Star of the Morning

I had big plans to accomplish a lot on my “to do” list yesterday, but didn’t really get much done! I spent a little too much time reading blogs, writing a blog post, and ultimately watching too much TV.  Oh well, it was a Sunday.  Sometimes ya just gotta relax!

Sunday Recap

One thing on both Andy and I’s “to do” list was attending a friend’s BBQ.  We spent a few hours chatting and catching up with friends, eating and drinking while enjoying the nice weather. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

We got home around 7PM and just in time for a new episode of Jersey Shore! I have been forcing Andy to watch it with me, and bless his heart he does. He doesn’t understand why I am interested in half the shows I watch.  I don’t know why I am either, but ultimately I feel relaxed watching mindless reality TV.  I guess it’s only fair that I watch a Cleveland Brown’s Football game with Andy this season!

After Jersey Shore we watched the MTV VMA show.  I really enjoyed what I saw (I fell asleep at 10:30) and appreciated Lady Gaga cross-dressing for the evening.  I swear, she keeps everyone guessing! I was not expecting that.  The girl has some serious pipes and a world of talent, so I enjoyed it! But I enjoy anything she does really, I’m a huge fan.

Monday

I awoke today feeling completely refreshed. I slept like a rock! Nothing beats a good night’s sleep.  I can eat as clean as I want and exercise an hour a day, but if I don’t get enough sleep, I feel like crap.

To start the morning off, I took these two hyenas for their morning rabbit hunt walk:

I refuse to look at you after calling me a hyena

It was a nice morning, the weather has been just beautiful lately.  The temperatures have been in the mid 70s and just so pleasant! I’ll take it while I can before it turns into a Winter Wonderland around here!

The pups and I walked for about 25 minutes around the neighborhood, then they played in the fenced-in back yard for a while.

Having a fenced in yard has been amazing.  When I lived in Georgia I didn’t have one and I had to constantly leash them up.  Now they are free to roam and play!

Whenever Andy and I decide to buy a home or have to move again, a fenced yard will be a must-have!

Unless you have steak in your hands, we ain't coming!

Breakfast

After playing with the pups for a bit I headed in to make breakfast.  Cereal and coffee were on today’s menu!

Fresh strawberries that I got at Whole Foods Saturday were the Star of the Morning.  They were so sweet and delicious.

Strawberries are definitely my favorite fruit.  I never get sick of them. I seem to get sick of other fruits, such as bananas and apples, after so many days of eating them.  But I could probably eat strawberries multiple times per day.  In fact, I am having them again tonight as part of my evening snack!

Workout

Today’s workouts were the two classes I taught today: Step, Jump and Pump and Cardio Pilates (read more about the classes I teach here!).  Since I teach two classes on Monday’s and Wednesdays, I don’t do anything extra besides walk. I get plenty exercise from the classes.

In today’s Cardio Pilates class I decided to take the class outside for The Hill Workout.  It was perfect weather for it and we all worked up a sweat climbing up that sucker!

After about 30 minutes of being outside walking/jogging, we took it back inside for the Pilates portion. I included one of my favorite exercises in today’s sequence: The Rotating Side Plank

Start in a push up position:

Do a push up:

Rotate into a side plank, stacking your hand directly under the shoulder and stacking your hips on top of one another.  Hold for a couple seconds.

Do another push up then rotate to the other side:

Repeat for as many as you desire.  Today we did 10 total push ups (5 side planks on each side).  These are tough, but fun! 🙂

Have a great night everyone!

Questions:

Did you watch the MTV VMA show? Who was your favorite performer? I didn’t see all of them, but I enjoyed Lady Gaga’s (I love the song “You and I”!) and Chris Brown did really well too.  He’s got some serious dance moves! And Adele is seriously amazing!

What is your favorite fruit? Strawberries for me!

His and Her Dinners

My lack of sleep from the bad storm and my 5AM wake up call yesterday finally caught up with me by the time I got home from work.  I was exhausted! I grabbed my pillow and blanket and headed straight for the couch to relax.

Andy had the same idea when he got home a couple of hours later and soon he was fast asleep on the couch while I watched the finale of the Real World Challenge (And yes, I realize I watch the same shows as high school age kids) 

I didn’t want to wake Andy up from his nap, so I headed in the kitchen to make myself breakfast for dinner.  I knew that Andy had wanted to use up some ground beef, so I figured we’d just have our own “His and Her” dinners tonight.

On my menu for the night: Waffles n’ Eggs!

I chopped up a tomato to fill in my omelet, which consisted of 1 whole egg and two whites plus a splash of milk.  Shredded cheese was also added to complete my omelet.

Dinner came together in a flash and it was oh-so-good! I love this combination!  Plus I love waffles topped with real maple syrup.

There was a time in my life when I tried to eat everything sugar free and get as few calories as possible from foods like syrup or creamer.  Long gone are those crazy days!  Bring on the real food! And what’s funny is that I used to eat enormous servings of the sugar free stuff and now that I eat the real thing, I only need a little bit to get all of that wonderful flavor.

Man Food 

Andy finally woke up after 2 hours of napping and was ready for some dinner. So he headed out to make some serious man food on the grill: Burgers!

Boo and Sophia were doing some serious begging for his burger (even after I gave them egg yolks…I guess a burger is more enticing!)

Let's make a deal...You can have some of my dry, I mean delicious, dog food and I'll have one of your juicy burgers...

For God's sake, drop something!

The rest of the evening was spent reading in bed. I’m currently reading The Help, which is such a great read so far! I wanted to read it before I saw the movie that is out.

Morning Run

I awoke today feeling well rested (finally!) and decided to take Boo and Sophia on a quick 2-mile run.  It was a great way to start the morning!

When we got back I attempted to take a picture with the dogs…

The pictures didn’t turn out so well…(although the overgrown weeds sure look pretty!)

This one was as good as it was going to get…

These two  were just more interested in cooling off on the patio instead…

Life is so hard

The rest of the morning was spent eating breakfast (Shredded Wheat and Peanut Butter Puffins cereal with strawberries and soy milk) and catching some of the Today Show before packing my lunch and heading off to work.

Almond Butter and Tomato Sandwich

I was inspired by Kelly when I made my lunch for work this morning.  The other day she talked about one of her favorite sandwiches: Peanut Butter and Tomato! This intrigued me, so I decided to try it.

I sliced up the tomato and seasoned it with salt and pepper:

I then topped two slices of bread with Almond Butter before packing it up in my lunch bag.

I packed the tomato and almond butter sandwich separately and then assembled it at work while on my lunch break.

I loved this sandwich and I think the salt and pepper on the tomato really adds such great flavor.  I’ll be making this combination again!

Gossip Friday

While sitting outside for my lunch break, I caught up with the latest US Weekly.

Fridays have become “Gossip Friday” for me since that is when the new magazine comes out.  I’ll admit, I enjoy reading celebrity gossip and just mindlessly flipping through the pages looking at the pictures.  It makes for a very relaxing lunch break too!

Have a great Friday everyone!

Question:

What are some of your favorite magazines to read?