Snow hater

I am drowning in snow. PLEASE HELP ME! Perhaps I should start a "let's move to AZ" fund and add (magic) money to it every month? I can't stand this frozen whiteness anymore. Did you know that Cleveland, Ohio is #1 on the worst weather City list? That would be for the ENTIRE country, not just Ohio! Yeah, I found this out yesterday. I live just South of this curse! I find this to be highly disturbing!

I drove through the funk this morning and crawled my way slowly into work. I made a nice cup of coffee and soon as I arrived and started prepping some comfort food.

BREAKFAST (meal #1) at 9:00am.

Dark Chocolate Cocoa Oats

• 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/4 cup wheat bran
• 1 tbs ground flax
• 2 tbs unsweetened dark cocoa (Hershey's)
• tons of cinnamon
• dash salt
• 2 tbs PB2
• Splenda to taste
• Love

This was so incredible. The dark chocolate cocoa is SO much better than the regular variety. It looked like mud. Delicious, nutritious, decadent, rich, ooey-gooey mud. My coworkers think I'm crazy sometimes. They see my food and cringe in disgust. Go away, (vigorously flapping hands in their direction) you bother me!

LUNCH (meal #2) at 12:30pm.

I made the whole kitchen stink like hot spinach and eggs. Like I care. Twas delicious! It was a spinach and egg explosion on a plate. SO GOOD!

• 4 egg whites
• chopped spinach
• S+P

Cooked in a frying pan (sprayed with Pam) last night before I went to bed so I could enjoy it today. Eggy lunches make me feel special. I like feeling special. HA! To fuel my spinach addiction, I also tossed some fresh leaves into the Honey Wheat FlatOut wrap along with Sriracha and Trader Joe's cilantro and jalapeno hummus. I'VE DIED AND WENT TO SPICY HEAVEN.


That orange blob in the background is a Tanjelo, which I never ate. I got too full from the wrap.

One again our lameness and hatred of all things cold, wet, snowy and Winter-esque kept us confined to the office for our break today. I had no desire to venture outside. Instead I opted for green tea sippage while perusing blog land. This was the highlight of my day up to this point. Lame? HOW DARE YOU! It was magnificent. I love cathching up with all of you lovely ladies! ;)

The most glorious email was circulated at 4:00pm. The "big boys" said we could leave for the day if we wanted to since the roads were getting crappy. This made me both happy and nervous. EEEK! Of course I immediately put on my coat and got the hot heck out of there. Once second I was there, the next second I was goooooooooone! Swoooooosh!

The roads were crappy but only in certain areas. However, I still thought it best to skip the gym and drove straight home. This would make it two days in a row now that I didn't make it. UGH! Don't you worry though. I still got a workout in.

WORKOUT! (without a snack first, THE HORROR!)

1 SOLID pissed off hour spent shoveling my long driveway. We're talking 5-6 fresh inches out there just waiting on me. Seriously disgusting! I may or may not have been seen BEATING massively tall piles of snow with the shovel, while cursing, profusely!! I may or may not have thrown snowballs... at actual piles of snow. Ha! The hate runs deep. It was so windy, cold and miserable out!

After this freezing torture session I came in and warmed up with some green tea. CURSE YOU WINTER! Once I felt okay, I dug out the dumbbells and did the following exercises in living room. I didn't want to skip upper body day all together so I did what I could.

Superset #1 (3 full sets)

• Dumbbell Bicep Curls, 8lb x 15
• Dumbbell Hammer Curls, 8lb x 15
• Tricep Extension, 8lb x 15

Superset #2 (3 full sets)

• Two Handed Bent Over Tricep Extensions, 8lb x 15
• Dumbbell Lying Tricep Press (skull crushers??), 8lb (each hand) x 15
• Tricep Extensions, 8lb x 15

Concentration Curls (3 sets)

• 8lb x 15

Superset #3 (3 full sets)

• Dumbbell Shoulder Press, 8lb x 15
• Front Dumbbell Raise, 8lb x 15
• See-Saw Dumbell Raise, 8lb x 15

Upright Dumbbell Row (3 sets)

• 8lb x 15

Shoulder Shrugs (3 sets)

• 8lb x 15

It felt good to get a workout in, even it wasn't at the gym. It's like sweat therapy for the soul!

SNACK (meal #3) at 7:30pm.

You know the drill. As soon as I was done with my workout I made my new fave smoothie. The Mighty Green Goddess.

• 1 cup unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze
• 1 scoop vanilla whey protein
• 2 cups baby spinach leaves
• 1/2 frozen banana
• 1/2 cup frozen pineapple
• 5 drops orange creamsickle Capella Flavor Drops
• 1 packet Splenda

Enjoyed on the couch with a quick episode of What Not To Wear. Nick was CLEARLY not at home!! He was visiting a friend after work for dinner and some MAN TIME (AKA video game session). As always, I took full advantage of the alone time. WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Cheers!


After some serious girlie couch time, I was starting to get hungry. Super fast dinner to the rescue.

DINNER (meal #4) at 9:00pm.

I decided to make a quick and fresh open faced veggie sandwich.

• Ezekiel wheat bun
• Wedge light laughing cow cheese
• Spinach
• 1/2 Avocado
• Green bell pepper slices
• Roasted red peppers
• Bread & Butter pickles

On the side I had the leftover veggies from last night's dinner. VEGGIE OVERLOAD! The sandwich was..... was..... amazing! Everything was good! I enjoyed this very much!


I think I'll call it a night now and curl up with another cup of tea and my DVR. Nick is home now and we have a new exciting Lost episode to watch! Enjoy the rest of your Wednesday night. The week is more than halfway over. YAY!

HUGS!!
Ildie

Me time

It's Friday, YAAAAY! My day started off in typical Friday fashion. Here is a step my step snippet of my morning.

1. I rolled out of bed, tired, and stumbled around upstairs in my usual morning fog.
2. Damn near tripped over the cat. He was spread out and whoring himself outside the door as usual.
3. I had a little pep talk with myself and walked into Mr. Scary Scale room. I swear the air feelt cooler in there. Evil lives within these walls!
4. Mr. Scale and I stared at each other, intensely, for a solid 30 seconds. There is much tension between us.
5. I took a deep breath and cautiously slithered closer.
6. I removed all unnecessary clothing (every little bit counts) and stepped on.
7. I exhaled every single breath left in me, just in case it adds weight. (I'm quite crazy you see...)
8. I closed my eyes, said a little ditty and looked down. SWEET succulent victory you are mine again!

After realizing I lost another 2.3 pounds I couldn't stop smiling. I finally broke the 40+ pounds lost mark and I couldn't be happier. It feels DAMN GOOD to set a goal and reach it, stick with it, and proactively better myself.

Here's how I look at it. You only get this one body, this one chance, this one opportunity to make it the best and healthiest it can be. WHY in the world would you waste it? Live healthy, live strong, live happy. ;)

Okay, moving on. I think that's a sufficient amount of self patting on the back for one day.

BREAKFAST (meal #1) at 9:00am.

I wanted to try the Capella Flavor Drops in my oatmeal this morning. I was very intrigued by the vanilla custard drops and thought it would pair well with warm oats. I was right. YUM!

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/4 wheat bran
• 1 tbs ground flax
• 1 1/2 cup water
• Lots of cinnamon
• Splenda to taste
• 5 drops of Capella vanilla custard flavor drops
• Splenda to taste
• 2 tbs PB2

Om my damn, DELICIOUS! The combination of the hot oats, the melted, rich PB2 and the flavor and aroma of the Capella drops mixed with cinnamon was brilliant. SO GOOD! Now I'm not sure which one I like better, the chocolate fudge brownie flavor drops or the vanilla custard one. The vanilla gets a 10 out of 10. I love officially love this product.

A bit later I enjoyed a chocolate treat and had a square of Newman's Own Organics espresso dark chocolate. I nibbled on this for ever. I would nobble, walk away, come back, nibble, walk away and so forth. I don't have chocolate often. Any moment spent together with it is precious and must be enjoyed slowly, lovingly, delicately.


Work was quiet today so I decided to clean and reorganize my office. Yes, I clean EVEN AT WORK. I just can't help it. I like all things clean. Not in a scary, I wash my hands 50+ a day clean. Just organized, dusted and clutter free. It makes me happy and puts me at ease.

LUNCH (meal #2) at 12:00pm.

I've been craving my beloved breakfast burrito. I had to feed this uncontrollable desire so I cooked the eggs up last night and packed them for lunch today. Addicted!

• 4 egg whites, seasoned with S + P
• 2 tbs Trader Joe's cilantro and jalapeno hummus
• Spinach leaves
• Drizzle of Sriracha sauce

Lovingly wrapped in a light FlatOut wrap and devoured in seconds.


I also had 2 small Kiwis on the side. Gotta get my fruits in.


On our break today I went to the grocery store and got all of the necessities for next week. Rumor has it that a huge snow storm is headed this way from the South so I thought I better get it done while I still can.

I left work at 4:00 instead of 5:00. It proved to be a good decision. The storm hit about an hour before I left and WHITE DEATH was smothering everything outside by the time I got home. Nauseating!

SNACK (meal #3) at 5:00pm.

I never had my snack at work because I left early and by the time I got home I was STARVING! Yogi mess to the rescue!

• 4oz plain 0% Oikos
• 1 banana, sliced
• a few red grapes
• cinnamon
• 1 packet of Splenda
• Kaia Foods cocoa sunflower seeds

Nick was home for no more than 2 hours and was already getting ready to leave again. He was invited to his Aunts house to celebrate his cousins B'day with some cake. No dinner, just cake. I couldn't believe he was heading back out in this CRAP! LOOK AT IT! UGH!


However, after he left, I took FULL advantage of some ME time.

Photographic Evidence #1.... (nail polish, magazine, wine, candlelight etc... And you can't see it but I was watching Say Yes To The Dress.)


Do I spy some peeps? Oh my! (This with the wine was SNACK #4). OH SNAP!


Photographic Evidence #2.... (Bubbles & more candles.)


Photographic Evidence #3.... (Cheers)


I waited for Nick to get back before making Dinner. He was DYING for Taco Salad (the usual Friday fare) but had to go on his Winter Wonderland Adventure for some cake B'day celebrating first. So I waited... And waited... (SO HUNGRY)... And waited... FINALLY he got home at almost 10:00. GOOD GRIEF I WAS STARVING! He got delayed because of the bad road conditions. DUH! I told him not to leave.

DINNER (meal #5) at 10:15pm!!!!

I worked at the speed of light. You couldn't touch me I was SO FAST. Dinner was done in less than 15 minutes. That's right my friends, I've got SERIOUS skillz. You can find the recipe for the usual Friday Taco Salad on my Recipes Blog ***HERE***. I did add jalapenos this time. My tummy is now happy and full.


Time to unwind with some mind numbing TV now. Have a great night. I wonder if the snow will stop in time for me to make it to the gym tomorrow morning? SIGH!

XOXO
Ildie

Shoveling fool.

Well hello there. HAPPY FRIDAY! YEAH!

First things first! Time for an update on my weight loss and the rest of my 2010 goals.

Weight loss = NADA! Well, I lost .1. So yeah, that is nothing. I'm guessing I gained the week of Christmas and worked it off last week. No worries. I'm not upset. Next week will be better. Still down 33lb total. Which is FANTASTIC!

Water = GREAT. I've been drinking at least 75 ounces a day which was my goal.

New Recipes = GREAT. I tried a few new things this week and I will keep this going.

Incorporate more Cardio and Abs = SO-SO. I did up the cardio but only worked my abs once this week. I'm still working on this one.

Well, those were the "important" goals so I will leave it at that. The other "smaller" ones are right on track as well.

I'm sure you recall my discussion yesterday about the new tires I purchased for my car. Well I won't keep you waiting any longer because I KNOW you're all DYING to know if I went with option "A" or "B". (drum roll please.........). I went with option "B" (DUH) and took the day off from work. I was car-less, caught up at work and had plenty of vacation days left to play around with. It just made more sense. Three day weekend, I love thee like I love no other. ;)

I was up bright and early so I could get the most out of my day. I curled up on the couch with a cup of coffee and caught up on some blogs. It's my favorite way to spend early mornings. After a bit I decided to work out at home and get it done and out of the way with early in the day. I got on the bike and also grabbed my dumbbells and a magazine.


Here is my workout. Which by the way I did on an empty stomach. Stupid I know! I wasn't hungry yet though! ???

Bike - 40 minutes - 9 miles total
3 miles on level 6
3 miles on level 7
3 miles on level 8
Dumbbell Curls
5lb x 20
8lb x 15
13lb x 8 (I combined the 5lb and 8lb. I made due with what I had)
Hammer Curls
5lb x 20
8lb x 15
13lb x 7
Overhead Tricep Extensions
8lb x 20
13lb x 15
16lb x 10 (combined 8lb dumbbells)
Arnold Press
5lb x 20
8lb x 20
8lb x 12
Dumbbell Chest Press
8lb x 20
13lb x 15
13lb x 15
Dumbbell Fly
5lb x 20
8lb x 15
8lb x 15
Standing Row w/ 90 degree rotation (on Perfect Pullup Bar)
x15 (3 sets)
Reclined pullup (on Perfect Pullup bar)
x10 (arms getting tired, did 1 set)
Preacher Tricep Extension (on Perfect Pullup Bar)
x10 (Okay, done, my arms are shaking....)

What a great workout. I need more dumbbells though! I should invest in them sometime soon. I would love to have more variety at home that's for sure!

If you're wondering what the Perfect Pullup Bar is, click ***HERE***. I love this thing. You can do an ABSURD amount of different moves on it! By the time I got up there though my arms were too fatigued! Perhaps next time I will START with this and then move on to Dumbbells.

You can do pullups/chinups on it (I can NOT do those...yet...).


And the bar also pulls down which lets you do an insane amount of moves....


AND it comes with handles as well. AWESOME!


By the time I was done with my sweat session I was starving!! I whipped up a quick bowl of oats. I was absurdly good!

Strawberry Banana Custard Oats.

• 1/2 cup Irish oats
• 1/2 cup vanilla Almond Breeze
• 1 cup water
• 1 banana, sliced
• 2 eggs, whisked to heck
• dash salt
• lots of cinnamon
• Splenda to taste
• 1 tbs fat free strawberry preserves

This bowl made me swoon. I was in LOVE!

After breakfast settled a bit I decided to get more exercise. The amount of snow in the driveway was INSANE! I got geared up for a sweet, sweet shovel session.


The snow was so deep. BAH!


We were going to pick up my car later and I honestly wasn't sure if I could get it up the drive. LOOK AT IT! BAH!


Here is the after photo. An HOUR after might I add!


After the shoveling session it was time for lunch. I used up the last of the TunaCado mix from the other day and had it in a LaTortilla wrap with spinach and spicy mustard. On the side I had a small handful of spelt pretzels and string cheese.


I was so COLD after shoveling. I had a cup of coffee to try and warm up but it didn't help! I decided a bath would do the trick. And do the trick it did! I soaked for a solid 30 minutes and it warmed me right up. Ahhhhhhh!

It was at about this time that I got the call letting me know that my car was ready. YAY! Nick and I went to pick her up. She looked so lonely sitting there in the snow covered parking lot. My sweet green lady. I missed her! I have such a love-hate relationship with my car. It was nice to have her back and she felt AMAZING to drive. It didn't pull to the right and the new tires felt spectacular!! My steering wheel was straight. STRAIGHT! YEAH!

For dinner I decided to make pork loin. I placed the loin in a nice bath of spicy coarse mustard, dijon mustard, Thai chili paste and teriyaki marinade earlier in the day insuring that it would come out nice and tender. And tender it was! I also roasted some cauliflowers and brussel sprouts, seasoned with sea salt, cracked black pepper and thyme. Dinner was delicious!


I think Nick and I are going to play another game of some sort. We can't seem to get enough of them lately. Enjoy your Friday night!! ;)

It Cometh!

I spent most of my day today staring, glaring, reading, researching, gawking and browsing Weather.Com. I was keeping a CLOSE eye on this bad boy. They're predicting 3-4 inches today and an additional 5-8 tomorrow. OH COME ON!


You know why I'm annoyed? Because I ordered really good tires online (only available by ordering) and they arrived yesterday. I made an appointment this morning to have them mounted on Friday. Unfortunately I had to put it off until tomorrow because I work until 5:00 which is when the place closes. BAH! I planned to drop the car off tonight and leave my keys with them (leaving work at 4:00 so I can make it there by 5:00). They will mount, balance and align them sometime tomorrow and call me when they're done. I'm sure you see my dilemma here. This leaves me with two annoying options.

Option A --- Have poor Nick wake up an hour earlier, drive PAST his place of employment and bring me to work, drive back to work (probably arriving late), come out of his way again after work to pick me back up and drive us home. All the while hoping that we don't actually get a combined total of possibly 10" of snow "as predicted" and get stranded somewhere.

Option B --- Just use a vacation day and not go in to work on Friday and pick my car up over the weekend after the snow storm passes. I'm trying to talk Nick into taking the day off too if it's bad. We're expecting 4" overnight and more HEAVY snow should hit us by noon tomorrow with an additional 5-8". I could just vomit at the thought of having to be out in it!

Hmmm. Yeah, I think I'm liking option "B" MUCH better but we will see how it all pans out. Weather forecasts are notorious for being COMPLETELY WRONG around here on a regular basis. Then again, that radar looks INSANE!

Breakfast today was a heart warming bowl of the usual.

• 1/2 Irish oats
• 1 1/2 cups water
• dash salt
• lots of cinnamon
• Splenda to taste
• 1 banana sliced
• 1 tbs cherry preserves (Ann was kind enough to share a bit)

Breakfast was enjoyed with a large cup of coffee and water bottle #1. Still doing GREAT on upping the water intake. YAY!

Lunch was AAAH-MAY-ZING! I shared with Ann which had her very excited. We had leftover TunaCado (I love the name I gave it!!!) from last night on Ezekiel buns. I also made us a side salad with (sweet butter lettuce + tomato + spray butter). Lunch was perfect in every way. I was jam packed with healthy grains/carbs, veggies and TONS of protein.


By 1:30 we decided that it was just too late to leave the office for a break. SO SAD! The afternoon just sort of got away from us. Not to mention I was still 100% focused and consumed with WEATHER WATCH! The blue blob of "white death" was getting closer with each passing minute! Our reunion now seemed unavoidable!


I never had my afternoon snack today because as soon as 4:00 hit I hesitantly crawled into my car and started the long drive home. It was already snowing and getting SUPER slick and crappy out. UGGHHH! Nick met me at the house and we followed each other to the shop to drop my car off. It was so horrible! I was giddy with joy by the time we finally made it back home! I dove into my pajamas and decided to brew some delicious macadamia coffee.


Which I enjoyed with sugar free caramel syrup and fat free cream.


SO GOOD!


And then I started on dinner. I was craving Mexican and I knew just what to make! As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program (which I am a part of), I received two jars of Pace Picante Sauce to sample.


In case you're not familiar with Foodbuzz, check them out. It's a great community of food lovers and bloggers and I have been a featured publisher with them for a few months now. I've met a bunch of wonderful foodies and found some fantastic recipes as well. ;)

Dinner: (Smothered Turkey & Bean Burritos)

Filling

• 1 lb 97% lean ground turkey
• 1 yellow onion, chopped fine
• 2 green onions, chopped fine
• 1/2 cup fat free refried beans
• 1/4 cup black beans (rinsed & drained)
• 2 tbs Taco Seasoning mix
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• dash dried cilantro
• dash cayenne
• dash red pepper flakes
• salt & pepper to taste

Sautee the yellow and green onions for a few minutes, add the ground turkey and cook thoroughly until browned.


Add all other ingredients and cook for an additional 10 minutes to insure that the flavors blend together.


I made 4 stuffed to the brim burrito wraps out of this mixture. I used two regular corn tortillas for Nick and two LaTortilla Wheat tortillas for me. I added the burrito wraps into my square 9x9 baking dish (which was already sprayed with Pam).


I topped them with the entire jar of Pace Picante sauce, fat free cheese for me and Mexican cheese blend for Nick. I popped them into a preheated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. Oh they smelled good! We each had one for dinner. They were massive which means leftovers. I LOVE leftovers!

I topped mine with fat free sour cream, fresh green onions, green and red hot sauce and fresh cracked black pepper. DROOL!!


It was amazing. I'm looking forward to the leftovers already!

Nick is now busy setting up a new game he purchased last weekend on the dining room table. It's called Puerto Rico and it looks VERY involved. Time to go bond with my Inner Nerd. Have a great night everyone!