Mouth Breathing

Afternoon, all! I've been a tardy blogger lately! When I left work yesterday, I had to get gas before picking up the Pre-K enrollment paper work. I was seriously low. Shhhhh . . . don't tell The Lover.

By the time I got to the gas station, it said 4 miles to E. Scary. I have been super spoiled. The Lover used to fill up both of our cars but it's been so insane lately that I've had to do it myself. I got out and realized the tank was on the opposite side of the car. Wowza.

Pre-K enrollment night started at 500 PM. Each elementary school in the district gives out 40 packets. First come, first serve. I got to the school at 503 PM and was #37. Barely made it, but made it I did!

For dinner, I was craving breakfast so I made "binner."

Eggs, mushrooms, spinach and leftover potatoes (x 2.5 it was fantastic). And garlic toast on the side. Like my new plate? I hit up Target and majorly scored with their post-Easter sale! I <3 sales - especially if it's 50% (or more) off!

We had some storms going on last night and it helped me sleep so well. I love falling asleep to the sound of rain against the windows. It also made it very difficult to wake up this morning. I kept hitting snooze until 600 AM. I finally dragged my ass out of my bed and stumbled to the coffee pot. I love the person who invented the self-timer on the coffee pot! There is nothing like waking up to a hot pot of coffee.

Breakfast was divine! Pumpkin Overnight Oats -

• 1/2 cup dry oatmeal
• 1/4 cup non-fat plain yogurt
• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup rice milk
• cinnamon

Mix ingredients and store in fridge overnight. I topped my oats with a diced apple and 1/4 cup of Kashi Sunshine cereal. Later, I snacked on some yogurt and strawberries.

On the agenda was at least a 4 miler (5 - 6 if I could squeeze it in) but after 2, I called it quits. Sometimes, I'm just not there. Yesterday, I had a great run and felt like I could have kept going. Today, I just couldn't hack it. It has a lot to do with being on a treadmill for the 3rd day in a row. I prefer to run outside but when I'm congested and struggling with breathing, I keep it indoors. I keep telling Donna that I'm a mouth breather today haha.

Lunch was excellent!

I had a Boca burger on a sammie thin. I smeared the thin with a wedge of Laughing Cow and topped it off with some spinach. On the side, 3 HOOGE carrots and hummus for dipping. So. Full.

The Oklahoma Blood Institute keeps calling and asking for blood donations. When I donate blood, I'm tired and blah for a week or more. We have a blood drive at work coming up in May. Is it selfish for me to put it off until then so it won't affect my training and upcoming race? Normally, I would be all about donating.

Anyhoo, the race is in 17 days! GULP. If you haven't read about the OKC Memorial Marathon, check it out! It's the 10th anniversary of the marathon but 15 years since the bombing. We have people as far as Canada and New York participate because of what happened. I cannot describe the camaradarie and the emotion in the air during this event. It's just awesome!

Nightmares

Why hello there! Hopefully your Monday has been a fast one! Mine has been great. Before Miss D and I headed out for a run, I snacked on a slice o' bread and some pineapples.

The weather was perfect for a run. Warm, slightly breezy and cloudy. My training plan called for an easy 2 miler. We definitely took it SUPER easy. Donna had injured her leg and had to rest all last week. I wanted her to ease into running so she wouldn't injure it even worse. We were able to chat and catch each other up on our Easter weekend.

My lunch was a plethora of leftovers from Easter dinner.

Buttery bread, roasted squash and zucchini, strawberry salad and BBQ tofu. My sister-in-law, Brandy, makes this AH-MAY-ZING salad that she knows I go ga-ga for. It's basically a spinach salad with sliced strawberries, sugary walnuts and sprinkles of parmesan. Oh my Heaven, it's good! I get all the yummy leftovers. To make the tofu, I pressed firm tofu for about 45 minutes, cut them into cubes, marinated them in some BBQ sauce and baked them for about 25 minutes at 400 degrees. So very good!

I had to leave work early to take Baby Boy to the ear, nose and throat doctor to get his tubes checked. Looking good! After the appointment, I snacked on some malted Robin Eggs. Those things are addicting! I also had two flour tortillas. Hey, I was in a munchie mood!

On to my nightmare. Last Wednesday night, I had this terrible dream. It has stuck with me and I keep thinking about it. It's really freaking me out. Basically, I missed the day to pick up my race packet. So the morning of the race, my relay team was waiting for me while I ran to get it. I discovered I had also neglected to pack my Camelbak! While I was doing that, the team left without me, even though I was the first leg of the relay race. When I realized they had left, I also realized every single person had gone as well. So in my head, I'm thinking, "OK if I can just get at least one person behind me, that would be cool." So I'm just running with everything I have and end up burning out way early! I keep looking around and I just see hoards of people in front of me and I'm all by my lonesome. So, I'm still determined to finished the half-marathon. As I'm running, I realize that everyone had finished and downtown (where the finish line is) was clear of everyone but volunteers. The race organizers had kept all the volunteers until everyone had finished and they were extremely pissed that they were waiting for little ol' me. Then I jerked awake!!

WHAT THE HELL. I'm spazzing about this freaking dream. Obviously, I have some serious race anxiety. Our relay teams are racing for fun, not time. I'm running the first leg of the relay so I can continue on and do the half-marathon for my own goal achievement. I don't really have a set time goal in mind. I want to be able to say that I have ran a halfie and never in my wildest dreams did I ever consider myself a runner until a little over a 1.5 years ago. So it's also for personal satisfcation, you know? I. AM. FREAKING. 

Sorry for the serious ramble! Have you had some pre-event jitters? How do you handle it? I'd love some pointers!

What A Day!

I am tired, folks! I can't believe it's almost the weekend and I haven't even blogged today. What is this world coming to? :0) It's been wild but good for business. Raise the roof!

My morning started with happy boys and I love that! What else do I love? Pumpkin Overnight Oats. It was so delish yesterday, I had to have it again.

My oats contained:

• 1/2 cup dry oatmeal
• 1/4 cup non-fat plain yogurt
• 1/4 soymilk
• 1/4 pumpkin puree
• 1T shredded coconut
• pumpkin pie spice
• cinnamon

Mix ingredients, store in fridge overnight. I topped it with a diced apple. You don't even need brown sugar or any sweetener. The apples and coconut made it just sweet enough.

Today was a rest day for me. I typically run during my lunch breaks but my knees were screaming for some down time. It was a beautiful day to get out and get some errands out of the way. I also picked up some Jersey Mike's for lunch.

Mmmm . . . veggie wrap! I just love these and the guys that work there are so darn nice. I got my veggies on a tomato basil wrap. AWESOME. While out and about, I also grabbed Starbucks' new Dark Cherry Iced Mocha.

I forgot my camera so I didn't snap a pic when I first bought it. It had a bit of whipped cream and chocolate chips on top. Try it! You'll like it!

After lunch, my lovely ladies (from work) and I decided to go on trash pick up duty. This is how we keep it green!

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I. Am. A. Dork.

It was also an excuse for us to get out and get some lovely fresh air and sun before this hits:

Tonight: Rain before 1am, then rain and snow. Some thunder is also possible. Low around 32. North northwest wind 9 to 12 mph increasing to between 21 and 24 mph. Winds could gust as high as 34 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. Little or no snow accumulation expected.


Saturday: Snow. The snow could be heavy at times. Widespread blowing snow. High near 32. Windy, with a north wind between 21 and 26 mph, with gusts as high as 38 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible.


Saturday Night: Snow likely and widespread blowing snow. The snow could be heavy at times. Cloudy, with a low around 26. Windy, with a north northwest wind around 26 mph, with gusts as high as 37 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

Sunday: Snow likely and areas of blowing snow before 1pm, then areas of blowing snow and a chance of snow after 1pm. The snow could be heavy at times. Cloudy, with a high near 38. Windy, with a north northwest wind between 22 and 29 mph, with gusts as high as 40 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

Sunday Night: Areas of blowing snow. Mostly clear, with a low around 32.

And today is close to 70 degrees. So weird! We are going to hit up Wally World and get a few things just in case we won't be able to get out and about this weekend.

So sorry for the shortie post but time for me to bounce and get my little dudes!

What are your plans for the weekend? I wanted to get New Moon and peep it out!! Squealing like a school girl ova here!

Ice, Ice Baby

What a day! Another balls to the wall day of work. I must admit, I love being busy like this. Makes the day fly by. Can't complain about that!

Donna and I decided we would brave the insane spring break traffic and run on our usual route. Pre-run snack was a juicy apple. I have quite a few that need to be eaten so you'll see a couple a day until I run out. :0)

The day was absolutely beautiful for a run. I even got to wear a tank top. Woohoo! I started out strong but about halfway into the run, I realized our usual route was too busy. On our way back, we split off into a neighborhood so we would have to stop so often. Once we got into the 'hood, we realized there was a marked and paved running trail. Score! All in all, we got a lovely 4 miler in.

Lunch was leftover pizza and two plums.

The ice was for the knees. I have been so lazy about icing after runs. All the pizza went into my tummy but the plums didn't make it until around 400 PM. I'm now snacking on some plain Goldfish while I try to figure out dinner. Have a great night!

Stiff Knee

Hello there! Hope you're Tuesday is going well. Mine is ok. I was a bit of a cranky girl this morning but it got better, especially after hitting the road for a short 3 mile run. Donna and I had a lot to catch up on so we did a bit more walking than running but we did get a good sweat on. I've also had this really tight muscle behind my right knee. I can't seem to get it to loosen up. Any suggestions? I've been stretching like a banshee but it's still pretty tight. It doesn't really bother me when I'm running. It's more of annoyance.

Pre-run, I snacked on a small apple and plum.

Lunch was leftover from last night's din-din.

Rice was still blah. I am now snacking on some honey Oikos with 1/4 cup Kashi Honey Sunshine cereal.

I licked the spoon clean! Back to the grind-ola. The sun is trying to peek through the clouds. Yippee!

Reasons I Love My Sisters

Mo'nin! How are you today? Doing well over here! Not going to lie though. I need some sun! It's been so dreary and overcast in Oklahoma City. I mean, come on! It's spring break! While getting ready, I watched the weather forecast and we have a 50% chance of snow on Saturday. Sucky! The temps are in the upper 50s all week and Friday will be 67. Wow! Just in time for the weekend, we'll have the snow and freezing temps. Oklahoma weather. You gotta love it. ;)

Last night's dinner was not all that great. I tried this new rice mix I found. Unfortunately, I didn't take a pic of the box but it was a roasted garlic brown rice blend. So not impressed at all.

On the side, I had steamed broccoli & cauliflower with tofu. Luckily, that saved the whole dinner! To make the tofu and veggie mix, I simmered some frozen broc and cauliflower in vegetable broth. While that was simmering, I mixed three cubes - diced - of fried tofu (it was made with woodear mushrooms and rice vermicelli) in about 1T of hoisin sauce. You can find that at the Asian grocery store. When the veggies were just about finished, I added the tofu/hoisin sauce to the pot. A little S&P and bomb!

For dessert, I made an exciting discovery that I was dying to try!

I almost squealed when I saw the 4-pack of Oikos yogurt. I have been searching high and low and finally found it at a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market close to Baby Sis' house. With my chocolate Oikos, I had 2 GS Somoas.

Oh. My. So good! You must try it!

The Lover took the boys to school this morning but I didn't get to sleep in. I'm really, really trying to streamline the morning routine and get to work without having a nervous breakdown every day :).

My brekkie was the bomb diggity!

This bowl of awesome contained:

• 1/2 cup oatmeal
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup frozen blackberries (I swear they are in there!)
• 1 sliced banana
• 4 chopped almonds
• 1T chocolate chips

Mix, mix, mix it up and voila! Yummy in your tummy.

I was thinking about Big Sis and Baby Sis over the weekend and just feel super lucky that I have such a great relationship with them. Growing up you have the typical sibling stuff but we were still close. Big Sis is one year older than I and Baby Sis is 8 years younger. I used to change her diapers! She is getting married in May and maybe that is one of the reasons I feel so emotional. I know I'll be a mess during the ceremony. I know I was when Big Sis got married! So here are a few reasons I love my sisters:

• Big Sis always lends me books to read. Without her extensive library, my brain would not get a good workout
• Baby Sis gives me tons of clothes
• Big Sis sends me recipes she finds that she thinks I would like
• Baby Sis makes long runs very bearable
• Big Sis understands my obsession with Nine Inch Nails and Trent Reznor
• The three of us can tell one another ANYTHING

There is your daily cheese. Enjoy your Tuesday!

Are you close with your siblings? Feel free to spread some cheese!

More Garage Sale Hoopla

Evening, folks! It has been a great day. The Lover, Nana and I went to check out beds for Big Boy. We decided on a bunk bed that can be separated into two beds. Might as well get Baby Boy's bed while we're at it! Unfortunately, the bed is on back order until April 2nd. We went ahead and ordered it. Two hours later, we were finished bed shopping. Who knew it would take so long? Nana treated me to a peppermint mocha from Starbucks. My favorite coffee combo EVER.

After we got home and got more garage sale bidness taken care of, I set out for a short 3 miler. It went really well. The weather was wonderful and actually got pretty toasty. While running, a truck honked at me. I don't mind honking when Donna and I are running at work because the honking is usually from co-workers encouraging us. However, when the truck honked today, it scared the bejeezus out of me! I thought it was because I was in their way but nope, just being obnoxious. After that, I kind of felt nervous so I turned my MP3 way down and kept looking around. Better safe than sorry, huh?

Post-run, I had a Green Monster.

My GM contained:

• 1T flax
• 2 handfuls spinach
• 1 banana
• 1.25 cup soy milk
• 4 cucumber slices

I definitely dug the cukes in the GM. It tasted super fresh. On the side, I had apricots and cashews.

We picked the boys up from school and hit up Target for a few necessities. I had a slice of cheese pizza as a super late lunch. Sorry, no pic :0(. For "binner" (breakfast + dinner), I'll be having brekkie leftovers.

Here are a few pics of what we have gone through for the g-sale:

We still have more in the house to take out. Whew we've accumlated a lot of stuff over the years! I remember when we moved in and I thought we'd never get enough stuff to fill the house. Bahaha.

Would you advertise your garage sale on Craigslist? We're thinking about it but I'm not 100% certain.

PS - Peep out this awesome giveaway Lisa is doing! Ch-ch-check it out!

Countdown!

Awww yeah! T minus 2 hours until I am on vacation until next Monday! I'm doing the Roger Rabbit (mentally). I have tons of work to knock out first so this will be a quickie.

Check this out:

These were Big Boy's first boots and they were passed on to Baby Boy. I thought about selling them (very briefly) but I got choked up so no way . I can't do it.

Pre-run snack-a-roo was an apple and Artisana's cashew butter.

The butter was nice and creamy. Out of all the butters I've tried so far, the walnut one is my favorite! I wasn't a huge fan of the almond butter. The cashew went well with my apple and was a great pre-run snack.

Miss D and I set out on our run today so excited. The sun was shining and though the wind was pretty strong, we weren't stuck on the dread treadmill so woohoo! I wish I had brought my cell with me so I could have timed myself. I felt like I started off really strong and was running at a great pace. :0) I love runs like that.

We did lots of chatting during Mile 3 so I suggested we sprint part of the way. She said, "This is my sprint! Don't you recognize a sprint when you see one?" She so funny! She make me laugh long time. (Hi Donna!)

Lunch was exactly the same as my dinner from last night.

I stuffed those pita halves to bursting capacity! Is it weird that I use the Baby Boy's food containers and plasticware? They are the perfect portion sizes, I tell ya.

Total tangent here but I'm listening to this on-line radio station that plays hits from 2000 until present. I'm digging it! Totally makes me jam in my office and I get funny looks but I'm rockin'! Give it a whirl: http://player.play.it/player/aolPlayer.html?v=4.10.47&ur=1&us=1&id=2223

I'm Hongree!

What is the deal today? I have been non-stop ravenous. At about 1000 AM, I had part of this yummy Amazing Grass berry bar. Oh. My. Yum. I am quickly becoming addicted to AG products.

An hour later, my tummy was rumbling again! So I had the other half of the AG berry bar and two cuties. I think these are the last of the mega bag we bought.

Donna and I sprinted to the gym. It was drizzling and quite chilly. We got our run on and let me tell ya, I totally do not love running on the "dreadmill." It used to do the trick for me but running outside is my preference. The 3 miles seemed like they were snail's pace. I even did some speedwork, hoping it would make the time pass faster. Finally, I bumped my speed up to 8.5 - this is almost yakking point for me lol. When it was time to head back to the office, the rain was really coming down. A couple wonderful co-workers picked us up in a golf cart. We still got soaked but not "wet t-shirt" level ;0).

Lunch was so satisfying!

Boca burger + farmers cheese + asparagus = AH-MAY-ZING! I've never heard of farmers cheese but it's a white cheese that has a mild flavor. So good! I had super sweet grapes on the side. They look a bit like olives . . .  Side view of my heaven sammich.

The asparagus was leftover from last night's din. I roasted them in the oven at 500 degrees for 10 minutes. They were lightly coated with butter and sprinkling of salt. So simple!

No clue what I'm whipping up for dinner. Ideas? Anyone? Do you plan ahead on meals or just wing it?

Tropical Saturday

Good morning to you! Sorry for the lack of posting yesterday. Work was insane in the brain! In a good way. :0) However, I was able to squeeze in a fantastic 3 mile run. Originally, I planned on 2 but it was another day where I felt I could keep going. Faboosh. Just faboosh. Donna and I ran with another lovely co-worker. Running with company definitely mixes it up and keeps it fun.

I didn't have that mini-pocket in my shorts for my office key so I had to be smarter than the average bear.

After my quick and very simple lunch of almond pilaf, black beans and carrots (w/ hummus for dipping), I was off to a meeting that was very l-o-n-g..

I didn't take any pics of dinner but I had tofu and veggie lo mein that rocked my face off! I'm doing a bit of carb loading lol.

This morning, I woke up to two happy boys. After getting the necessary coffee jolt to the system, I made a supe delish brekkie, thanks to Oh! Nuts. They sent dried apricots and cashews to review.

Big Boy and The Lover are huge nut freaks so the cashews were a hit! Big Boy also went loco on the dried apricots. I had to cut him off. :0)

Baby Boy and I shared Tropical Bulgur Wheat for breakfast.

The bowl o' goodness contained:

• 1/2 cup bulgur wheat prepared with 1 1/8 cup water
• a handful of chopped cashews
• 2 diced apricots
• 1/2T shredded coconut
• 2t brown sugar

Prepare bulgur wheat according to package directions. Add brown sugar, mix well. Top with cashews, aprictos and coconut. Easy-peasy and very pleasey. Baby Boy went to town on it. The cashews gave breakfast a nice crunch and the apricots were nice and chewy. Very good! Two spoons up!

So . . . I had planned on running 11 miles today but I'm going to take a rest day and do some yoga to stretch out my leggies and arms. With the intense strength training and running, my muscles have been very sore and tight. I really should stretch after working out but I haven't. I know it's a no-no. Trust me, my head in hanging in shame. I'll be tackling those 11 miles tomorrow. I believe it will be pretty windy so that will suck but that's ok. It is good conditioning for the halfie!

I'm off to get ready for the diz-ay. Oh dang. I promised I would stop that. Oops! My older niece's 4th birthday party is today. The boys will love it! Interesting story: Both my niece and Big Boy were originally due on the exact same day almost 4 years ago. My sister-in-law, Brandy, and I were stoked to be preggo together. However, Big Boy made his entrance 6 weeks early so he's older than she is by 5 weeks. We then got preggo together with our second babies (creepy huh?) and my younger niece is 5 weeks older than Baby Boy!

Have a faboosh Saturday, lovelies!

Spaghetti Arms II

Oh. My. Hell. I got my booty handed to me again! I wasn't able to do my strength sesh on Tuesday because work was insane but seriously, I could tell skipping that day affected today's session. I will definitely be feeling it tomorrow! I've considered adding a third day of strength but honestly, I don't have the time. So two days of strength will have to do for now but wowzers. We did upper body today: deltoids, triceps, chest, shoulders and biceps. Then we did core. Core is killer. Without the Jillian Michaels' DVDs, I can't imagine even doing what I did today. It was amazing until the last 5 - 10 minutes. All I could think about was my hunger and I noticed I was losing my form and just getting goofy. Good thing we wrapped it up soon after!

Before workout snackaroo were two cuties. I have more to eat before they go bad so you'll see these for a few more days. :0) I also raided my grape stash and had a Wasa cracker an hour after I had the cuties. I was stah-ving.

After the workout, I tried to fix my hair because it came out of my pony. It was interesting because of the quivering arms but I did it! Ha! In your face, Hair!

I eagerly tore into my lunch! I had a scrumptuos sweet potato and black bean burger. Carrots, celery and hummus on the side.

Alternate view:

I had juicy, sweet grapes for dessert.

Nana is picking up the boys from school so I'm debating if I want to get a quick run in after work. Decisions, decisions!

So Energized!

Though it's been busy, I was determined to get out for a run today. I was still a bit bummed by my run on Monday and skipping yesterday's strength sesh. Pre-run, I had a banana and some Barney butter. That stuff is delish!

Once Donna and I stepped foot outside, I knew it was going to be a great run. It's absolutely beautiful! It didn't take long to get a good sweat going. Tackling the hills didn't seem quite as hard like it did on Monday. Yay! I dropped her off at Mile 3 and kept going. I only planned on doing 5 but went ahead and did 6. Whoop! Don't you just love when you feel like you could keep going?

Once I got back to the office, cooled down and guzzled a ton of water, it was lunch time. It is very simple but one of my faves.

I had an apple and white cheddar sandwich with the rest of the apple and sliced tomato on the side. I wish we had a toaster oven at work but a microwave did the trick to melt the cheese.

BOMB! And so satisfying! I'm jamming to Carrie Underwood's (aka, The Lover's girlfriend) "Cowboy Cassanova." What's up fellow Okie!

What's your favorite thing to eat for lunch?

What's Up, Doc?

Wow, time is flying by for me and I feel like I have so much work to do! Earlier, I had an apple snack attack.

I think I'm going to quit putting my apples into cups. It's not very green of me to use cups every time. Oopsie!

I had my snack way too early. By the time my run rolled around, I was hungry again. I had 1/3 of my Amazing Grass energy bar.

I was leary of the bar. I mean, come on. It's green!

But oh my goodness, it's good! Check your teeth after eating because you'll get some green goodness in the pearly whites!

Donna and I went for our run and about 1.75 miles into it, we picked up another co-worker to join us. All in all, we got 2.5 miles in. Totally a guess. I decided to take it easy on my left knee this week. It's been popping and hurting a bit and I didn't want to exacerbate it by logging too many miles.

Lunch was rushed and kind of a mish-mash of a few leftovers.

I had:

• leftover cous cous (it's finally gone!)
• a black bean and spinach salad topped with cheddar crumbles
• two carrots
• hummus on the side for dipping (not shown)

Though it was thrown together, it was quite tasty. I've been running around the office with a carrot hanging out of my mouth. GEEK CITY! Donna surprised me with some mittens I've been coveting!

And they double as fingerless gloves!

I am so lucky to have such great friends. I love that lady!

I am not sure I will be able to blog at all this weekend until Sunday evening. Just a heads up, kids! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and I'll miss my bloggie friends!