two days in pictures

finally finished up Yoga Bitch. seriously a hilarious read!

the little dude.

morning pick me up. iced coffee & 1 petite scone. gotta live a little!

a cat's life.

new "book club" read. sounds interesting.

he cooked tonight :)

my latest obsession haha

it's a rather blustery day today

today's weather reminds me of Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. i used to watch that movie all the time as a kid. remember VHS tapes? i had truckloads growing up. it's so strange to think that they're pretty much obsolete. do kids even know that they are these days? i still have one. my childhood copy of The Lion King (my all time favorite Disney movie).

anyway, it's been a longish week. you know those weeks that feel long, but like they went by quick? no? maybe it's just me. so glad it's friday, first day of a four day weekend! woo hoo!! i love holiday weekends.

not much going on this week. no workouts since i ran on monday. i took the hint that my body just wanted to heal itself, and have been taking it easy... which is extremely difficult haha. all i want to do is enjoy this wonderful summer rain with a run or hike.

we're going house hunting this weekend. can't wait to move into a bigger space. i'm sure the dogs will like having a backyard. and even thought it's not permanent, i'm excited. it'll be the next step before buying our own house. :)

the next month will be all about saving, saving, saving. and of course since that's the reality of it, all i want to do is shop... for everything. fall clothing. workout gear. accessories. home goods. Living Social and Groupon taught me daily. i want it all! glad i got an Amazon gift card for my birthday because i was able to take a little bite out of this shopping bug i have. ugggghhhhhhh... why does every store i adore have to be having an end of summer clearance??

anyways, that all i got.

oh, and i finally updated my about page! 

:)

mini monday check in

can't decide if i've pushed myself too hard today.

i've felt kinda cruddy all day. cold meds kept me going. i didn't feel bad enough to leave work, and actually started to feel pretty good by the end of the day.

i had my heart set on trail running, but with a huge summer storm system sweeping across the valley, i thought it'd be best to stick to the road instead. plus, i received a pair of Cloudrunners from my On running rep this morning and was pretty giddy to surf the clouds. so, road it was!

i had a great run. nice easy 4.33 miles at an average pace of 9'34 for the first half and 9'04 to bring it home. i'm not the fastest, but i felt too elated to care. also finally got to test out my Suunto and i am in love!

i'll have to do a shoe review. on first impression, they are a big on the wide side and the forefoot isn't all that forgiving flex wise. you can actually feel the CloudTec though! anyways, i'll have to break them in a bit more before formulating an well-rounded opinion.

fast forwarding a bit... made dinner and prepped my breakfast casserole. no pictures of either yet. the lighting in my house is so yellow it didn't do my pizza justice. the casserole, well that's still in the oven...

all the while, i began having these terrible, side-splitting pains in my abdomen ever since i got home. they're so bad i've doubled over several times and even shed a few tears. and i'm one tough cookie generally. it takes quite a lot of pain to get me to slow down. i'm nauseous and in pain. my head feels a mess. my muscles are so achy and fatigued all over, even though i took it pretty easy. i don't know, maybe my normal light effort is a bit too much for my body right now. be gone germs! i'm so through with you!

ughhh... i think it's time for bed...

what's on the menu? - week 2

and now, for the second iteration of "what's on the menu?" hosted by yours truly. 

this determined, stubborn little girl did indeed get her weekly shopping done. i loaded up on cold meds, stopped at Panera for a good n' hearty sourdough bread bowl heaping with chicken noodle soup. i may not like chicken, but when the germs move in, well call me a kid because all i want is a bowl of soup, my pjams, a box of tissues and big, cozy blanket. i settled for the soup and got ish done!

took a detour to target to find this top. seem that every target around is sold out of xs and sm... just my luck. sigh. 

determined to make out with a new workout top, i hit up Marshals next. it was right next door to target after all. no luck there either. they had a ton of tanks, but just a handful in my size. and all ill fitting... at this point, i was a bit cranky. balloon headed. airy. blah... but determination. the word of the day. right next door to Marshals is the Nike Factory. it took a couple of misses there, but i walked out with a few hits. yesssssss!! finally!!

and my new top matches the sports bras i got at target the other day!

new training gear always makes me feel giddy

ok, so back to this week's menu. nothing's cooked just yet, so i'll have to post results later.

breakfast:

i absolutely love eggs for breakfast. i'm a big protein-first-thing-in-the-morning kinda girl. cooking eggs each morning however... just impractical for me. so, instead i am going to tackle this scrumptious breakfast casserole. 

lunch:

it was going to be wraps, but my favorite local bakery popped into my head while at target. they have the best gluten-free bread! i'm not gluten intolerant, but my ibs belly doesn't digest bread and pasta product all too well. so, instead it's going to be sandwiches with:

garlic hummus (makes the best spread)
lactose-free pepper jack cheese (a golden TJ's find!)
vegan lunch meat
sprouts
crimini mushrooms

dinner:
giving in to my carb craving just a teeny bit here. :)
what i really want is pizza. what i am making, is this. buffalo "chicken" flatbread. making a few several alterations to fit my tummy and picky-self needs. i am using meatless "chicken" strips, whole wheat flatbread (figured i'd splurge here since i'm using gluten-free bread for lunch) and vegan cheese.

the day has pretty much slipped away, so i won't be able to prep it all before bed, but no bigs. i'll just have to get busy preppin' after work tomorrow. :)

can virtual viruses go viral?

i love alliterations. :)

and back on topic, i must finally succumb to the idea that my body may in fact be compromised by... germs... nooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!

now, i'll unfortunately have to backtrack a bit in order to make any sense of this. lo siento. paciencia por favor. you may recall that i'd planned to kick yesterday off with a hike. well, the dude thought he was sleeping beauty and slept the morning away. now, i could have easily woken him up being that i'm an early riser, but i can't stand being woken up from a deep sleep and have a hard time doing it to others. so i left him to zzzzzzzzzzzzz away. it ended up being a lazy morning, and by the time we both had our bearings about us it was nearly noon. much too late in the morning to embark on a new-to-us hike since we also had afternoon plans. admittedly, i was a little bummed, but wasn't going to let it spoil the day. i figured, why not save the hike for sunday? and that's exactly what we planned to do.

well, fast forward to this morning... my body felt about a gazillion tons and beat, dead tired. much too exhausted to get out of bed, let alone go hiking. long, sad face. being the stubborn girl i am, i dragged (no joke) myself out of bed and attempted to force my body to reanimate itself. not that force ever works in cases like this. combine one balloon-like, airy, hazy head, leaky faucet-like nose, cold chills, a scaly red throat, and zombie slow body (obviously not the zombies from World War Z), and yield a girl that really should've know better than to move a single inch from her cozy, cuddly bed. one defeated, apologetic girl later, i crawled right back in. it was my turn to sleep the morning away.

this is my current reality...

i feel so exhausted. still.

i'm also determined. read stubborn. determined to not let this be an entirely unproductive day. my menu for the week is done, and my shopping list written out. i will get my weekly shopping done if nothing else. i have no qualms with getting right back into my pjams once my fridge is bursting with groceries once again.

a few other bloggers that i follow have come down with a summer cold in the past few weeks. ironic, huh? maybe we're all just sharing the same germs virtually lol.

breaking yoga & 28 candles

workouts: 
i took a little break from cardio this week and only incorporated it as a warm up for lifting days. i've been craving a good long run outdoors, but it's been so miserably hot and stormy (read: fiery, humid, and just gross). the treadmill just isn't doing it for me. plus, i bought a Groupon for bikram a while back and realized i only had until Friday to start my 1st of 10 drop-in classes. i haven't done bikram in a good 2 years!! it's one of my absolute favorite yoga classes, but my pockets just aren't deep enough to practice regularly. 

anyways, so tuesday i went into bikram trying not to have super high expectations for myself, being that it's been a while since i've gone. i still practice yoga (mostly vinyasa flow, ashtanga and hatha) at home (just not regularly like i did a couple months ago), but bikram is quite a different animal. i expected needing to sit a pose or two out because my body isn't used to practicing in a room heated to 105F with 40% humidity. to my huge surprise though, i was able to get through all 26 poses sans break. 

side note: it's absolutely incredible and disgusting just how much you sweat in hot yoga!!

SO sweaty, yet so happy i made it through :)

ironically, thursday was a different story. i went at the same time as i'd gone on tuesday (7:30pm), and although i made it through, i did have to sit out one set of 3 poses because a title wave of nausea kept rolling in and out. my mind wasn't all that clam either. i found it tough to really stay in the moment at times... and to be honest, i just didn't connect with the instructor as much as i did with tuesday's. she read from the same script of course, but it really bothered me how she chose to make corrections. i'm used to the gentle-handed, whispery-voiced master yogi that floats about making delicate, yet strong handed adjustments and soft verbal suggestions. this instructor however, chose to make examples of yogis throughout the room with judgmental, lecture-like speeches... like, "you (directing her voice and eyes towards the victim of the moment) don't need water right now. water is unnecessary for practice. it is just another mental distraction, as well as a distraction to those around you who are working so diligently through their poses while you are sitting out sipping water." honestly, if a yogi next to me had to reach down and take a drink, i wouldn't hold it against them. if anything, i'd think he or she deserved a sip for working so hard. i mean it's 105F for crying out loud! so, yea, she made snotty little comments like that (that you could tell were targeted and meant to call that person out publicly) all throughout the entire practice. by the time savasana came, i was just glad to have her leave the room...

but aren't we all??

have you ever had an instructor (yoga, personal trainer, class instructor) that managed to crawl under you skin?

okay, so back to my workouts for the week:

tuesday
bikram

wednesday
back & bi
warm up:
15 minutes on the elliptical
back
* wide grip pull up (assisted):
   8 reps (displacing 58lbs) 
   8 reps (2 sets displacing 52lbs)
   8 reps (displacing 46lbs)
* close grip pull down:
   60lbs 8 reps (2 sets)
   70lbs 6 reps
   80lbs 6 reps
* cable row:
   60lbs 8 reps (4 sets)
biceps
* standing dumbell curl:
   10lbs 8 reps (2 sets)
   10lbs 6 reps
* incline bicep curl:
   10lbs 8 reps   7.5lbs 8 reps (2 sets)
* dumbell preacher curl:
   7.5lbs 8 reps (3 sets)

thursday
bikram

friday
legs and shoulders
warm up:
10 minutes on the elliptical
legs
* squats:
65lbs 8 reps
75lbs 8 reps
85lbs 8 reps
95lbs 8 reps *my most so far!*
* deadlift:
50lbs 8 reps (2 sets)
66lbs 8 reps
* leg curls:
40lbs 8 reps
45lbs 8 reps (2 sets)
* leg extensions:
50lbs 8 reps (2 sets)
60lbs 8 reps
* standing calf raise:
300lbs 15 reps
315lbs 12 reps
315lbs 10 reps
345lbs 8 reps
shoulders
* military press:
   40lbs 8 reps (2 sets)
   50lbs 6 reps (2 sets)
* dumbbell lateral raise:
   7.5lbs 8 reps (3 sets)
* bent over reverse fly:
   7.5lbs 8 reps
   10lbs 8 reps (2 sets)

hello muscles!!

***
tunes:
okay, so lately i just cannot get enough of these songs when i'm working out:
zedd - clarity
teagan & sara - closer
jason derulo - the other side

***
life:
it's been a pretty good week. no real complaints. 

my team celebrated my birthday on thursday (since it fell on a weekend day). i walked in to a desk decorated in a Breaking Bad/Grumpy Cat theme. it was pretty awesome. :)

i spent a good 5 minutes lol'ing

they brought in strawberries, brownie bites, and this delicious wine that tastes just like chocolate! chocolate and wine, they know me all too well lol. it was low key and sans birthday-song lyrics just how i like it. 

confession: i've never really been a fan of my birthday. too many eyes on me. too much direct attention. not that i'm shy, i just don't like being center stage. confession#2: not a fan of surprises... i try to like them (i really do), but the anxiety of "not knowing" is too much to handle. 

well, i like real surprises. like the kind you have no clue about and that just happen. what i don't like is being told that there's a surprise waiting for me. it's not a real surprise if i know that something's coming lol! like when someone says, "you're going to LOVE the present i got you," a week before your birthday. that just gives me waaaaaay too much time to think about what it could be because i can't stand not knowing what's under the pretty wrapping paper. weird, i know. and it's probably tied to some deep rooted need for control, blatty blah, blah, blah... my fiance know this, so naturally he enjoys taunting me by dropping hints about presents or surprises to come. he spent all of yesterday parading two lovingly wrapped presents in front of me. what a turd haha! funny thing is that i know it kills him to have to keep presents a secret because he just wants to blurt out what he bought. 

it's just screaming, "OPEN MEEEEE!!!"

i must say, he did well. :)

i've been wanting this Breaking Bad tank ever since i saw it on Etsy.

and THIS... i have been going on an on (and on and on and on and on...) about wanting a multisport watch, and have had my eyes set on this beauty for quite some time. i put it on my wishlist just so i could go back and "window shop." never in a million years did i think i'd ever get it. but here it is! and i can't wait to test it out. :)

since i'm the birthday girl, i've been charged with planning out the entire day. anyone who knows me, knows i'm more of the go-with-the-flow, let's-just-do-whatever kinda girl. so having to chose what to do and where to go drove me a little nuts, but i think i have a pretty good day planned out. 

first up is hiking! haven't been since february!!! should be a cardinal sin IMO...

next, is having a painting party at Color Me Mine. remember my crummy owl?? yea, gonna give it a second shot.

and lastly, dinner. heaven knows i LOVE to eat. and it's my birthday, so i'll chow if i wanna! ;)

any fun plans for the weekend?

monday punday!

gonna try and make this a short one!

today sped by lightning quick! which never happens on a monday!

work, work, work of course. got to tour our new headquarters finally! it's funny to think that our company's move-in date is 9/6, and it still looks so much like a construction zone. yikes!

completed pancakes :)

hard hat zone!

zipped off to the gym once i got off for chest & tri day:

warm up:

15 heart-thumpin' minutes on the starimill

chest

* barbell bench press:

   55lbs 8 reps (2 sets)

   60lbs 6 reps (2 sets)

* incline bench press:

   45lbs 8 reps

   50lbs 8 reps

   55lbs 6 reps

   65lbs 6 reps

* cable crossovers:

   7.5lbs 8 reps (4 sets) did these on the Free Motion machine this time and the weights felt completely different!

triceps

* close grip bench press:

   45lbs 8 reps

   50lbs 8 reps

   55lbs 8 reps 

* lying tri extension:

   25lbs 8 reps (3 sets)

* dips (assisted):

   8 reps (displacing 64lbs)

   8 reps (displacing 56lbs)

   5 reps (displacing 40lbs)

today's gym jam

and in honor of monday punday (saw this for the first time on IG lol), a punny pic. :)

this had me rolling... no, for real haha

what's on the menu? - week 1

so, i've been tossing around the idea of starting a weekly post dedicated to, well like the title reads, what's on my menu for the week. :)

to kick it off, i spent pretty much the entire day in the kitchen, and have lots of goodies to share.

i've been eating oatmeal or quick oats for breakfast for nearly two months now. time for a change? i thought so. i had protein pancakes in mind when i found this recipe for Banana Vanilla Bean Pancakes with Mixed Berry Compote on the PaleOMG blog, and just had to test them out.

i should note that i did make a few alterations to the original recipe. 
1. i chose to substitue the coconut flower for 100% organic whole wheat flour. this was simply due to the current inventory of my pantry. as a "home cook" kinda gal, i like to use what i have when possible.
2. i omitted the vanilla bean pod, again due to a lack of vanilla bean pods. 
3. i left out the salt. this was just preference. 
4. in lue of owning a food processor, i used my not-so-fancy blender. it worked perfectly to my surprise!

a little on the brown side, but delicious none the less :)

they aren't the prettiest pancakes, but holyyyy do they taste good! i'll have to remember that they brown very quickly for next time. and believe me, there will be a next time!

oh, and let's not forget the mixed berry compote. i had a bag of Trader Joe's Very Cherry Berry Mix in my freezer, so i used that. the picture just doesn't do it justice. it is delicious! i'll be sure to post a pic of the completed goodness.

voila, my morning snack for the week. i'm loving these TJ greek yogurts!

on to lunch. lunch is a always a toughie for me because i need something simple enough to take to work, yet get really easily turned off by eating the same thing day after day. i've been making salads topped with tuna for what feels like a century, and even though i've been diligent about swapping out veggies and toppings (i prefer different types of hummus over dressings), my taste buds (and/or mind???) are getting bored. then i saw this gem of a recipe on The Gracious Pantry blog, and instantly my taste buds and mind began to buzz with excitement.

the only alteration i made here was swapping the red onion for a sweet onion. this was preference and taste based. my stomach has issues with digesting most types of onions. raw onions are hands down a noooo for me, but i've been able to build a tolerance to eating cooked sweet onions. 

i paired this with a quinoa recipe found on the same site. this clean eating Cilantro Quinoa Salad can be found here.

i chose to use organic great norther beans on what we'll call a whim, a.k.a. an impulse buy at TJ's. ;) i have no qualms with this substitution to speak of. 

i must say this dish is makes the perfect, cool summer quinoa salad. it has a bite of citrus and cilantro that play a lovely little jig on the palate.

my afternoon snack will be either a protein shake (1 scoop of Vanilla Cream Muscle Milk Light in 8 oz of water) or a banana and Bettern' Peanut Butter. protein shake on lifting days and banana & pb on cardio days.

and lastly, dinner. last week i had baked tofu, so i knew i wanted to mix it up and make fish for the week. this (can you tell i absolutely LOVE The Gracious Pantry blog yet???) happens to be a chicken dish, but citrus pairs so well with fish that i decided to give it a whirl. i bought tilapia and mahi mahi fillets at TJ's. yum! other than the obvious protein swap, i followed this recipe pretty much to a T. i did end up nixing the salt and pepper, only because the dish was already so full of flavor that i didn't feel the need to season it.

not-so-good photo of a finger-lickin'-good dish

you're probably wondering what i paired my protein with, right? well, what do you know, i found yet another recipe on The Gracious Pantry! this clean eating Apples & Greens dish can be found here.

TJ's never lets me down. i bought kaleidoscope chard and a mix of "southern greens" (mustard, collard, turnip, and spinach). there was a bit of kale and arugula mix in my fridge, so i tossed that in as well. other than that, i followed the recipe verbatim.  

now that's what i call a great start to the week! happy eating!

lift. meal plan. relax.

thursday (part deux)

had a great lifting day. back & bi. no pictures, but here's my workout.

warm up:
15 minutes on the stairmaster

back
* wide grip pull up (assisted):
   8 reps (2 sets displacing 52lbs) 
   8 reps (2 sets displacing 58lbs)* close grip pull down:
   50lbs 8 reps
   60lbs 8 reps
   70lbs 6 reps (2 sets)
* cable row:
   60lbs 8 reps (4 sets)

biceps
* standing dumbell curl:
   10lbs 8 reps (2 sets)
   10 lbs 6 reps
* incline bicep curl:
   7.5lbs 8 reps (3 sets)
* dumbell preacher curl:
   7.5lbs 8 reps (3 sets)

i ended with a few light, relaxing stretches. this is something i keep forgetting to do on lift days. with my sore hammy however (did i mention that? turns out i strained my left hammy on leg day last week), i realize that stretching is not something i should be skipping. 

oh, and this haha. adding in this sad picture of my clay owl from my team outing at Color Me Mine. somehow, i ended up with the defective clay piece. just my luck, right? the paint would not soak in, no matter how many coats i applied. 

they have this really awesome effect called the shaving cream effect. essentially, after applying 3 layers of a base coat, you choose a contrasting color that gets swirled onto a layer of shaving cream that's spread across a sheet of tin foil. you then wrap your piece up in that shaving cream and color swirled sheet. next, the tin foil is removed and the clay piece is rinsed. the swirled color is supposed to stay. i should've known better considering the troubles i was having with the paint soaking in, but i gave it a shot anyways (this girl does not give up!)... but when it came time to rinse the shaving cream off, all the paint came off with it. what a sad, sad thing. :( luckily, the lady attending to our group told me to take my piece home and that i can bring it back for  a credit. they'll essentially give me a new piece and one free hour to paint it. the dude and i are going to go back and have a date night soon. :)

before & after: sad, sorry little owl :(

***

friday

i had a pretty lazy friday morning. slept in and it felt great! spent the rest of the morning checking in with my favorite blogs. i sort of let time get away from me, so by the time i was ready to shower it was past 10am and i'd completely forgotten maintenance was shutting our complex's water off from 10am to 5pm to repair the main line. ughhhhhh... of all days to spend the morning on my reading couch!! i made due of course. it sure as heck limited what i could do though. no laundry (except for folding what was already washed). no dishes. good thing i had some filtered water to get me through the day! i'd like to think i got taste of what it was like back in the days that required drawing water from the well. except that my well was a refrigerated brita water pitcher lol. it really did take thought having to ration water for the day. it's amazing how much one person needs to do something as simple as wash her hands over the course of 7 hours!

good thing this lunch didn't require the use of water!

after the dude came home, we looked at houses for a bit (we're moving in a little over a month!) and once again time escaped us both. i'd planned on a full hour of cardio, but by the time we unglued our eyeballs from the computer screen i was hungry to the point of having a headache and being a wee bit grumpy. so mini cardio sesh it was. 

workout:
35 minutes elliptical

followed that up with a bit of stretching. 

gym OOTD: love my cozy Color Run shirt

we allowed ourselves a night to eat out and chose a pretty good spot, if i may say so myself. the place is called Greens & Protein. it's right next to our old gym, and has been a hot spot ever since it opened. they offer a variety of protein shakes, freshly pressed juices, wraps, burgers and breakfast items, all made with natural, organic, wholesome ingredients for the health-conscious crowd. i ordered the black bean veggie burger (containing lentils, black beans, brown rice, mushroom, celery, carrot, onion, cilantro, basil & garlic) with butter lettuce, tomato, alfalfa sprouts, cashews and vegan mayo, all on a gluten-free bun. i opted for the jicama "fries" over the tofu "fries." the bun was a bit very dense, and the jicama could have been seasoned better, but overall i thoroughly enjoyed my meal. 

i'd choose this over a regular burger any day!

***
saturday

saturday was a day of getting things done. i allowed myself a relaxing morning, and then put my booty into gear to tackle my "to-do" list. laundry. dishes. general house straightening. wiping down the kitchen fan (with pets in the house i have to keep tabs on the fans so they don't get gunky with hair. yuck, i know). taking care of bills. meal planning and shopping list writing. oh, and stretching/icing my hammy. 

banana, peanut butter protein shake. aka my fav!

meal planning = prepping for success

my boys have no prob letting me tackle the tough stuff

by the time jared got home from work, i felt so accomplished and on top of the world! he got right to work putting together his meal plan and shopping list so that we could do our weekly grocery haul a day early. it was a goal for us, since lately we've only been planning meals out through friday (sometimes thursday), which leaves us with an empty fridge by the weekend... and more prone to eating out because we normally don't shop again until sunday. shame, shame... but that is all turning around!

next was of course... gym time! legs and shoulders day baby!

warm up:
10 minutes on the stairmaster

legs
* squats: (today was my first time doing barbell squats instead of using the smith machine, so i started out light to ensure i was in good form)
55lbs 8 reps
75lbs 8 reps
85lbs 8 reps (2 sets)
* deadlift:
55lbs 8 reps (2 sets)
65lbs 8 reps
*hip abduction:
60lbs 8 reps
65lbs 8 reps
75lbs 6 reps
* hip adduction:
70lbs 8 reps
75lbs 8 reps
85lbs 8 reps
* standing calf raise:
285lbs 15 reps
300lbs 12 reps
315lbs 10 reps
345lbs 8 reps

shoulders
* military press:
   40lbs 8 reps (2 sets)
   50lbs 6 reps
   60lbs 6 reps
* dumbbell lateral raise:
   7.5lbs 8 reps (3 sets)
* bent over reverse fly:
   7.5lbs 8 reps (2 sets)
   10lbs 8 reps

stretched it out a bit afterwards. my left hammy is feeling 182% better after taking it easy, icing, and stretching this past week. 

so proud of the definition i'm beginning to see in my arms!

caught dinner out again (second time this week), knowing we couldn't make it through grocery shopping on empty stomachs. plus we needed to refuel after a good workout. 

we ended up trying out this new teriyaki place next to our gym. there's a great teriyaki place over by our old gym (along with all of the other health centered eateries) that offers a variety of meals for the body comp trainee, to the health conscious, to the "see food" dieter. honestly, i thought this spot by our current gym would be similar... but boy was i wrong!! unfortunately, i didn't know this until after i'd ordered and received my food. boo! i ordered the low-carb entree, which came with veggies and a choice of a protein. the menu specifically said "sauce on the side," prompting me to order it (i'm not big on sauces in the first place). i chose chicken, because although i'm not the biggest fan, it was the healthiest selection (or so i thought) and i am really trying to incorporate a bit of white meat back into my diet after years of being meatless and then another few years of being pescetarian. well, turns out that everything is marinated in a stir-fly sauce (the cashier told me this after i brought my saucy meal back to the counter in confusion)!! so even though it wasn't drenched in teriyaki sauce, it wasn't the steamed veggies and grilled chicken i thought i was getting. and it wasn't even white meat... oy... i ate it begrudgingly, since i'd already paid for it. some people would have asked for a refund and left, but it was my own mistake for not asking enough questions before ordering. i now know never to go back. 

wrapped up the evening with grocery shopping and more laundry. i have the most exciting life ever, don't i?!

TGI[my]F!

well, i made it to thursday (woo hoo!), my friday! just gotta survive one more 10hr shift (and we have a team-building outing, so really it should feel like less) and i'm free to enjoy my weekend. and gym time! it's back and bi day, and this girl plans on cranking out a vein-poppin' workout!

really need to shake these sniffles... i've been feeling mildly under the weather for almost three weeks now. not like sick, sick, but slightly ick. running nose. sinus congestion. headache. face tenderness around the eyes and nose. mucous galore (gross!). i had a hunch that it's a sinus infection, and have been trying to remedy it holistically. nasal wash. diet. herbals. spicing my foods generously... thing is, add in chest tightness that's irritating my asthma (which rarely bothers me) and a dry cough that came on a few days ago, and well, now i'm not so sure. i refuse to believe that i'm actually sick. in the middle of summer!! ughhhhhhhhh... time to load up on the dreaded OTC options. okay, not that i'm against western meds, it's just that i don't like taking meds period haha.

my stomach is also acting up (now that's an understatement). i have what you can call an extremely sensitive digestive system in general. i've gone through the gauntlet of allergy and GI testing, and although the tests state that i am A-okay, my innards proclaim otherwise. this isn't a new issue by any means, but rather something i've been dealing with for roughly 12 years. luckily, my movement specialist agrees that there's something worth looking into. i mean, should a person really be in daily (no joke) pain and discomfort? he's referring me to someone he thinks very highly of. i'm not gonna lie, my hopes are up. he's a top-notch dr (and knows it), and seeing that he is referring me to someone that meets up to his standards... well that means a lot in my book. fingers are crossed...

now, i'm not by any means trying to focus on the not-so-happy aspects today (seems like it though, doesn't it?), but i've been inspired by "confession thursday" (saw it on the lovely RunEatRepeat's blog) and have a "confession-eque" issue to bring up. truth be told, i'm mildly extremely embarrassed about... ripping my pants today. crawls in a hole and dies in humiliation... okay, so this morning i slipped on a pair of skinny jeans that i haven't worn since the tail-end of winter. last time i wore them they fit perfectly. not too tight and ever so slightly relaxed. today however, i had to wiggle my booty and thighs into them. now just to clarify, i have the world's smallest rump. or at least i did... i did a 15 count lunge on each side to stretch things out a bit and it seemed to do the trick. still slightly more fitted in the butt and thighs than i remember them being, but they looked and felt great (mildly sexy even?? a girl can dream right!). i figured it was just that haven't-worn-in-a-while tightness, kind of like slipping into a pair of freshly washed jeans. well, once i got to work i did my short office stretching routine that i do every morning, beginning with a seated, cross-legged hip opener... maybe i took it a little too deep this morning (considering the tight jeans) because as i leaned into the stretch i heard a quick little riiiiiiiiiippp. sheer terror followed... now, i've always been pretty sensitive about my legs. they're strong as heck and muscular. they are also kissing thighs. so you can image my horror. i'm not sure whether to attribute it to lifting, or to just hang my head in shame. i mean, they fit in every other way, except for the booty and top of the thighs. is it the squats? am i growing a mini booty? or am i in reality gaining weight?? i've definitely seen a increase in the mass of my quads and hammies, but should i be concerned if they're ripping jeans??? sighhhhhh. i think i need a hug. now i have this 1 inch tear right below my booty on the inside of my thigh. thank goodness it's neither big, nor noticeable because i can't just walk out of work and go home to change.