Ari's Menu

Little changes making a big difference.


Lucky Strike

· by ·

A few weeks ago Hermano was given a pass for 2 hours of free bowling at Lucky Strike for up to 8 people. For those of you that don’t know, Lucky Strike is like a fancy bowling alley that is also a full restaurant and bar. As John put it, it’s “businessman central”. Apparently Hermano thinks all my friends are cooler than his so the two of us went along with Steve, Jason, Nacho and John.

While we were waiting for everyone with real jobs to get out of work, Hermano and I hung out at the house with the puppies.

We got there a little before our reservation so we sat down and had some drinks

Unfortunately I’ve come down with some awfulness that is prob just a bad cold, but feels like the plague, so I had water when I really wanted a beer and even still felt progressively worse as the night went on. But that didn’t stop me from at least trying to have some fun!

I like this picture because I look skinnier in it. That's how I judge the quality of a picture. Sorry Steve.

It was obviously a night of serious bowling

My score from both games combined was 85. I am the best person ever to bowl against. Guaranteed win. Except, the second game I did beat Hermano. John and I spent most of the night catching up because we hadn’t seen each other since our pedicures and I MISSED him!! That is, when we weren’t being interrupted by pokes and glares and angry words about how we were holding up the game. Whoops. Sorry friends. John actually bowled pretty well, but spent most of the night complaining about the getting up and down from his seat and energy spent throwing the ball.

He had a long day of singing and dancing. Hard work my friends. 🙂 And to make matters worse, he had to deal with this

And then there was this

Then Steve made us mess with the curtain to be his photo back drop because he thinks every road is his race track and every place we go is his photography studio. 🙂

So of course John and I did a prom pose


At one time we referred to each other as hubby and wifey. Of course, I was the hubby and he was the wifey, but that’s a long story…

I’m so glad we got to go!! And to get the bowling, shoes and 2 appetizers for free? Pretty sweet deal. I wish we would have gotten some food pictures, because this my friends was NOT bowling alley food! They have salads and fancy sandwiches and even some unique flavor combos! I got 2 chicken sliders with tomato soup and it was delicious. Definitely did not taste super healthy, but what can ya do.

It has not been the healthiest week. Other than my physical therapy (which does feel surprisingly like a work out), I haven’t worked out since Monday and I just drowned my sickness sorrows in a bowl of pumpkin ice cream. When I’m sick, all I want to do is sit around and eat ice cream all day. For me, saving up all day for my 4 ounces when I feel like death warmed over is actually kind of an accomplishment. I hope I feel better soon because I am getting super antsy and I want to get out there and RUN!!!! Tomorrow was supposed to be 9 miles, and it’s just not gonna happen 🙁 Doesn’t mean we’re not moving straight to 10 though next week. I will not be set back. I have been dreaming about those double digits for a long time now!

Have a good night friends!!

A Day at the Dog Park

· by ·

Hi friends! Did you check out the new “Who’s Who” tab up there? The “My Story” and “Recipes” are in progress and will hopefully be up soon! This morning began with a 3 mile run

So, here’s the thing. I am super happy with that time. I was sprinting my little heart out, so I’d better be happy with the time. Buuutttt, I REALLY wanted a 7:59 mile. Like it’s all I can think about lately. I want to see it happen and I have tunnel vision.

Mile 3–8:04

F.

One day.

After my run, I ate a quick breakfast, then Steve and I grabbed coffee (obviously) and took Winnie and Clem to the dog park!! Clementine had never been and the weather is so perfect for spending time outside right now!

Winston! Go for a ride??

Winston LOVES running and chasing! Check out this dog in action!

Poor Clemmie was so scared of all the big dogs! She was having it a little rough until little Peewee came along! Cutest dog name ever. All it took was an other mini wiener and Clem was ready to socialize!

After the dog park, I had to head to rehearsal. Steve drove up with me so he could meet up with his mom and sister since they live even further than the 40 minute commute to rehearsal (When are you guys gonna move to the East Valley?! Seriously!). Today’s rehearsal was seriously amazing. In fact this weekend was the first time since Aladdin that I actually felt good at my job. I’m just kind of burnt out, so projects that I feel less passionate about are feeling really tedious, but Fiddler I am passionate about for sure and today it finally felt like everything started to come together. I got to really push some of my actors and saw some amazing results. I can’t wait to get this show into the theatre and really see it come together!

After rehearsal, Steve, Lisa, Ashleigh and I went to dinner at Sweet Tomatoes. I have seen so little of my family lately it seems that it was nice to spend some time with them! I miss my little sister!

 

I just can’t wait until Thanksgiving (what?? me?? I know, you’re shocked. You had no idea I was so excited for Thanksgiving) when we can all be together for the whooollllleee day!!

State Fair

· by ·

You know what else happens here in the Fall that I love??? The state fair!!! Ever since I was really young, it was a tradition for my dad to take me every year. I remember playing all the games until one of us (well let’s be honest–it was never me) won the exact prize I wanted. I remember my dad carrying around huge arm fulls of stuffed animals. I remember always taking home the delicious fair fudge. For some people fair food is about deep fryers. For my family, it is the fudge. Last year, schedules did not work out and we never got to go together. Booooo. This year we tried to go, drove there and then realized it was closed on Tuesdays. Double booooooo. But luckily, last night it all finally worked out!!! Hooray!! Hermano and I were stoked.

The weather was pretty awful (of course the ONE night is is windy and rainy in Phoenix is the night we go to the fair) so Steve left his camera at home, and all of these horrible quality photos were taken from my cell phone. We’ll all live with the bad photos. The world will not end 😉

As soon as we walked in we walked right up to my least favorite part of going to the fair with Hermano and my dad…

They will seriously spend HOURS at the basketball games sometimes!! Luckily (for me, anyway), this one was ridiculous and lame, so they each tried once and then we were able to be on our way.

You were supposed to make 8 shots in 15 seconds. Can you even TAKE 8 shots in 15 seconds? Well I can tell you who definitely can NOT: My Dad. He still has some moves on him, but they are ssssslllllooooowwwwww moves. Speed is not his forte 😉 Hermano either, but I think he at least took 8 shots haha.

Then we came right up to my fair weakness–the fudge stand!! Did I mention that a long run day may not be the best day to be surrounded by tons of tempting food? I’m always a bottomless pit on those days! And of course, they had PUMPKIN FUDGE. Yummmm. I was going to just pass by and let it be, but my dad offered to get a piece so that I could have a bite because all I really wanted was a taste. Couldn’t say no to that! He ended up getting the black forest flavor and Hermano and I split a half slice of pumpkin which the nice lady cut into tiny bite size pieces. It was sooooo sweet that all I ended up even wanting was a small piece, but it did the trick!

We also did a couple of fun houses. Yes, they are a little lame, but they are still fun to me!

Obviously Hermano is a pro.

After posing for this shot, one of the fair guys came up and tried to help Hermano. He thought he had actually fallen and was hurt. Nice to know those fair people are there to help! Better than the carnie with no teeth that told Steve I should put out because he won me a stuffed animal. Yikes. That was a few years ago, I was much more impressed with the carnies this year 🙂

One of the best parts was this entertainment show we stumbled across. First I thought it was sword swallowing, but then it turned out to be torch juggling

This guy was not only talented, but pretty hilarious. Also, the drunkies around shouting ridiculously were pretty entertaining.

There were blades! Just not being swallowed. Instead, they were juggled on a unicycle on a tight rope. I was only mildly afraid of one of them flying out and chopping my head off.

After the show, we all did the bumper cars which were….ummmm…well they were okay. We had fun even though the cars themselves kinda sucked.

Steve kept complaining about the steering and technical capabilities haha. He’s such a car nerd. Steve and I also did one of those dress up antique pictures where we dressed as pirates, and Hermano and I went on the ride where it takes you up in the air and drops you.

Then we had an amazing dinner that I took no pictures of because I was too hungry at our family’s favorite restaurant–Avanti’s!! It is seriously the best Italian food in the world. I am not the biggest fan of Italian these days, but it sounded amazing last night. I ended up with some delicious salmon with a lemon sauce and taking bites of the real amazing stuff–everyone else’s pasta. I just can’t eat a whole dinner of pasta anymore. I don’t like the way I feel after, but that doesn’t stop me from sneaking bites from everyone else’s! Then Hermano played piano–on weekends they have a live pianist, but they always let Jacob play! It’s so awesome!! He did amazing and even got  $20 tip from a stranger! Sweeeeeet!! I was also coerced into singing with him which went better than you would expect at 10pm after a glass of wine haha.

All in all, amazing night with my amazing family. 🙂

Our Halloween

· by ·

Hi friends! How was everyone’s Halloween? Ours was perfect. I had been so bummed thinking I was going to have to work on Halloween, but it all worked out and we were able to cancel rehearsal and I was able to spend a relaxing night with my fav guys which was exactly what I needed! Steve, Hermano, Winston and Clementine left around 5pm to head over to Jason’s. “Winston! Clementine! Wanna go for a ride to uncle Jason’s?!” Winston knows English better than Clementine and started whining and running around in circles. So cute. We have to spell things like ride, treat, and walk in front of him if we’re not actually planning to make it happen. Learned that lesson the hard way. As soon as we opened the car door, they both jumped right in, tails wagging.

Once we got there, we put Steve and Hermano on trick or treater duty and Jason and I headed to the store to buy some things we needed for dinner. We made “spaghetti” and spicy meat sauce

with a spinach salad

and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

Everything was delicious and I will be posting recipes ASAP!

After dinner and once trick or treating died down (Jason gets sooo many! We ran out of candy. Whoops.) We played with the puppies and Winston got to spend some quality time with his girlfriend Nico.

You can’t see it too well in the picture above, but this year, Winston dressed up as a rooster!

And Clementine was a bee!

One of my students suggested we take them trick or treating and that people should pass out dog treats! Brilliance. Unfortunately, I don’t think the rest of the world has caught on, so we gave them our own treats.

Does it make me an old lady is my perfect Halloween is staying in watching movies, cooking dinner, and dressing up my puppies?

What’s your favorite part of Halloween?

More Than Half Way!!

· by ·

Let me tell you, Saturday was a CRAZY day! I didn’t get to bed until almost 1am on Friday after the Fez fiasco, and I really thought my planned long run was going to be ruined because of it. But I got my butt out of bed at 5:40 and told myself I was going to make it happen. I must say, having the blog is fantastic for keeping me accountable. I tell everyone about my long runs in advance. Anyone who reads regularly expects a long run/new distance recap at this point. I am a people pleaser, so I have that extra kick when I would really rather sleep in. And the thing is, I am ALWAYS happy I did it. Always.

By the end of our first mile, I was already happy we had gone out and feeling pretty good. Then we got to mile 4 and I thought “Really?! I still have 3 miles to go?! Uuugghhhh.” But then something amazing happened! Once we hit mile 5, my attitude changed, I pumped it into gear and thought “Two miles?! Pssshhh, I’ve got this.” And I picked up my pace! Then we got to mile 6, and I got so excited about the idea of being done that I picked up my pace even more! We finished at T.C. Eggingtons in 1 hour, 12 minutes and 23 seconds. I am totally good with that time!

So at this point my fabulous husband took all sorts of pictures of us and celebrating completing our mileage and our delicious food. And then my fabulous husband deleted said photos because he thought he had transferred them. He hadn’t. At first I was super disappointed when I found out this morning, but then I got creative, drove to Starbucks and insisted to Kara that we do a reinactment of the moment.

“Grrrrr, you deleted our photos!”

“Wheeee, we ran 7 miles and are much less sweaty this photo shoot!”

“We are sooo hard core!!!”

“Look at our time! Pretty sweet, right?”

“And in case you didn’t realize how awesome we could be on 5 hours of sleep, check out our last mile! Why yes, that is an 8 in front of that 59!”

Unfortunately, this was the first time I felt a significant amount of pain after a long run. My right hip was really hurting and so was my left heal. Plus my achilles are always sore after. I was really worried and limping a little. I downed some meds, iced EVERYTHING and forced myself to get waist deep in the pool trying to simulate an ice bath since apparently there is no stopper for our tub. The good news is, I woke up this morning feeling totally normal! I just need to continue to be really careful and take good care of myself!

After our run and breakfast, I showered (you’re welcome), cleaned up the house and was off to sing with Jacob at Superstition Springs Mall, from which I headed directly to the theatre for Aladdin! It was definitely my fav of all of the performances. A good day to have 8 people there for me! My mom, Hank, my dad, his girlfriend Janie, my grandma, Steve, Jason, Liz and Bethany all came out to support me! And as if a great run wasn’t enough, during the Q&A the kids totally embarrassed me by answering a question (which complimented my ‘ography!) pointing me out and talking about how great I was. Totally blushed and all kinds of shy, but also I love to be told I’m wonderful 😉

Steve got some more family pics.

Bethy’s birthday celebration followed pretty much immediately. Let me just say, this weekend I have consumed about a week’s worth of iced coffee,  but it has been so worth it. I’m tired and a little cranky, and I forget what free time actually feels like, but I love my life. My husband, my family, my friends, my career, my puppies. All of it. Hope you all are feeling as lucky as I am this evening 🙂

Counting Down to Thanksgiving!

· by ·

Hi friends! Today I am super productive in all the wrong ways. I have SO MUCH work to do, but can’t tear myself away from Thanksgiving planning long enough to do any of it. I’m a little burnt out on work, obviously. This morning started out amazingly. I got to sleep until 7:00 which is a really nice change for me, then I resisted the urge to get up and get things done and laid in bed and snuggled with my favorite guys. Winston is so funny in the morning. He rolls around and gets all up in my business and is perfectly content staying in bed for hours if I stayed there with him. I love that dog 🙂

I also woke up with absolutely no work out plan since Kara and I had decided not to do spin. I REALLY wanted to take today off because my body is tiiiiired, but I know I have to take tomorrow off in order to have fresh legs for our 7 mile long run on Saturday, so I took Winnie out on a short and easy (hah yeah right, even a jog is NEVER easy for me, but I wanted to be one of those people who talks about an “easy run” for a second) jog around the neighborhood. We went 1.6 miles, and called it good. At least I got some movement today, right? Yeah, I’m being a little lazy. Maybe tomorrow if I have time I will go and do some upper body to make me feel like less of a lame-o.

After our jog, I showered and made myself a pumpkin pie smoothie and headed top Starbucks to get some “work” done. But so far all I’ve done is decide that one project cannot be done on my computer, and spend a ridiculous amount of time browsing Thanksgiving recipes. I am hoping to get my recipes together ASAP and post them before Thanksgiving, that way if anyone would like to snag one and use it, you will be able to. So far, here is the menu

Appetizers:

  • Fresh bread (haven’t decided exactly what kind yet–suggestions?)
  • Sweet potato chips with yogurt dipping sauce
  • Deviled eggs (made by Steve’s mom, Lisa. Hers are deliccciiiooouuus.)

Sides:

  • Stuffing (still haven’t found the right recipe and stuffing is my fav part!! Suggestions?)
  • Soup (butternut squash or sweet potato or pumpkin–or some combo of the 3, got any great recipes?)
  • Roasted garlic mushrooms (made them last year and LOVED them!)
  • Roasted veggies (This girl loves vegetables, so more than one veggie dish is totally acceptable! My mom is making these)
  • My mom’s famous (at least to me) mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top

Turkey:

  • Turkey 😉

Dessert:

  • Pumpkin cheesecake (that I will modify from this recipe. If you’ve never visited Eat Better America, DO IT!!! Tons of great healthy recipes!)
  • Brownies with BUTTERMILK ICE CREAM!!! (I’ve never made ice cream, let alone tried to modify a recipe–any tips or suggestions?)

And there you have it folks, my 2012 Thanksgiving Menu! I’m so excited I can hardly stand it!! November is right around the corner, and I have my unexpected day off on November 11th to get ready and also do some early holiday shopping. I LOVE THE HOLIDAYS!!!! Also, if any of you AZ peeps I know and love find yourself without a family to spend this Thanksgiving with, PLEASE let me know. My doors are open and I would NEVER want anyone to spend this holiday alone! Sharing food with people I love is the epitome of happiness for this girl 🙂

Free Always Tastes Better

· by ·

Hi friends. It’s funny, today was not a crazy work day, but it’s 8:30 pm and I feel totally wiped. I started this morning by doing some upper body weights with Kara before heading into spin class. I did 2 supersets

Bicep concentration curl (15 lbs, 3 sets of 12)

3 point shoulder lift–I don’t remember the exact name, just that it was for shoulders and my trainer at the time said something about 3 point. I remember that because I smartly remakrd “Oh then I should just use 3 lb weights!” (5 lb each hand, 3 sets of 10)

and

Pushups (3 sets of 15)

Dips (3 sets of 15)

It looks like so little all typed out, but I have sucked big time at my strength training lately and I was feeling it! Then of course spin almost killed me. It seems like every single time I am a good little spin student and push myself to up my flat road, the next class she is telling us whatever we did last time, we need to push it up one higher. The forever student in me wants to raise my hand and ask “But excuse me, what if I raised my flat road last week? Do I raise it again already? Please hold my hand every step of the way and give me all of the answers.” Instead I gave myself a little pep talk that went something like this

“Look, quit b****ing out, and raise your flat road whether you just raised it or not! You want to look good naked!”

So apparently my new flat road is gear 11. That simultaneously sucks and is awesome. I mean I feel awesome that my flat road was 7 and now supposedly it’s 11, but let’s be honest–11 might as well be a hill!!!! It is freaking hard!! And when we go up from there?!?! At the top of the steepest hill today, the last time Linda told us to add a gear, I just looked at Kara and said “Are you Fing kidding me?!” But I love it. Every second. When sweat drips into my eyes and I feel like my legs can pedal no more, I am so happy to be there in the class and not completely suck.

After class I got an other delicious pepperminty iced coffee from The Bux. Grande iced coffee, 3 pumps SF vanilla, 1 pump SF peppermint, soy milk, light ice. Perfection. Then I came home and made some cinnamon apple oats. Steve mentioned the other day about eating one of those oatmeal packets (gross) in the cinnamon apple flavor and ever since I have had it on the brain! I used

  • 1/3 cup slow cooking oats
  • 2/3 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
  • gaala apple, cored and diced
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • lots of cinnamon
  • 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
  • 1 tsp chia seeds
  • 1 tbs raisins
  • 1 tbs ish PB & Co cinnamon raisin swirl

I cooked it all together on the stove over medium heat, except the raisins (which I added in almost at the end) and the PB which went right on top. It was so yummmmmy,

Tonight, we had plans to go to the state fair. We were supposed to go Saturday, but things came up and our plans changed to today. Well, we drove all the way there in rush hour only to discover the fair is closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Fail. Booooooo. We figured we were all together (my dad, Hermano, Steve and me) so we might as well do something and headed for dinner at True Foods. I love love love True Foods. Steve took more pictures of the crazy fam

Then asked me to pose for a picture, but I was not looking cute so I definitely was not in the mood. He made a puppy dog face so I acted like a 5 year old, stood where he told me and scowled at him. Karma. I ended up looking crazy evil in the photo!

Scarrrrrrryyyy!!! But perfect for Halloween! PS: My shirt says “Coffee makes me happy.” So fitting.

After dinner, we went to Yogurtology for some fro yo. Seriously, if you live in Phoenix, you must go there. They have the best yogurt, hands down. Get the oatmeal cookie flavor and you will not be disappointed. I got 6 oz of oatmeal cookie with about 1/2 tbs of nutella on top. Best combo ever. Except…..

They were out of spoons. I had to use a big metal topping spoon haha. But I got my yogurt for free, so I don’t mind! Free always tastes better! I would eat it with a spatula as long as I don’t have to pay! Wow–is it politically incorrect to make fun of my Jewishness on the internet? In person it always seems so harmless because every just knows I’m Jewish so I’m allowed to make fun of myself. Here it feels so taboo, like someone will get the wrong idea and think I’m an anti Semite! I love my people, and all of our quirks and stereotypes!

Now I’m watching some Biggest Loser and gonna head to bed early because I have an early training run with Kara tomorrow am! Goodnight all!

Thanksgiving Recipes

· by ·

It’s almost here, it’s almost here!!!!!! My very favorite time of year!!!!!

For me, the holiday season kicks off every year with my best friend Bethany’s birthday on October 30th. I plan for Bethy’s special day and then immediate switch gears into holiday craziness. I know most people enjoy the holidays, but I’m a little nuts about it. Shopping, cooking, spending time with family, finding the perfect gifts–it all just makes me so happy!!!!

Last year, Steve and I had just moved into our house and gotten Winston and we hosted Thanksgiving for the first time. In previous years we would do Thanksgiving lunch at his mom’s then dinner at my mom’s and we were dying to bring everyone together and take over the hosting duties. Our mom’s were both happy to let us take over. I went ALL out and did brunch and dinner and cooked everything without any healthiness in mind. I ended the day exhausted and just not feeling so great about myself. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it was an AMAZING day and I loved the company, but this year I definitely plan on doing things differently.

I’ve come a long way in my eating and healthy to me no longer means strict calorie budgets and things that I pretend are good, but no one else wants to eat. I am finally in a place where I can enjoy my food and enjoy eating food that makes me feel good and fuels my body. So this Thanksgiving, I am making things I actually want to eat. Things that will taste good, that everyone will love, and that I will feel good about. I’m so excited to do a balanced Thanksgiving that is both healthy and even a little bit indulgent–you gotta have the best of both worlds!

That being said, it is time for menu planning! I would love recipe ideas and suggestions for dishes that will make this Thanksgiving extra special.

***Please share your favorite Fall/holiday/anytime recipes!!!***

Even if they aren’t necessarily healthy–I can modify 🙂 I would love to see the recipes that everyone else loves!

Here are some of the highlights from last year’s Thanksgiving Extravaganza!

Back then Clementine did not exist and Winston was so new to us that he was carried around and adored like a king. This is Steve’s sister Ashleigh with him.

“Hello and welcome to my Thanksgiving. We will be starting with chocolate chip pumpkin bread french toast!”

“And yes, I do plan on wearing my onesie pjs all day long. This is my party and I’ll look ridiculous if I want to!”

And copy cat Starbucks pumpkin scones

Winston loved all the attention he got. This is him and Hank (my step dad).

Mom, Hank, Charlie and Winnie Bear!

Everyone loves my puppy, but look I love him most!

I invited all my favorite peeps including several friends to stop by between family visits and celebrate. This is my fabulous friend John!

Me, John, Michelle and Hermano

I took care of almost all of the food that came from our house, but I left a very special and important job up to Steve

He was the master of the turkey!

“Oh yeah, master of the turkey, you’re so cool. Why isn’t it ready yet, huh?!?!?!”

I forgot how much food I made! There was a cheeseball

And fresh home baked bread!

Roasted garlic mushrooms

Finally, we all sat down to dinner

Before we were “Ziskin-Bailey” 😉

The best part! The wish bone! Make a wiiiissssshhhhh…..

Grrrrrrrr 🙁

I am competitive, and thus, a sore loser!

“It’s okay, I will drown my sorrows in the sugar coma that will be dessert.” Fresh out of the oven brownies a la mode.

And pumpkin cheesecake (this was actually a healthy recipe that I plan to recreate this and every year!)

I absolutely loved hosting my first Thanksgiving and I can’t wait to do it again, this time a little smarter and a little healthier! I am lucky to have lots of family that I love so much and I can’t wait (especially after this crazy Fall) to get to spend some quality time with the most important people in my life!

What are your Thanksgiving plans? Please don’t forget to send your fav recipes! Happy almost holiday season everyone!

Hermano’s Piano Recital

· by ·

Today Mi Hermano performed in his ninth piano recital. Oh my gosh, he was AMAZING!! He played this ridiculously hard Beethoven piece and then two fabulous Coldplay pieces (Christmas Lights was my fav I think) and then together we performed Adele’s Turning Tables. I don’t know what my problem was, but I got so nervous! I just don’t sing that often anymore, and I hated everything about my performance, so no I will not be sharing that part. But I will share his amazingness, so you will get the good stuff 🙂

We got to his house a little early to practice and Steve got right to playing photographer. I was actually trying to give him the evil eye at this moment, but apparently my evil eye needs some work 😉

One of the very few pictures of myself that I actually really like. I’m actually looking forward to getting some free head shots out of him here soon! I also love this one.

Cindy (Hermano’s mom)

After the recital, Steve really wanted to get some good pics with my grandma. She is 88 years old which I feel like is a pretty amazing accomplishment–is it weird that I consider old age an accomplishment? Anyway, at the risk of sounding morbid, at 88 you never know what will happen tomorrow so we wanted to get some good photos in.

 

 

That’s my dad. He’s a little nutty, but I love him.

Here is the super challenging Beethoven piece he played. Steve is working on uploading the rest on his youtube channel

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!!

Mi Hermano: The Rock Star!

· by ·

So, in case you weren’t aware, my brother is pretty much a rock star. He is an incredible musician and plays piano, bass, guitar, and can make his way around a drum set. Up until the 2 of us, there wasn’t really anyone in our family that pursues performing arts, and then my dad got a musical theatre performer/director/choreographer and a multi instrument musician! Good thing we don’t come from one of those crazy families where we are considered failures if we’re not doctors and lawyers. Quite the opposite–we are lucky to have a really supportive family and each other to make music with (when my crazy schedule allows). I can’t imagine a scenario I’d rather sing in than with this awesomely talented (and hilarious) 14 year old! Last night he had his first high school performance. He is one of the only freshman in the top jazz band, and he is also in the top orchestra. Steve tested out the video on his camera and got this amazing video of them playing. You can’t really see Jacob because the bass position is all the way in the back and he is just beginning his growth spurt (he is finally taller than me and it makes me sad–and he won’t let me forget it either!) So if you have some time, take a look/listen. They’re pretty fantastic in my biased opinion 🙂

Is it just me?

· by ·

Today my mom asked how I was doing and I answered “You know how when you’re really sleep deprived and it makes you overly emotionally responsive? Like, the smallest thing can make me laugh or cry or be overwhelmed by joy/sadness/anything. Except, I’m not really sleep deprived.” I actually *most of the time* don’t mind being super in tune with my emotions because it leads to things like the discovery I made today.

This morning I met Kara for Spin like every Thursday. Our fav teacher was back. We ended up starting almost 10 minutes late, but she promised to make up for it. By the time we reached the top of our big hill and I discovered gear 23 (Hello gear 23. Nice to meet you. This is the first time we’ve been acquainted. To be honest, you kind of suck. But, somehow I think I may see you again sometime anyway), I knew she wasn’t lying. Then it was time for sprints. She mentioned something about the first minute and the second minute, so silly me, I thought they sprint section would only last 2 minutes. Lies. All lies. And to be honest, I kind of thought I was going to die. I felt so certain that I couldn’t keep up and that I had burnt out too quickly again, but something sparked inside of me and I knew that I had two options.

1) Give up.

2) Push harder than I’ve ever pushed and leave everything I had in that room.

When you’re that tired there is no option 3. No middle ground. At least not for me. All or nothing. So I peddled and peddled and pushed harder and faster than I knew I had in me and all of the sudden all of the emotions I haven’t really had time to acknowledge or mentally digest just came up like emotional vomit and I felt like I was going to start crying, but I wasn’t sad. The only thing I could possibly relate it to is when I’ve been on stage and fully released over into what I was doing. I completely let go in that moment and found a lot of reality inside of myself.

Sorry to sound like a nut. The truth is I am a super emotionally driven person and I 100% believe in all this crap. No one can convince me otherwise. I should come with a warning “I’m emotional. Love me anyway.”

I left class, completely beat physically, but feeling amazing mentally.

Not amazing mileage wise, but not bad considering the lost time and killer hills.

After Spin, I finalllllyyy got my hurrrrr did! One of my besties is basically the most fantastic hair dresser on earth. Her name is Kara, but she is not the same Kara from spin. Hair Kara and I have been friends for something ridiculous like 12 or 13 years, and we have had some crazy times together. Ask me one day, and I will tell you all about our shenanigans! While my color sat, I definitely went over to Great Harvest for some lunch lookin like this

Classy, right? I’ll post pictures of the new color once I actually have time to style and make myself pretty.

After my hair appt, I worked and had a super productive/challenging/amazing rehearsal. I am having such a blast working on this show and it is totally challenging my brain to think, focus, and teach in new ways. I’m so happy, and I wouldn’t turn down a single thing I’m doing right now for all the days off in the world! But I have to admit, I miss Steve and I miss these cutie patooties!

This morning, I went to grab something from my car and Winston followed me and jumped in the back seat. I guess he’s sick of me leaving all the time and he wanted to come. So cute.

After rehearsal, I stopped by my mom’s where I was poured wine and treated like a queen for an hour. My family has been super sensitive to my crazy schedule and made me feel like a million bucks the small amount of time I got to spend with them!

Tomorrow I work from 7:30am-8:30pm and it’s midnight and I can’t sleep. Yikes. Buuuutttt, I have the Phoenix blogger meet up on Saturday to look forward to! Sooo excited (and I have to admit, a little nervous)! If you live in Phoenix and you’re not already on the list, you should come tooooo! I can’t wait to meet everyone 🙂

Ok. Must. Try. To. Sleep.

Goodnight friends.

PS: Question of the day: Have you ever had an emotional response during a work out? Does what I expressed make sense, or do you kind of think I’m a freak? 🙂

Featured Here

Member Of…

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

Archives


Image Map