Ari's Menu

Little changes making a big difference.


Archives for October 2011

Impatient Salad Making

· by ·

You know what I hate most about making salads? Putting away ingredients! I always complain to Steve about how I hate putting everything away at the end and he looks at me like I’m lazy and ridiculous, but seriously! When I start taking everything out, it’s exciting–Oooohhh I could add this and this and THIS! Then the chopping is semi therapeutic–that or I’m a freak, well I am a freak, but not sure that is the main reason 😉 Anyway, by the end when my salad is looking delicious and my stomach is growling in anticipation, I always get so annoyed that I have put a million and one ingredients away before I can eat. Boo. Today I was especially sad to put away the ingredients from this salad

 

Romain, tomato, cucumber, low fat cottage cheese, reduced fat feta cheese, red bell pepper, carrots, cilantro, black bean burger, and salsa. So many things to put back in the fridge after! But totally delicious and worth it. This may sound like the silliest thing ever, but I am a messy person who hates mess and loves salads. This is my life.

I started my day with Linda’s spin class! Linda is prob my favorite of all the gym teachers. This woman just ran a freaking marathon on Sunday and was here today kicking ass on the bike with us. She pushes me, she inspires me, and I want to be like her. Today was challenging, as always, buuuuuuut—I upped my flat road to gear 10!!! Whoot! I was so excited about it–double digits! She said there is one man who’s flat road is gear 14! Well, not that I’m competitive or anything, but obviously, I have to get to 15.


In other news, I am determined to recreate my own sugary kids cereals the healthy way. Any ideas where I can find some base recipes? Especially Lucky Charms! I spent a while looking today with no luck, but when I added a few marshmallow (yes, dad–the Kosher kind!) to my left over Koala Crispies, I knew I had to conquer one of my favorite bad for me foods in the world–cereal! Hopefully coming soon!

I’m off to watch some Biggest Loser and then get some rest! I have an early run with Kara in the am!

Technology Fail

· by ·

Hi friends, happy Monday! Today is actually pretty fantastic because I thought I didn’t have to work until 2:40, but then I realized I don’t have to work until 5:30! Hooray!! I got up nice and early to start my run at about 6:15, but I had forgotten to charge my phone which meant I would have no music, so I stuck it on the charger, caught up on some blog reading for half an hour and then figured it should be ready. It was, but my Garmin which I had charged yesterday stilllll said low battery >:(

Uggghhh so frustrating. I tried to put it back on for a few minutes, but it was no use. I stared at it dumb founded for a good minute. Derrrrrr. What do I do now? I live in the 21st century and don’t know what to do with out fancy gadgets. Then I had a stroke of genius remembered that I actually am an intelligent human being and that I did actually run a few times before I got good ole Garmie. I remembered the 3 mile route I had been taking around my hood and set out feeling naked with no Garmin to keep track of my time or distance. It was hard to push myself at the end with out it, but I still covered a little over 3 miles in about 30 minutes. It was a good run, I just hate not knowing exactly, you know?

I came home and made the most delicious breakfast sandwich ever. I toasted a sandwich thin, spread 1 tbs almond butter on one half, and 2 tbs pumpkin and a couple drops of sugar free maple syrup on the other, then topped with lots of chia seeds and half a sliced banana. Yum

I always read blogs where they say they ate half a banana and I always wonder what happens to the other half? I tried to wrap mine back in the peel, but ended up eating the rest when I got back from Starbucks anyway haha, I spent a couple hours at Starbucks working on choreography and catching up on blogging. I still have so much more to get done, but honestly can barely find the motivation to do anything other than sit on my butt and eat. Yikes. This girl needs a vacation! Back to work on Fiddler ‘ography. Have a lovely day everyone!

Date Night: The Yard House

· by ·

With my crazy schedule, I almost started to forget what Steve looked like there for a while! Saturday my friend John Luke offered me comp tickets to go see a show with him after Aladdin tech, and as much as it would have been a great opportunity (he wanted to introduce me to a producer he works with), the idea of being at the theater all day, and then going and putting on my professional face and talking myself up seemed about as fun as shoving an ice pick in my eye to maybe not be the best choice for my mental health. Steve and I had been kind of talking about having a date, but I wasn’t sure what was going to be happening that night, so mid way through rehearsal I texted him and said “Date night!” He immediately responded asking where to which I replied “Anywhere new with beer.”

Last weekend he had gone to The Yard House with his brothers and told me they had over 100 beers on tap! I was obviously beyond jealous, so that is where he picked 🙂 Aaaaannnd the restaurant was super close to the theater so my amazing step dad ended up giving him a ride so I could meet him and only have one car. The Yard House has an upscale pub feel–you can drink beer and feel classy. Perfection. The second I sat down, I opened right to the beer page. I started with a vanilla porter that was absolutely delicious.

I tried to make it last as long as possible, but I am a fast drinker. I down my iced coffee in about 2 seconds, and when beer is delicious, it is hard for me not to just down it. Bad habit, Ari. Just before dinner arrived I ordered a blend of a chocolate stout and some fruity beer. I had high hopes.

But I did not like it AT ALL. Yuck. Gross. Icky. Boo. Luckily, Steve thought it was good.

“Look at meeee! I have two beers!” What is it with people and needing two of things? I’m not happy at home unless both of the puppies are sitting on my lap and I can pronounce “I have two puppies!” When I was little my dad would give me two desserts. One in each hand. It is seriously the best. I’m in tech week and Steve gets two beers? Boo. In gross beer’s place, I ordered a mix of the original vanilla porter with Sam Adams cherry wheat. This one was better, but honestly, I shouldn’t have messed with a good thing and I should have just stuck with what I was enjoying. I only ended up finishing about half of the second one. Trust me, I did not need any more haha.

For dinner, I ordered a roasted veggie sandwich on wheat bread with sweet potato fries.

I was sooooo hungry and it was beyond delicious. I only ate a few of the sweet potato fries, but they were so freaking good. So crispy on the outside, so soft and mushy on the inside and perfectly seasoned. Sweet potato fries are one of those eat sparingly foods that just make me so happy. I also really really love veggie sandwiches. It may not sound that exciting to you, but it’s something that I get all happy about when I see it on the menu. I’m weird.

Steve got fish. His was delicious. Mine was better 🙂

It was so amazing to get to spend some time just the two of us. I did not speak about work the entire night. After dinner, we walked around Scottsdale Fashion Square for a little bit, before heading home and being old and lame sitting on the couch and going to bed at 10pm. Perfection. I love my life long boyfriend. He makes my heart happy and my life full! Date nights are an important part of marriage or any relationship. Make them happen. You need it! 🙂

Eddie’s Birthday

· by ·

Last night, Steve and I went out to PF Changs with our favorite Starbucks friends to celebrate out friend Eddie’s birthday. There were only 8 of us there, but it ended up being the perfect sized group and the three people I didn’t know very well I liked a lot. Steve made Eddie pose for photo testing because he’s super photogenic

Charlie and Mona wanted to pose too!

Mona’s face is priceless. I love that girl!

When I opened the menu I started to stress out a little bit and proceeded to act like a total freak by looking up all the nutritional info on my phone. Yes, I’m crazy and I admit this. I’m working on it. The more I looked at the info and realized that every dish contained 2-5 servings, I started to freak out calmly figure out how to make a smart decision on how to proceed. I ended up ordering what I wanted and asking them to pack half of it in a to go box, so now I have a delicious lunch to look forward to today also. There is always a solution when it comes to making smart food choices, it is just so easy to get overwhelmed and either not enjoy yourself at all, or make a less than fabulous choice.

Dinner was good, but not amazing. I used to love PF Changs, but honestly I am just kind of over chains for the most part. If I’m going to go out to eat, I want it to be somewhere unique where I can try something different, and if it is Asian food, I really just want it to be sushi. I have no interest in the rest other than what I could more healthily and tastily make myself at home (stir fry, pad Thai, etc).

But the company was great. Steve became besties with Luke, a new-ish (at least to me) barista as they laughed about nerdy boy internet things that I don’t understand. Kara and I planned the next two weeks of our training (which hopefully will include a SLUMBER PARTY!!!!!)

And we all had a great time. Oh yeah, and there was some chopstick funniness in there as well…

This is Tori. I didn’t really know her before last night, but she is funny and fabulous!

Aaaannnd my Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Treats were a hit! TAAAAADDDDAAA!!!!

When we got outside, Steve wanted us to pose with the horse statue. Of course it took so much convincing for my to climb things and pose ridiculously in public. I normally have so much more class. 😉

I’m glad I’m not the only ridiculous one!

Then of course the night wouldn’t be complete without a moomoo

Still not 100% sure how or why this happened…

Such a fun night! Happy birthday Eddie!!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Treats

· by ·

Tonight is an other Starbucks birthday! In about an hour, Steve and I will be heading out to PF Chang’s to celebrate our friend Eddie’s birthday. In case you missed Kara’s and Bekki’s birthday posts, I am the resident birthday treat maker and Steve is the resident photographer amongst this group 🙂 Eddie asked for peanut butter chocolate rice krispy treats, and although I was less than excited (these are so easy!), I’m a good listener 🙂 And it ended up being nice because they were fast and I ended up really liking them. Plus they are one of the least unhealthy desserts anyway, so I didn’t have to make too many adjustments.

While I started “baking”, Steve played with his fancy new camera lens and insisted on taking pictures of me. He caught me with only one chin–that’s all it takes to make me happy in a picture 🙂

Maybe next time, he should let me shut the fridge first 😉 Anyway, onto the recipe!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Treats

yield 25 servings

  • 10 oz marshmallows (I used organic vanilla ones from Whole Foods. They’re made with Kosher gelatin so my dad can approve! 🙂 )
  • 2 tbs Peanut Butter & Co White Chocolate Wonderful (or any pb you like really), divided 1 1/2 tbs & 1/2 tbs
  • 1 tsp vanilla nut butter flavoring
  • 6 cups chocolate brown rice cereal such as Koala Crisp
  • 1 tbs fat free half and half
  • 1/4-1/3 cup grain sweetened chocolate chips

Directions:

1) Place marshmallows, vanilla nut butter and 1 1/2 tbs peanut butter in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for approx 2 minutes, stirring after 1 minute, until marshmallow and peanut butter melt together when mixed.

2) Mix in cereal 1 cup at a time.

3) Transfer into wax papered & sprayed 13×9 pan.

4) Use a sprayed  piece of wax paper to push down and evenly distribute.

5) Evenly disperse chocolate chips, pressing them in upside down.

6) Melt remaining 1/2 tbs peanut butter in the microwave.

7) Stir in 1 tbs fat free half and half and a drop of vanilla nut butter.

8 ) Spread in a thin layer on top of bars.

9) Let cool for 1 hour, cut and enjoy!

 

Notice how AMAZING Steve’s photography is getting? Look at that!

I may or may not have already sampled them…

They are delicious 🙂

Skinnified Sunday: White Chocolate Chip Lemon Blondies

· by ·

Hi friends! So I actually made these blondies on Monday after feeling like I hardly got to do any of my normal weekend cooking and had the spontaneous urge to bake, although really, when do I not want to bake? I LOVE lemon pastry. The middle layer of our wedding cake was lemon with cream cheese filling. It’s pretty much one of my favorite things on Earth. Also, I find that brownies are REALLY good with yogurt instead of oil. I almost never use real oil anyway and I never really mind, but I find it works especially well in brownies. So here’s what I started with…

White Chocolate Lemon Blondies

  • 6 tablespoons butter, room temperature
  • 155 grams white chocolate, chopped (reserve 30 grams)
  • 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

My swaps:

  • Nonfat vanilla yogurt for butter (-fat, -saturated fat, -calories)
  • Grain sweetened white chocolate chips and way less of them for white chocolate (-sugar, -calories)
  • Whole wheat pastry flour for all purpose (+fiber, +protein)
  • 5 egg whites for 3 eggs (-fat, -saturated fat, -calories, -cholesterol)
  • 1/2 cup organic cane sugar + 1/3 cup Splenda for 1 cup sugar (-sugar, -calories)
  • 1 tsp coconut extract for 1 of the tsps of vanilla (+yum)

Skinnified White Chocolate Chip Lemon Blondies

yeild 20

  • 6 oz non fat vanilla yogurt
  • 1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 5 egg whites
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup Splenda
  • zest of one large lemon
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp coconut extract
  • 1/4-1/3 cup grain sweetened white chocolate chips

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350.

2) In an electric mixer, combine yogurt, egg whites, sugar, Splenda, lemon zest, and extracts.

3) Add in baking powder, salt and flour.

4) Pour into a greased 9×9 baking sheet.

5) Evenly distribute white chocolate chips on top.

6) Bake for 30 minutes, until set, but gooey.

7) Enjoy!

I cut them pretty small and they only ended up being about 50 calories a piece, so Steve and I decided two + Cool Whip and sprinkles was the perfect serving size 🙂


5 miles? Yup, I can run that!

· by ·

Whooohoooo!!!! 12 hour day work week is over and I survived! Last night in rehearsal, I started to feel it really catching up to me, but I came home, went to bed early, and feel much more ready to take on today! Let’s back track to Thursday morning. Up until Thursday, I had been doing all my training runs by myself, which I actually don’t mind, and I wasn’t expecting to enjoy running with anyone else to be honest. I was afraid one of us would slow the other down or I would feel self conscious, and it also seemed pointless being that I am not someone who really talks while I run. Regardless, I met Kara bright and early Thursday morning at a lake in Chandler to go for a run together.

The sun was just barely coming up and it was beautiful outside. I was surprised to REALLY enjoy the company! The route ended up being kind of an adventure. We were running, then all of the sudden the trail ended and we had to jump a couple low fences and run through this apartment complex. It was different, but it kept things interesting, that’s for sure! We discovered that 1 lap around the lake was about a mile, so we made three laps with all negative splits! Whoot! I believe it was something like 10:47 (it takes these legs about a mile to warm up, and I find that taking that first mile nice and slow makes a HUGE difference to me!), 10:20, 9:53. I could actually look it up in my Garmin for something more exact, but that takes actually getting up off my butt which is totally not happening right now haha. Our last lap, we encountered a flock of ducks just hangin out in our pathway that for some reason totally cracked us up. It is so nice to have someone to share the experience with and LAUGH with! Luckily, Kara and I are really at the same place fitness wise, which makes sense considering we have pretty much the same work out routine. I discovered that I don’t actually have to be a hermit with my running, and company is an amazing thing!

Yesterday, I grudgingly took the day off from working out. It’s been helping so much with my energy level and overall happiness to wake up early and get it finished. I feel more accomplished and productive during the rest of the day! But I knew that since I was running a new distance today, I needed the break. So yesterday, I slept in (well until 6:45 haha), went to work, had an amazing dinner break at True Foods with my assistant choreographer Tasha, and returned to the theater for our final rehearsal before tech. We had a great rehearsal and I am so excited for this show.

If you live in the Phoenix area, please please please, come see Aladdin Jr @ Greasepaint! We open this coming Friday and run for 2 weekends with Friday shows @ 7pm and Sat/Sun matinees @ 2pm. I’m really proud of the work the kids, and all of the artistic staff has put into this show. My harem dancers are rock stars and they impress me every single night!

Okay, onto this morning’s excitingness!!! So now that I am full on in half marathon training mode, it means that my long run every week is a distance I have never run before. Up until I began my training, the farthest I had gone EVER was 3 miles and it was NOT easy. 2 weeks ago it was 4 miles, last week was the 5K (not a new distance, but my first race!) and today was 5 MILES!! Kara arrived at my house at 6:30 this morning. I had planned our run to end at Great Harvest Bread Company which is right across the street from Seattle Espresso (best coffee EVER) and a cute little farmers market. I LOVE having something fun as the end destination of my run. It makes it all worth it!

I was pleasantly surprised at how great I felt during most of the run. We took it slow and steady and I didn’t start to really feel tired until about 4.5 miles. We are not the fastest runners out there, but today Kara and I ran 5 miles for the very first time!

We got close to negative splits, but no cigar. We did do mile 5 in 9:33, however! I am still so amazed by things I never thought I could do. It makes me wonder how many other things in life I perceive as unachievable, or out of reach, that I could actually accomplish. I am a very goal oriented person, and there is almost nothing that makes me feel better than meeting my goals. Today I feel awesome. After we finished, we enjoyed a delicious sample of pumpkin chocolate chip bread (OMG AMAZING!!!) and egg white and turkey sandwiches. I could only eat half–I just don’t have much of an appetite RIGHT after I run. Of course, now I’m hungry again. Then we walked across the street and I did something I have not done in a LONG time.

I used to be awful about my coffee drinks. I had no idea just how bad they were for me, and my very favorite was always Seattle Espresso’s White Russian Mocha. I haven’t one in well over a year, but today I treated myself to a 12 oz double shot non fat hot white russian mocha. It was like heaven.

Then, we walked around the farmers market a bit, I bought some cilantro and a butternut squash. Random, right? Well I ran into Dani and she mentioned a recipe for butternut squash cupcakes which sounded amazing so I had to buy one. After, you know, dancing around with it like a total freak. Can’t take me anywhere 🙂 Now I desperately need a shower and a snack, then I’m off to 6 hour tech rehearsal! Happy Saturday everyone!

Early run & long day

· by ·

Today I worked literally 12 hours straight. When I wasn’t actually teaching, I was driving between jobs, which I can assure you, feels nothing like time off. The funny thing is that today was one of the best days I’ve had in a long time. I started the day with a nice, slow run. Nice and slow? Yeah, I’m weird. After my experience during the Komen, I wanted to take things nice and slowly this morning. I am new to running. I need to take my time and be patient. Today, that is exactly what I did. Nothing spectacular, amazing or impressive, but I felt good the entire time, and felt like I could have gone further which makes me feel a little less scared for my 5 mile run I am planning for Saturday.

After my run, I got ready, made a smoothie to go and had a super productive day at work.  I love when I finish everything I need to do and can add MORE! It never happens in my real life to do lists, so it’s a nice feeling of accomplishment when it can happen at work. Then, I went to job #2, and after a class at job 2, moved on to job #3 for the day–rehearsal! I had left my Wednesday rehearsal last week feeling slightly discouraged. Things just were not coming together the way they normally do and I felt like I had to spend a lot of time being the bad guy. I HATE that. I’m a pretty fun and silly teacher/director/choreographer and when I have to play tough guy, it makes me grumpy. BUT, and this is why I LOVE working with kids, today everything was different! It all finally came together and we felt like a team, a family, and I wanted to cry I was so happy. I put every single thing I have into my work and when my kiddos succeed, I feel like a success. When things go wrong, I take it to heart. Good or bad, I care immensely about what I do.

It’s funny, yesterday I said to John “I just want to quit. I want to choose a different career.” I was frustrated. I’ve been having a lot of frustrations that are more situational than anything else. But every time I start to feel exasperated and begin to think of other careers I could possibly pursue and still be happy–well first of all, I can never think of a single one, but second of all, something always happens that reminds me that I DON’T want to quit and that I absolutely love what I do. I just care so much that bad days are BAD days. Maybe one day I will chill the F out. Then again, this is me.

Well I have to be up in 7 hours to meet Kara for an other training one, so I guess that means it’s my bed time. I haven’t been sleeping well at all, and I’m not tired because I just got home less than an hour ago and I’m still all wound up from work, but maybe once I lay in bed, magic will happen and sleep will occur. Have a great night everyone!

PS: If you haven’t gotten a chance to read about my Whisked Away experience yet, it was pretty amazing and there are about a million pictures 🙂

Whisked Away

· by ·

Wayyyyy back in June, I promised Jason what I thought would be a pretty amazing 30th birthday present–a private (ish–6-8 people) cooking class from Whisked Away. Whisked Away was started by a chef named Maggie and she has all these cool cooking classes right out of her home! So you get to cook in a real normal home kitchen–I mean it was a little fancy, but not like things you couldn’t have in your own home. It took a lot of time and energy to coordinate scheduling with 6 different people with different schedules as well as Maggie’s busy class schedule, but we finally (3.5 months later) got it together!

It actually could not have worked out more perfectly. Race in the morning, cooking class in the evening! Rehearsal in between–wah. When we walked in, there were chairs and recipe packets all set up for us. Luckily, we only sat for the first 10ish minutes–I am a doer, not a watcher and I was getting antsy! As soon as we started cooking, the class began to exceed all of my expectations. First of all, can we talk about how they let you bring wine?!

Also, they had the dinner table all set up for us. So nice!

The class we chose was titled “Elegant Dinner Party”, a 5 course meal including tomato dip, zucchini gratin, polenta souffle, stuffed tenderloin, and bread pudding. I was a little disappointed when I realized that we didn’t get to make each all of it–we each chose a course to work on. But I quickly realized how ridiculous it would have been to have 6 versions of everything! Our group included Steve, Jason, Bethany, Steve’s friend Josh and his girlfriend Ashley. I told Jason he got to choose first since it was his birthday present and of course he chose the meat, and Bethy asked to work on it with him. I quickly grabbed dessert. I know. You’re shocked, aren’t you? Steve wanted the appetizer (tomato dip) so that he could be done more quickly and photograph. Ashley chose the zucchini and Josh chose the polenta.

I was the star student and finished first, so I got to assist with the tomato dip and the polenta. I made sure to rub it in everyone’s face and Jason tried to accuse me of taking the easiest dish! I just really love dessert, okay?!

I must confess that as soon as we looked at the ingredients for all the dishes, my eye immediately went to words like heavy cream and butter. And the measurements next to them 2 cups, 12 tablespoons. I had a little bit of a mini freak out in my mind, and I wanted to say “Oh, would you mind if i went and bought some fat free half and half instead?” I don’t remember the last time I bought HEAVY CREAM. 6 months ago, I wouldn’t have eaten any of it. Not a bite. And I would have cried on the way home. Instead, I breathed, gave myself a pep talk, and let myself relax a little with a couple glasses of wine. I kept my portions small so that I wouldn’t feel guilty, and just let myself enjoy my evening. It was hard at first, but then it wasn’t. And I realized how far I’ve come in finding balance. This Sunday, I made 2 accomplishments: running a race, and eating heavy cream. What a weird sentence. I fully believe they were both equally important to my health, because healthy living begins with the mind 🙂

As we continued on in the cooking, I started talking more to our teacher Kaylyn and Andrea. Turns out they are both runners with an interest in healthy living and Kaylyn has her own work out clothing business! We talking about healthy living blogs, running, training, cooking, and life in general. I was so happy to talk to people who have run races and have similar interests! Their company was definitely an added bonus and a highlight of the evening! I can’t wait to order some of Kaylyn’s amazing positive affirmation clothing–I will need some uplifting work out gear for this half marathon training!

Look at all those people in one kitchen! Those of you who have ever been around while I’m cooking must know I had to take a deep breath not to freak out about everyone being in there at once! Haha. Well the rule is “If you’re in the kitchen, you have to be functional.” Everyone was 🙂

Doesn’t Josh look fancy in his apron? Somehow he ended up with the frilliest one with a boob outline and everything. Hot.


Pre-baked polenta souffle


Steve went to take pictures from the outside to be artsy. Obviously, I was having a blast.

Good job, Bethy and Jasy!

Bring on the meat!!!

My FAV!!! The zucchini gratin. Zucchini + goat cheese + heavy cream. How can you go wrong?

Polenta!!

Once we all finally sat down to dinner

My masterpiece!! Bread pudding with a bourbon butter sauce. Holy deliciousness.

TAAAAADDDDAAAAA!!!!!

It was seriously one of the best nights of my life and I can’t wait until the time when I can return and try again with a new menu. Until then, stay tuned for some skinnified versions!

Early Start

· by ·

Hi friends! Today started off absolutely fantastic. I thought I was crazy last night when I set my alarm for 5am to get up for spin class, and when that mf anxiety kept me up most of the night again, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get my booty out of bed at that hour. Luckily, it only felt slightly awful and I got myself on the road only to realize it wasn’t just a little bit dark. It was like middle of the night dark. Wtf? It totally messed with my brain. Somehow it has become Fall even though it doesn’t feel like it here and during Fall 5am looks like 1am. Yikes!

I was soooo glad that Kara is back from LA and I have my spin buddy back! As soon as we got going, I felt excited to be there. Today was “Cycle Zone” which is supposed to be harder and shorter. It was only slightly shorter and honestly, it all feels hard haha. Definitely not noticeably harder than any of our other spin classes, but it starts at 5:45 instead of the normal early class time of 5:30 and I am a big fan of those extra 15 minutes of sleep 😉

The room was extra chilly this morning and for the first time I experienced dripping sweat while feeling cold at the same time. Regardless of the cold, it was definitely the perfect way to start the day and I left feeling PUMPED!

It was still a little chilly outside at 6:45 and I was still feeling cold from the room so I got my first hot coffee of the season! It was so delicious. Steamed soy is one of my absolute favorite things on Earth!

This morning really made me think–what if my work out was finished by 7am every morning? How much more could I get done? Would it give me that extra time I need for myself, or would I just go crazy from lack of sleep? I definitely liked the way it made me feel and had a pretty great day because of it.

Sunday I got a text from my amazing friend Jodie (she is directing Aladdin. I love her so very much.) that said that they were doing scene work in rehearsal tonight and that I could take the night off–Hallelujah!!!!! That meant I got done with work at 3pm!!!! I ran straight from work to meet Kara at the Roadrunner store where we got our running analyzed and I drooled over expensive work out clothes. Turns out my shoes aren’t so bad for what I need, but they would be better with $80 insoles. That’s not happening today, but it was interesting none the less.

After we left, I met John for coffee and we walked around downtown Tempe for a little bit before spontaneously deciding we both deserved manis and pedis! YES!!!!! We went to a place I’ve never been called Bella Salon and Spa in Tempe. As soon as we walked in, they were so friendly and once we sat down, we were brought bottled water. Also, they did not skimp on the massage part. It was so amazing to sit there and be pampered! And it was way less expensive than the place I usually go. I ended up with very October themed nails and toe nails 🙂

Aside from some work things that are bugging me more than I would like to admit, today was an absolutely fantastic day. I always feel so much prettier with my nails done and there is something so nice about just feeling pretty. It’s worth a little extra money sometimes!

Susan G Komen Race for the Cure Recap!

· by ·

Hello friends! It has been a super crazy weekend and the business just keeps coming.

Now for my very first ever RACE RECAP!!! Sunday morning Steve and I woke up bright and early at 5:45 to get ready and head out for the race. I’d hardly slept because I was so excited/nervous/anxious to participate in my first race. We met Jason at his house and then headed into downtown Phoenix where thousands of people had gathered to participate in this event. It was pretty inspiring how many people had devoted their early Sunday morning to be there. When we arrived, we met up with Nacho and wandered around a little checking out the different booths.

Those super cute pink shorts were purchased special on Saturday for the race. I wanted to be festively pink from head to toe from the occasion. Even my socks were pink, but you can’t see them in this picture 🙂

Steve wandered off to play photographer while Jason, Nacho and I got ready for the race. As we were getting ready, the breast cancer survivors lined up for their run which began shortly before ours. As soon as I saw them lining up I got unexpectedly emotional. Something about seeing people who have survived something so big out there running–it just hit something and we all know I’m a big emotional basket case anyway. After they took off, I pulled it together and got ready to begin myself.

Of course today of all days Pandora decided to totally suck. I couldn’t get my application to load on my phone and from then on my music was intermittent to non existent. Boo. Anyway, they counted us off and I immediately became annoyed by the crowd of people in front of me keeping my pace to a slow crawl. I have a patience problem. I’m aware of it. I’m working on it, but it’s not getting better fast enough.

Finally after about 5 minutes, the crowd thinned out enough for me to find my own pace. This is where I made my big mistake. I wanted to make up time, plus my adrenaline was kicking. Add that to being a super competitive person (I have a hard time when children beat me in board games), and you get the big mistake of starting off too fast for your own good. Of course later that day I read on an other blog how starting off too fast in the beginning is the fastest way to kill your time. I started running at an 8:50-9:00 pace, which considering my fastest pace for a similar distance was 9:40, was way too fast for my running fitness level.

A little after the 2 mile mark, it really started to hit me. I got a big cramp in my side (who gets cramps?!) and my tummy started to really bug me. Finally, I gave in to my body and took a few walking breaks. I was so upset because I really wanted to run the whole thing, but I had just worn myself out too quickly and knew I was going to have to walk a little if I wanted to keep going. Finally, I turned a corner and could see the finish line. I got so excited, and I wanted to make up for the lost time in my walking breaks, so I began sprinting towards it. Unfortunately, it was further away than it looked. So deceiving, that finish line! Meanwhile, I’m running at a 7:40 pace (yes, I do check my Garmin pretty religiously–it’s new and shiny!), and feeling like I’m about to die, but you canNOT stop, walk, or slow down once the finish line is in sight–isn’t that some sort of unwritten rule? Well it was in my brain, so I chugged along, and once I finally crossed that finish line, my stomach pains came full force and I wanted to collapse on the ground. It felt so much harder than I imagined it would considering I have run this distance and longer! But I definitely learned a valuable lesson about pacing myself. If anyone had told me to slow down at the beginning of the race, there is no way I would have listened. I just needed to experience it myself.

I REALLY wanted to finish in under 30 minutes. Well my friends, that didn’t happen. Not even close. But, even with my lame-o walking breaks, I still managed to finish with an average pace of 9:58 which isn’t too bad for my very first race.

As I caught my breath, I went to meet Steve, but we had location difficulties and I ended up waiting by myself until Jason and Nacho came up to meet me. Of course, as I was sitting there alone, I became a much less than perfect wife and got super grumpy with Steve because I wanted to see him the second I crossed the finish line. I really wanted to share the moment with him, but it ended up that by the time I saw Jason and Nacho, it almost didn’t feel real anymore. I expected to feel this huge sense of accomplishment, but all I could think about how I didn’t meet my goals and how if a 5K was this hard, how am I ever going to run a half marathon in January?! So unproductive, I know! Who finishes their first race and can’t enjoy it?! My attitude needs a serious adjustment, otherwise it’s just going to make things harder! Does anyone else have a really hard time feeling accomplished and not focusing on what could have been better?

After a while, we finally met up with Steve and headed to brunch at St Francis! As soon as I looked at the brunch menu, I immediately wanted to order everything on it, as well as a cocktail at 10am. Is that bad? 🙂 Well, I did not ending ordering a drink, and tried to order mindfully because we had plans later that evening to take a cooking class (more on that awesomeness to come!) To start, we got an order of the fingerling potatoes to share.

Jason and Steve won best menu selection with their skillet of red wine marinated pot roast and eggs. I had a bite. It was pretty much like heaven in your mouth.

I ordered an egg white omelet with goat cheese, and marinated mushrooms and onions. It was the perfect balance of healthy and delicious, and they gave me so many mushroom! Yum!

I even had one of the pieces of bread with some delicious raspberry jam. It may have been my favorite part of the whole meal. Wait, actually my favorite part was my one bite of Steve’s food. Must recreate somehow.

After we finished eating, we posed for some post race photos.I decided that even though it was a non competitive race, we were the winners and should pose as such. And because I finished first, I was in first place and needed to stand higher up in the middle. Obviously.

You can see my pink socks in this one! ^^^

I absolutely love these guys and I am so glad I got to experience my first race with them! When Jason and I were talking he said “I just never would have believed it if anyone would have told me I would be doing this with you.” Sometimes it’s easy to forget where you came from. The first time I attempted to run on a treadmill, I quit after 10 seconds. “I can’t do it.” I said to my friend Mandie. Convinced I was right. Convinced that it wasn’t an excuse.

My personal running mantra that I always repeat to myself when things get tough is “I can do anything.” To me, that sums everything up. I never thought I could lose 70 lbs. When my entire life revolved around food and counting my calories, I never thought I would find balance between who I was before and who I had become. I never thought I would reach my goal of participating in a race–any race. And I certainly never thought I would announce to the world that I was training for a half marathon. I also never thought I would be able to learn how to dance or sing, or be good enough to get my BFA. But every single goal I have put my mind to in life, I have achieved. I can do anything.

The first time I wrote this post, I pressed published and it all disappeared. I freaked out a little, cried, and then went to write round two. But the first time, I didn’t get to the part where I reflected where I came from, and as someone who believes everything happens for a reason, maybe I needed to start over so that I could give myself a little credit, and remind myself that I.Can.Do.Anything. You know what? So can you.

Thanks for reading, everyone. This one is pretty important to me 🙂

Negative Nancy

· by ·

If you’ve spent any time with me the last couple of days…well…ummm…I’m sorry. I kind of really suck lately. Yesterday was like the terrible horrible no good very bad day. A day where I should have locked myself in my house with Winston, Clementine and ANMT reruns, but the thing about being a grown up is you can’t really take mental health days anymore. You just have to push through. I started off the day feeling no motivation, skipped the gym and went for a walk to try to convince myself I wasn’t being a lazy bum and the day just went down hill from there. Nothing exceptionally bad happened, but when you are exhausted and over worked, everything seems amplified.

Luckily, today I woke up feeling slightly better, and I had a run to the gym + a yoga class on the agenda. I set out and was feeling great at first, but then I started feeling icky at about the mile point. My stomach was pissed for some reason and I thought I might have to turn around, but I stopped and breathed for a little bit, started to feel better and was back on my way. I stopped again once I was almost there to take a picture of this awesome moment!

>30 minutes!!!!! Okay, so maybe I took an untimed 5 min breather break when I started to feel icky, but I think it still counts! My goal for Sunday has been to finish in under 30, and after today I am pretty sure that I can! I ended up finishing at just under 3.5 miles

Average pace of 9:40!!! I was so stoked when I saw that! I hadn’t gone through my history yet and looked at things like average pace and calories burned, but I did today and saw my average pace steadily getting faster–YES! I’m feeling good about where I am in my training. I have the 5K this weekend and 5 miles scheduled for next weekend which I am nervous about to say the least.

After my run, I stopped into the Starbucks, chugged some water, walked over to the gym and met with the dreaded foam roller. I hate it. It hurts. I think I’m going to buy one for my house because apparently I’m some kind of masochist. Then I went in for a relaxing yoga class. I was able to use the class for my own benefit much more than normal and get what I wanted out of it without worrying what anyone else was doing which was a nice step for me!

After Yoga I wanted to eat my arm off (I just cannot eat before I run). Hank picked me up at the gym–I’m so lucky to have such a helpful family!–and I came home and made basically the most delicious bowl of oatmeal ever. I don’t know–I always make it almost the exact same way: oats, almond milk, chia seeds, banana (cooked in the whole time–trust me!), blueberries, fig butter, sunflower seed butter, cinnamon and some sort of extract (today it was almond). I know, my oats are COMPLICATED! And they are always delicious, but today they were extra amazing–probably because I was so hungry!

I love blueberries in my oatmeal, but it always makes the color of the bowl look funky to me. Like greyish. I wish they were prettier. Oh well, my tummy couldn’t care less! Okay, I need a shower and coffee. Then off to lunch with Hank and Charlie, work and then drinks with my soon to be sister in law! Happy Friday everyone!!

Featured Here

Member Of…

FitFluential Is Fitness Found
AZ Bloggers Network
az 150 photo az150_zpsfb093d32.gif

Archives


Image Map