leftover chopped grilled onion, green peppers, and yellow squash

Some Shredded Colby Cheese I added post pic

Topped with this crack Salad dressing. 

  

Right when I sat down to eat (2ish) the sky turned BLACK and it DOWN POURED for a while.  It was pretty entertaining actually.

These pics don’t look the same because of the flash, but isn’t my parents yard cute?? Love it.

  

My “See You Later” dinner with Mom and Pops was a homemade salad made by Mama Bear herself.

From what I remember:

Mixed greens

Avocado

Cuke

Red Pepper

Corn

Topped again with the same dressing.  Duh.

 

Later while totally captivated sitting on the edge of my seat I casually watched the Bachelorette and munched some Onion Mary’s Crack and Sabra hummus.  My new fav snack.

This morning was the usual Java followed by the treadmill.

Post workout Tropical Smoothie:

  

Oh, and Mikah says Hi!

Have a GREAT day and See Ya Later 🙂

RR

Mr. with the Iridescent Sapphire Blues June 20, 2010

This Post is dedicated to my Papa 🙂

Happy Father’s Day to all the Daddy’s out there.

Today was spent with this Handsome Man:

Enter the Iridescent Sapphire Blue Eyes 🙂

  

The day started off with a Cup of Java and then I was off to the the ‘rents for bfast – half a honey wheat bagel with cream cheese and a bowl of melon and strawberries.

Then some shenanigans with the sis 😉

Take 1 (Get your dang hand out of the pic Andrea):

Take Two (Get your dang hair off your face Andrea):

 

Take 3 (Perfecto!):

  

We were then off to my grandparents (Dad’s parents) grave sites to plant some flowers and were very pleasantly surprised to see that the flowers we planted on Mother’s Day were still alive and thriving!

Back at the casa, I chilled with this man (well I layed with him haha):

 

Devoured some Multi-grain chips:

 

And Salsa (this pic looks very gross but I promise it was yummy):

 

Before the older siblings came over, I chilled some more with this handsome man:

 

What a face 🙂

 

Mama Bear (She was slightly annoyed that I made her take a cooking break haha):

 

The awesome duo that made me who I am today:

 

The Sis, Moi, and Daddy-O:

 

Double Take:

S’Bucks Venti Iced Skinny Vanilla Latte = Yumz!

  

Veggie Platter thrown together by yours truly:

 

After a bit – my 5 other siblings came over (besides Andrea who was there all day with me already).  All the nieces and nephews (10!) and siblings (7 of us total!) always make for a loud fun filled house!

Random fact: I am the youngest of my Dad’s 7 kids! He had 1 boy and then 6 girls!  I have 1 half-brother and and 3 half sisters from my Dad’s first marriage, and then enter my Mama Bear, I have two more sisters, and then last but NEVER least (baha) enters yours truly.  Our ages go as follows: 49, 48, 46, 43, 28, 26, and 23.  Quite the spectrum, huh?!

My Dad has been joking all year that he never felt old until he realized his first born was turning 50 this year haha.

Moving on…

I discovered today that the fact that my new beloved camera runs solely on 2 AA Batteries is going to be a MAJOR P.I.T.A. The batteries died today right as I went to capture a pic of dinner. 

Had I not been DROOLING over my plate of gasms, I would have taken the 47 seconds it took to change the batteries and captured a quick pic.  Obv, that did NOT happen hahaha 🙂

The main course included: Marinated & Grilled Chicken and Shrimp, Bell Peppers, Hot Peppers, Zucchini, Brown Rice, and FRESH Italian bread with Buttah.  

After 17 hours of putting food away and drying dishes, I managed to find some room for 2 Peanut Butter Balls (I am assuming that the person who coined the term ‘foodgasms’ had just eaten some of these when the idea came to mind), and half of a Rice Krispy Treat (Dad’s fav).

After dinner, I felt stuffed to the brim and continued chatting with the fam.  My youngest niece – Sophia (15 months) is just about the cutest little thing.  She is at the age where she is becoming sooo fun and really starting to get in on the fun action :)  Right about when she began laughing hysterically at my Bro-in-law making oink-oink noises, I decided I needed to make a QUICK dash to the battery box and whip my camera out:

 

If you can look at a baby/toddler cracking up and you don’t have any reaction, I highly suggest you consult a professional. We were all cracking up 🙂

She’s a beaut!

One quick and sad and rather coincidental note: After yesterdays post where I shared about my past Golden Retriever Love, Rufous, I discovered that my brother put down his 18 year old (!) Pomeranian, BooBoo.  My Brother and his wife bought the dog together when they first moved in together and have treasured every moment of his life.  He was there when they gave birth to their amazing son, when they moved into their house, when they had good days, and when they had bad times.  Dogs are just about the most wonderful thing because they are always there, never judging, never letting you down.

My brother is just about the most loving and compassionate man I know, so when I saw his sad and distraught face, I burst into tears.  I don’t know if it was the sheer sadness on his, his wife’s, and his son’s faces, or if it was the flooding memories of the awful finality I felt on the day we put Rufous down that rushed like waves of pain and chills into my body, but at 3 different points today, I found myself needing to leave the room and have a ‘moment’ alone. 

The cherry on top was definitely when my 15 year old nephew went up to my trying-to-stay-strong-but-oh-so-broken-hearted brother and ever so kindly said “Dad, it is only his body.  He will live on in our hearts forever.” No words. He is becoming such a wonderful young man.

Oye…

Didn’t mean to end on such a damper note!

Needless to say, I was once again sans workout today. 

Tomorrow holds P90X – shoulders, arms, and ab ripper!

Hope you all had a lovely Father’s Day and a spectacular weekend! The weather here was just perfect as was the weekend:)

RR

Let The Games Begin – starting with a few introductions June 19, 2010

Allow me to introduce you to my first official post with PICTURES 🙂

Don’t mind the fact that they are totally unnecessary and non sense photos…but c’mon bare with me folks – after an always eventful trip to Walmart, I emerged with a smile on my face and a new memory card in my bag, and therefore couldn’t resist taking a few pics and posting ‘em.

Allow me another introduction: My babies 🙂

My lil kitty muffins turn 5 this month! I lived in the same house for 18 years with my parents and moved into my current apartment just over 5 years ago – my goodness I have no idea where the time went.  Having pets is something that I will always have. 

When I was 5 years old, we purchased a little love muffin that soon became my soul mate and the first and most wonderful love of my life, Rufous, a Golden Retriever fluff ball.  I still remember bringing him home 🙂 My Dad still tells everyone he comes in contact with of the first night we had Rufous.  Puppy went into the crate and we all went off to sleep. Or so we thought.  Our little love cried and cried and my love-stricken Daddy slept on the floor outside his cage the whole night 🙂 Like I said, love at first sight.  Rufous went on to live the most amazing 14 years anyone could wish for.  He held all of our hearts.  When he was very young, he went about 90% blind, and was diagnosed with hip dysplasia.  I still remember having company over and they could not believe how he walked around the house and yard knowing every bump and groove.  You would never have known he couldn’t see.  Amazing.  On March 24th, 2007, I had a run in with one of the worst days of my life.  Rufous left us;( I still shed tears thinking about it. 

I will never forget the the ride to vet office. Rufous was laying on my back seat using every ouce of life he had left in him to enjoy the sweet breeze on his now white face.  My Dad was sitting in the passenger seat punching the ceiling :(  We all shed our tears and said our dreaded goodbyes. 

I got in my car and felt somehow both irreversibly sad and relieved.  I couldn’t even look at another dog for months.  It was my first official heart break.  Rufous will forever hold a part of my heart and just thinking about him gives me chills.

Fast forward one and a half years, and in comes Mr. Jake. Another love of my life.  Jake is my parents 100 Pound Black lab that is absolutely insane and adorable.  He is now 2 yrs old, and with youth on his side, he is my all time favorite work-out buddy 🙂 We love our walks and runs in parks all over town.  Although I don’t live with my parents anymore, I am there almost every day and Jake and I are in love.

Anywho – back to the pics!

En mi casa, My first lovey  is Raji – he greets me at the door every night with a warm hug 🙂 (No Joke here)

 

The orange kitty kat is Mikah (pronounced Mee-kah)

She is a licking spastic hot mess little princess 🙂

 

She has feline herpes (no need for a jaw-drop, it is basically just a recurring cold she gets).  She hasn’t had any symptoms however for about 3 yrs.  (knock on wood).

 

they couldn’t be any more different from each other, yet they are pretty much soul mates.  It is rare a day goes by when I don’t catch them spooning.

 

Introduce: Unnecessary and non-sense photos:

I 

As you can see, I am suffering from some sun-burn.  I decided that since I am going to Florida nest week (!) I should get a good base in.  Yea, think again.  OUCH!

 

I’m pretty sure I’ve never burnt the top of my foot before.

 

Last night at work with my work boots on I was cringing. 

Judging by my past sun burns, all should be good and well by tomorrow with the assistance of some aloe vera and rest.

Anywho, eats of today included:

Coffee

A PB and sliced Strawberry sammy

Went to my cousins 2nd birthday party (so cute!) and had a plate of Grammy’s wonderful German potato salad, mac n cheese, rigatoni, spinach salad, and a roll with buttah.

Dessert was my Aunt’s oh so famous yellow cake with raspberry filling and buttercream frosting and cherry ice cream cake.  Yumz 🙂

I’m off to watch some bad TV and chill with some Sabra hummus and Mary’s Crack.

Workouts:

I swan for a bit in the ‘rents pool yesterday and then took Jake for a 2.5 mile walk. It was HOT out! I was dripping in sweat by the time we got back to the car. 

Today – nada.  Boo

Tomorrow is Father’s Day – HAPPY FATHER’S DAY TO MY PAPA JERR BEAR!

See y’all later 🙂

RR

And the Lakers Win It June 17, 2010

Hola Folks

Still no memory card 😦

On a brighter note we did manage to get PaPa’s Father’s Day Gift Done. 

After we finished out shopping we grabbed dinner from Wegman’s.  I got a cup of Summer Vegetable Orzo Soup (Pretty Good) and a half of a Sub on an Everything Roll (Over-the-top Foodgasms) with Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, and honey mustard.  Ridic.

After work I watched the end of the game – intense! And snacked on some pretz and Dark Choc PB Spread.  I warn – this salty/sweet combo is my version of crack. 

I’m off to watch some Jimmy Fallon and catch some ZzZ’s.

Tomorrow shall hold some swimming/sunning/chatting/and Florida Road Trip planning (Gasp! in exactly one week we will have been on the road for 1 hour!)

Night night ❤

Limburger Cheese Anyone?

I’m once again enjoying some Strawberry Banana Easy Oatey Meal.  This Morning I had some Coffee and hit the Treadmill:

10 Min walking warmup ~3.5 mph

30 min mix up of 5, 6, & 7 mph with some walking breaks

5 min walking cooldown ~3.0 mph

45 Minutes Total

Stretched for 10 min

Did one set (almost to failure) of each of the following (*Just wanted to give my muscles some attention without burning out for P90X):

Chest Press

Heavy Pants (Back Rows)

Shoulder Press Ups

Bicep Curls

10 Squats

10 Lunges per leg

Stretched some more, made my Oats, and here I am.

Today’s plans are to take care of Father’s Day presents.  Hence the title 🙂 The Sis and I are heading to Wegmans to buy all of Dad’s fav crazy foods.  As long as I can remember he has always loved Limburger Cheese on Rye Bread with VERY thinly sliced sweet onion.  Some other things going in the basket are Hard Candy, Watermelon, and who knows what else.

See ya lata ❤

RR

P90X June 16, 2010

Well, we started.  Yesterday marked Day 1 for us (Myself, my Sister, and her hub).  Day one was an hour of Chest and Back and 15 minutes of Ab Ripper.  I felt so so after we finished.  I wasn’t blown away by it, I felt like it was challenging but it just didn’t impress me too much – but I did like some things.  For ex – you get about a minute or so to do as many reps of a certain exercise as you can.  We all marked down how many we did so i’m hoping we stick it out and can compare our results later and see how we’ve improved!

Now today on the other hand – ho. lee.  shizam.  Today was Plyometrics (aka jumping).  We did a bunch of different squats and lunges and all kinds of different moves – almost all incorporating JUMPING.  We were all panting and sweating like crazy.  But we finished 🙂 After today I am so much more excited to see the other workouts! 

*Sidenote: While training for the half marathon I had problems with both of my knees which resulted in taking off an entire month and incorporating some physical therapy.  I felt VERY little to almost no discomfort today so I was pumped!

The only problem here is that due to all 3 of us doing it together – it makes it hard to follow the program EVERYDAY.  So, we decided we will do it as often as we can picking up where we left off.  We won’t all be free again until Saturday so we will pick up on Day 3 then. Not perfect – but hey we’re still doing it!

Eats today included:

Breakfast: Strawberry Banana Easy Oatey Meal and Coffee

Snack: A sliced Red Pepper with Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Post P90x: Salad and Pasta with Chicken and Zucchini

Snack: PB&J Sandwich

No pics yet because I discovered a new camera sans memory card = capacity of a whopping 4 pics.

Hopefully i’ll make it to the store tomorrow.

I’m off to Nest 😉

RR

New Camera :)

The rent’s pooch – Jake 🙂

 

 

Lovin’ the summer!