Snow Day!

It should be another manic Monday, but guess what?!  It snowed so much that we don’t have school!!!  That means I got to stay an extra day at Jar’s and relax!  I’d prefer a day like this:

but I can definitely settle for the cuddling on the couch watching tv type of day.

We already got 28.5 inches of snow and they’re predicting one to two more feet.  Seriously?!  I don’t know where they are going to put it all!!  This snow is really putting a damper on my excitement of running outside.  Jar says I should blame it on the damn groundhog.  Come on Phil, why can’t you ever see your shadow!?

We had an amazing weekend that I can’t wait to post about, but I’m not posting until you can see it in pictures (meaning I have to be at home).  Let’s just say that I actually remembered to take pictures of food, and I may have met a pretty famous person.  All you High School Musical fans out there will definitely recognize the face.  Until then… I’m going to keep you hanging.

Question of the day:  Take a guess at who I saw!!!

Energizer Bunny

Yeah, I remember when I said I would post every single day, but that’s just not going to happen.  These past few days have been crazy busy with my schedule change.  I feel like the energizer bunny.. I keep going and going and going!  All good, healthy things added though so I couldn’t wait to tell you about them.

As you know, I picked up Salsa this week.  It was so much fun!  I felt like a moron dancing in heels, but I think I’m going to get the flat shoes so that won’t be a problem anymore.  I would love to post video, but our instructor specifically said we couldn’t post them online.. boo!  Here is what I hope to look like one day:

Totally attainable if you ask me…

As far as the hip hop performance class, it was SO much fun!!  We are doing a tribute to Janet Jackson!  You’ll have to wait until July for a video because I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise.  If you’re in the area, we are having a performance on July 9th.  It’s a guaranteed fun time.

And… I know you’re all going to be very excited about this.. I’M RUNNING AGAIN!!  I ran three miles on Tuesday and three miles on Wednesday.. I feel SO accomplished.

If you’re wondering why this picture looks familiar, it’s because I stole one from a few weeks ago.. oops (blog picture taking is so not my thing).

Workouts so far this week:

Mon: Zumba, Salsa, Hip Hop

Tues: 3 mile run, Zumba, abs

Wed: 3 mile run, abs

Thurs: planning zumba and hip hop

I’m going to sleep like a baby this weekend!!!

Anyway, it’s Thursday.. and the first thing I thought about when I woke up is tomorrow is finally Friday!!!  Have to run though.. two meetings this morning at school!

Question of the day: Do you have a charity that you feel very passionate about?  I am a huge advocate of the Penn State Dance Marathon.  I will post about it ASAP, but if you’re feeling generous, please go donate online!!!

Ciao for now,

Dance, dance, dance

I’m sitting at the dance studio as I post this.  Monday nights = dance night, not that I don’t dance other nights, but Monday is my serious dance night:

5:30 Zumba

7:30 Salsa

9:30 hip hop

I’m pretty sure my legs are going to be sore tomorrow, but that won’t stop me from Zumba tomorrow night!!  Ugh, I’m in love!

For dinner, I’m having a protein shake that I got at the gym down the street.  I would take a picture, but I’m pretty sure that the people doing salsa right here would think I’m a creeper.  I know that wouldn’t deter most of you, but I have to take salsa with them for the next four weeks (and possibly over and over again).

Anyway, that’s all I got.. super boring post, but I have to go lesson plan and be somewhat productive.  I promise for a more interesting post tomorrow. I hope everyone had a great weekend!!

Question of the day: Anyone know where I can get some cheap dance shoes?  I need to get some salsa and hip hop shoes.

Over the Top

Way back in October, I was a really bad blogger.  Genesis gave me an award, and I totally forgot to pay it forward.  Gen is currently training for a half marathon, and I know she’s going to rock out!!  She is such a great girl with a huge heart.  She even sent me Holiday Cookies!!!

Don’t fret though.. for some reason, I can’t remember how to get places, but I can remember things back from October.  So, here it is:

In order to accept the award I have to answer the following questions with only one word.

1.Where is your cell phone? bed

2.Your hair? straight

3. Your mother? bff

4. Your father? hilarious

5. Your favorite food? chocolate

6. Your dream last night? None

7. Your favorite drink? water

8. Your dream/goal? happiness

9. What room are you in? bedroom

10. Your hobby? dancing

11. Your fear? loss

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? love

13. Where were you last night? dance

14. Something you aren’t? shy

15. Muffins? bah

16. Wish list item? vacation

17. Where did you grow up? Pennsylvania

18. Last thing you did? services

19. What are you wearing? clothes

20. Your TV? on

21. Your pets? cats

22. Your friends? AMAZING

23. Your life? Cheerful

24. Your mood? TGIF

25. Missing someone? Cody (happy birthday.. more than one word.. too bad)

26. Vehicle? Mazda

27. Something you’re not wearing? shoes

28. Your favorite store? Nordstrom

29. Your favorite color? Purple

30. When was the last time you laughed? ALWAYS

31. Last time you cried? weeks

33. One place that I go over and over? Acme

34. One person who emails me regularly? HungryGirl

35. Favorite place to eat? CheesecakeFactory

Now it’s my turn to pay it forward:

1) Shannon also finished a half recently.  She rocks!

2) Melissa is so inspirational.  I love to read her blog and see what’s going on in her family-life. Oh, and we share a name.

3) Kalin always has something interesting to read about, whether it’s her brothers uber-unhealthy lifestyle or her amazing looking food, I always head to her blog for a good laugh.

4) Tra is seriously devoted to a healthy living style.  She amazes me with her workout schedule.

5) Monica is AMAZING.  Her blog was one of the reasons that I started to run.  Her story is a definite must-read.

and because I think you should all check out Jar’s blog…

6) Jar just started a blog about soccer.  He wants people to put soccer balls in different places around the world and take pictures.  Then he wants them to tell a story about why that place is special.  His overall goal is to bring the world’s love of soccer together in one blog.

To anyone who I didn’t add, there are so many blogs that I read, but I can’t pass it forward to everyone!

Sorry I didn’t blog yesterday.. life was crazy busy –> school, came home, cooked dinner for the fam (yummy fibericious chicken fingers, butternut squash, and broc), zumba, hip hop, home at 10 = uber tired.

Oh, and some future news.. I am going to pick up salsa, I officially signed up to take the zumba instructor course, and my hip hop performance class starts Monday.  I’m a dancing queen.

Question of the day: Do you dance?  Have you ever done salsa??

Yummy yummy in my tummy

I did it again… made lunch and dinner!!  It’s a brand new me!  For lunch I made a hummus and turkey sandwich on an Ezekial Flat.  Those things are an amazing alternative to bread/rolls.  They are fab!  I also had some carrots, sugar snap peas, and a clementine.

For dinner, I cooked Tilapia for my mom and myself.  On top, I made a mediterranean salsa.  In it, I put artichokes, tomatoes, capers, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and garlic.  I didn’t measure any of it other than the olive oil (1 tbsp.).  I kind of just eyeballed it.

Tilapia (in my new grillpan courtesy of shopping too much at Acme):

Mediterranean Salsa:

Final Product (with cous cous):

Mom and I agreed that it was pretty yummy.  I would definitely make it again!

In movie news, has anyone seen the preview for “Dear John?”  I don’t know why, but I am a sucker for sad movies.  I didn’t know if I wanted to see it, but come on… Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried!  I LOVE both of them, especially Channing Tatum.  He is so nice to look at.

Proof:

Oh, and in tv news.. is anyone else a little nervous that the season 2 of Jersey Shore will have a new cast?  I’m a little embarrassed to say that I am!!  Jar and I are newly addicted to that show.  They have to keep ‘The Situation!’  The story is that they’re all sticking together and MTV has offered them each $10,000 an episode plus a $10,000 signing bonus.  It’s a ton of money, but did you know that the girls on the Hills get $100,000 an episode?  ugh.. that just disgusts me!  Anyway, I hope that they take it because that show cracks me up.

Question of the day: Will you watch the Jersey Shore if they have a different cast?

Rainy with a chance of chocolate

This morning I woke up and it was pouring.  The last thing I wanted to do was get out of bed, but I promised myself I I would wake up early and start doing abs every morning.  Goal accomplished!  That extra five minutes in the morning seems so huge when I’m in bed, but really, it’s only five minutes.

As for my eats, I started off with an amazing hodge podge of cereals: banana nut cheerios, kashi cinnamon, and the best new cereal ever —> CHOCOLATE CHEERIOS.  If you have a sweet tooth, these are a must have!

I’m a complete kid at heart, so I also sweetened it up with chocolate soy milk by SoySlender.  They make the best soymilk, and I have such a hard time finding it in vanilla so I figured why not just have the chocolate!  It was yummy!!!  I also had a banana and a cup of coffee.  I’m not going to lie, I start off many mornings this way.  I have no creativity time when it comes to breakfast.  I am usually sprinting out the door because I read too many blogs when I should be getting ready.

After school, I went to spinning class instead of zumba.  My unlimited dance membership doesn’t start until Feb. 1st, so I figured I’d go back to spinning.  I do love a good spinning class, and I definitely enjoyed it, but I’m thinking I still enjoy Zumba more.

Speaking of zumba, check out www.zumba.com for zumba classes in your area.  I haven’t looked for videos, but I now that they’re out there.

Oh, and I succeeded in another goal today .. I packed lunch and cooked dinner!  Dinner was MMMM-azing tonight.  I made butternut squash fries, grilled tuna, and some broccoli.  I am uber proud of myself.

I’m sending this girl to the curb….

I hope you had a good Monday!!

Question of the day: What’s your favorite cereal?  How about your favorite breakfast??

On a mission

I went for a run today.. YAY!!  I live for those days where the temperature is finally warm enough to run.  I wore my half marathon long sleeved tee… and a really cool hat, but you’re all missing out of that since that picture is on my camera which is downstairs, and I’m too lazy to get off my butt and get it.  I know you’re crying right now.  A picture of me in my condom looking hat was exactly what you wanted to see.

I took this picture with my macbook pre-hat.  I’m very excited as you can see…

PS..You should all get Mac Books so you can do cool things like this…

Other than running, I woke up today with a mission.  I wanted to make a list of my fitness plans for 2010.  Here they are thus far:

1) Become a certified Zumba instructor.  I’m signing up for a class on March 6th, so this is definitely something you’ll see a lot about.

2) Complete a 5k every month.  I have none planned (paid for) yet, so hopefully I can find some in the area.

3) Complete these halves..  (planned, but not paid): Philly Distance, Philly ING, and so excited for this one—> DISNEY!!!!  Disney’s in January or March depending on which one I decide, but why can’t I plan that far in advance?

4) Complete a triathlon.  This one could be seriously hard as I don’t have a bike, but I realllllly want to do one.

5) Lose 10 pounds.  That might change to 5-8 over time, but I seriously would love to lose 10 pounds.  It would help me speed up my running drastically.

6) Drink at least 64 oz. of water a day.

I guess they’re pretty similar to my resolutions, but the teacher in me needed to have more specific, measurable goals.. sorry!

PS: What things do you like to read in blogs?  I’ve been having serious writers block.

PS: One of my friends told me that she’s dissapointed with my lack of blogging.  I promised I would mention that here (hi kc, I know you’re reading), but what she doesn’t know is I am going to make a goal to blog every day.  I don’t know if I can do it.. but I’m going to try.

Guess who?!

Guess who got a run in this past weekend?!?!

Yeah.. that’s me!

I woke up on Saturday morning with the biggest smile.  It was SO sunny out and it was total running weather.  The Spring needs to come ASAP so runs like that can happen more often.  I ended up not running until the afternoon so I didn’t get in a full 3 miles like I would have hoped, but I did get in 2.5 miles, and get this.. it was easy!!

Oh, and get this.. I also cooked two meals this past week!!  If you remember from past posts, I am so guilty of living on egg beaters and lean cuisines.  Okay, I’ll be even more honest.. sushi and saladworks are also on my daily menu.  Two meals is HUGE for me.

The first meal (pic of Jar) looks like we were so unhealthy, but those are baked fiberful chicken fingers (Hungrygirl style.. they were FABULOUS) and butternut squash fries.  I will give the recipes out later if you’d like them.  The second pic is a mixture of amazingness, but you can’t see inside.  I guess you could call it a grilled vegetable hummus quesadilla.  I grilled artichokes, portabellos, and some fire roasted tomatoes, then I put hummus on the wrap, put the wrap in the grill pan and filled the grill pan with the vegetables.  It was really good, but I think next time I would forgo the hummus, or use less veggies.  It was a little too filling, and I didn’t even get to the applesauce.

Other things I’ve done this past week include tons of zumba and attempting to get back into my healthy eating habits (still have to work on raiding the cabinet when I get home).  Something I haven’t done is blog.  Sorry!!

Question of the day: What’s your indoor workout schedule?  Do you still run in the cold?

Let’s change it up a bit..

I figured I’d try something new today and let you in on what I eat during the day.  Todays eats:

BREAKFAST

1/2 cup oatmeal –> 2 points

1 apple –> 1 point

coffee –> 1/2 a point

LUNCH

clementine –> 1/2 a point

Progresso soup–> 0 points

SNACKS

light string cheese –> 1 point

2 tbsp. hummus on flat out –> 3 points

TOTAL: 8 points = fail…

I MUST eat more earlier in the day.  I have 10-12 points left and it’s 5:15, not to mention that I’m doing a Zumba class tonight (usually burn 800ish calories).  I think this is why I snack so much.. I am not getting enough calories.  Seriously, I had a 1 point lunch?!  Am I kidding??  I don’t know if I’m going to officially count points, but it’s nice to check in every once in awhile.

*********************************

Anyway, I thought some of you might enjoy these.. I totally forgot to post my official marathon pics.  I don’t know if I’m going to buy any, but here are a few that I liked….  ENJOY!

Question of the day: Any good, simple recipes out there?  I love making new, easy things.  My favorite easy breakfast recipe:

Apple oats~

1/2 cup oatmeal, 1 cup water, dash cinnamom

a sweet and low (if you like sweet oatmeal)

salt (if you like salt in your oats)

1/2 an apple

Cut up apple into bite sized pieces.  Combine all ingredients and place in microwave for 1 min 45 seconds.  If you like baked apples and oatmeal, you have to try this combo.  If you’re looking for some protein, I added light peanut butter while training for the half.

Ciao ciao for now,

Just dance

I’ve decided that I really need a new GOAL to work towards.  I have tentatively planned two half marathons for this year: The Philadelphia Distance Run (September) and once again the Philadelphia Half Marathon (November).  I am going to go to a Team in Training meeting to see if I can join for one of those events.

If you’re new to the blog, my main goal was running a half marathon, and I succeeded in that goal on November 22nd.  It was AMAZING!!  Since then, I have remained active, but I really want something to work towards. Anyone know any half marathons this spring/summer that I could do?? I know that there is the Broad Street Run and the Lehigh Valley Half Marathon but I have prior commitments both of those weekends.  I NEED a new race to run!

For now, I’m sticking to dancing and adding in some running.  As you know, Zumba has become my new favorite workout.  I was feeling like I wasn’t getting a good workout from other cardio workouts so I was very happy to find a class that makes me sweat so much.  Today, I even dragged my mom to class with me.  She ended up really liking it, and when I asked her if she’d go again she said yes!! YAY!!   If you haven’t tried zumba, it is a must-do.  If you get the right teacher, you can burn up to 1000 calories a class!   I am also thinking about joining a hip-hop performance class at my dance studio.

Question of the day : What is your major fitness goal for 2010?  I would like to do at least 10 races (5k’s and half marathons).

Ciao for now.. aren’t you so proud that I didn’t wait a full week to post?!?