I Love Long Weekends

My plans fell through for the weekend, but I am happy about it because I really need a weekend to do nothing.

Yesterday for the fourth I went to the river with the pups and Mike. Ender and Emily actually swam in it! I was too chicken to go all the way in though. Fish nibbling at your toes, and weird things floating in the river kind of creeps me out. I promise to get over it sometime.

Afterwards Mike and I laid out by the pool for a bit with some drinks. After the pool, I made dinner and promptly fell asleep afterwards for a few hours from the heat, alcohol and food. Naps always make me feel gross so the rest of the day was all downhill. haha. We were going to go watch the fire works but we did not go early enough and missed them. Oh well. The night was alright, but I am glad today is a new day.

So far today Mike and I got kolaches (I now plan to lay off those for awhile now), watched Babel and went to Target. I got this pretty cool water bottle to take on runs with me. I also had to get some decongestant because I am now officially allergic to something in Austin right now. It has been a few weeks now of sneezing, drainage, etc. I am used to it though, and am sure it will go away soon. No worries.

The rest of the day I plan to just get some laundry done, clean up the place, and relax. Not sure what is going on tonight but I am out of money so whatever it is, it needs to be free. Oh I forgot I am also planning a run today at the river. I definitely need it to get me back on track with healthy foods.

Oh so last night we made Strawberry Shortcake, and yes, I know not the healthiest. But Mike's friend was all saying "how can you eat that, it is soo bad for you" as he drinks can upon can of beer, and usually is drinking about 6 servings of red bell/vodka drinks a night. He kept giving me crap about calories in that, and in our home made guacamole but then thought he was holier than thou with his massive amounts of alcohol and healthy eating. I tried to tell him that drinking as much as he does is a lot worse than eating the dessert I was eating. He was trying to argue otherwise. I am not 100% sure I was right, but if any of you know, I would love to know.

Have a great one!!

Weird Dreams

Last night I had this dream where I was complaining to my co-worker (one I would NEVER complain to about this) that I tried everything to lose weight, and it was just NOT working. It was kind of silly though, because I know why its not working right now, and that is because I have been eating too much compared to the calories I burn. I thought it was pretty funny that someone in my comments asked if I ate enough yesterday, because I can assure you that I definitely do, especially yesterday...

Yesterday this is what I ate:

B: Coffee w/ soy milk, LF Yogurt (w/ granola, flax seed, strawberries)
S: Fruit, Granola Bar
L: Pita, Potatoes, 1 Falafel patty thing, 1 spanakopita (sp?)
S: Goldfish
D: Mac n Cheese w/ tomatoes, cilantro, onions, garlic, avocado and jalepeno (amazing). And ice cream........

As you can tell I definitely ate MORE than enough last night, which is probably why the scale is not happy with me today. Also because I lifted weights the other day and I always gain according to the scale when I do that. I think its just water retention though and affects me worse when my muscles are super sore like they are right now.

For some reason the boy keeps buying desserts and ice cream and then I can't help but partake. Hello, Cherry Cobbler right in your face? How do you turn that down? I know I can. And after my creepy dream I think I will start to actually just stop over eating. No big deal. Just actually eat portion sizes, or at least stop with the desserts when I eat a regular dinner. haha.

Although I ate more than I should have, I did however go on a fantastic run. I did a 5k run by the river. I ran faster and further than usual. I owe it to my ipod. Best running cd of the week for me right now, Thao and the get up stay down. Ridiculous name, but good cd to run to.

Today is free lunch day at work. We will be served some deli sandwiches from a fancy place I think. yum. Not sure if we can pick what we want, but either way, I am sure it will be great.

Tomorrow I am going to work out in the morning. I am not too excited about this though because every morning recently I have been having bad allergies and essentially just feel like crap in the sinus region until 10am. Maybe the workout will change this? No idea.

PS; Tomorrow is already "friday". woo hoo!!

Alright, need to head out.

Planned Food for the Day
B: Coffee w/ soymilk, LF Yogurt (w/ flax seed, granola, strawberries)
S: Granola Bar
L: Sandwich of some sorts
S: Goldfish
D: Leftover mac n cheese, or pita sandwich thing.

Planned Workout
Run at the river- 30-45 minutes.

New Gym

As much as I want to say I worked out this morning I did not. But that is not to say that I didn't go to the gym. Mike told me yesterday he was going to watch Frankenstein at a local theater, something I did not want to do. So I opted for Monday night to be gym night this week instead of Tuesday morning. Today I will run with Mike instead.

Last night I tried out my new gym for the first time, Premiere Lady Fitness and Spa. Sounds ridiculous right? hahhaa. But anyway it is really nice, and if you guessed it by the name of the place, there are no men. Kind of makes it more interesting I think.

Anyway, the weight machines were nice. I did a lot of those. I am already sore from it today. I probably spent about 20 minutes with the weights. And then after I decided to take advantage of the free a/c and try out running on the treadmill, even though I was annoyed that I forgot a hair tie and my hair was going to be flying around everywhere, or so I thought. I started running at 4.5 mph, and after about 5 minutes I decided this was waaay too slow if I wanted to get to 2 miles any time soon. So I started to increase. I probably increased it .5 mph every minute or two until I got to 7.0 mph. Not sure if this is fast for any of you, but it is super speed for me. I did 7.0 mph for at least 2 minutes. Woo hoo! I also did my much faster speed for 25 minutes. I decided to stop after I reached 2 miles because the plan was not even to do cardio in the first place.

I think I am going to use gym time though to help increase my speed. It is SOOO much easier to run fast when you are in a/c. Running outdoors is much harder, but far more enjoyable. Tonight I am going to go run by the river, and hopefully increase my speed a tiny bit for at least a few minutes :-)

A co-worker of mine was super sick for a week or so. Now my throat hurts and my sinus' are crazy. I am going to say it is just allergies though, because my body feels fine, aside from the slight headache. I do not have time to be sick, especially with work being so intense right now (since I am training, learning new things, etc).

No one every told me their plans for the 4th of july weekend. I have nothing planned yet, but I want to do something with the extra day off. Perhaps I will go tubing on the river. Not sure. Give me ideas people! hahahaha. jk.

Planned Food for the Day
B: Coffee w/ chocolate soymilk, LF Yogurt (w/ flax seed, granola, strawberries)
S: Granola Bar
L: Leftover pasta
S: almonds
D: Garbanzo Bean w/ feta and hummus and bean sprouts in a pita

Planned Workout
Run at the river 30 - 45 minutes

Busy Busy Busy

I have not written in awhile because I have just literally not had time, at all. I still do not, but I need to spend some time doing this or else things go haywire in my head. haha.

The weekend was great, aside from not working out during it all. I am not a fan of that, I miss it, but life goes on.

On Friday I went out to see Wall-E with a co-worker and Mike. It was soo freaking adorable.

On Saturday I did a million and one errands, and then went out to eat with Mike and one of his friends from Houston. The place we went to was great. Mmmmmm.

On Sunday I went grocery shopping and did lots of laundry, helped Mike prepare for his interview today and ate dinner, etc.

This week is going to be the start of me getting up early 2 days during the week to do weights and cardio at the gym. It all starts tomorrow. Woo hoo.

Tonight I am going on a run after work. I canNOT wait. I need it, badly for my mental health :-)

I will write something more entertaining soon, I promise.

Planned Food for Today
B: Coffee, lf yogurt (w/ granola, strawberries) I forgot the flax!
L: Pumpkin Torteillini with sauce
S: Granola bar
D: Leftover pasta, or garbanzo bean pita.

Planned Workout
Run - 30-45 minutes.

It's a New Day

It is a new day and aside from my sneeze attack earlier and my dry eyes I am feeling pretty good. The drained feeling went away. I am still tired I suppose since it is early, but I am not drained, if that makes sense.

So I have a dilemma. I signed up for my new gym, and have not gone yet since I prefer to run outdoors. I want to use it for weights, but just have not done it yet. I think if I do weights I need to do them in the morning because Mike and I trying to give the dogs a walk every other day or so (that day would be my weights day). Working out in the morning is no fun. I am not morning workout kind of gal. But I suppose I can train myself to be. I also want to try some of their morning classes but I want to do it with the person at my work. I CAN do it on my own, but its more fun the other way. haha. So I guess I do not really have a dilemma, rather I need to work on finding a balance, and a routine. :-)

How have you trained yourself to work out in the morning? Do you eat a snack before? Do you drink a lot of water? Do you skip the coffee? Not sure what the best routine is yet......

Planned Food for the Day
B: Coffee w/ soymilk, waffle (w/ cashew butter, flax seed, hemp seed, walnuts and strawberries)
S: Kashi Bar
L: Some stir fry thing (catered lunch day)
S: peanuts
D: Skirt steak w/ cheese, tortilla, cilantro, onions, tomatoes, etc.

Planned Workout for the Day
Run - 30 -35 minutes.

Drained

I feel absolutely drained today. Not sure why, really there should be no good reason to be, but I am. A co-worker who I had to work closely with today was sick, so I am paranoid it is my body trying to avoid that action, but it could just be an off day. Who knows.

Work was good. I got a lot done, and learned a lot. I am starting to get a hang of more things than I thought I would in the time I am getting it done, if that makes sense.

I had lunch at this cute deli place today. I got a slice of quiche. I am sure its not that great for me, but everything else basically had chicken on it, and since I can't eat chicken I was limited. And quiche is delicious and I eat it like once every year or less. So there is my ljustification as to why I ate a delicious meal. hahah.

Anyway...... when I got home from work today I was especially drained. I heated up some leftovers and ate about half of it. I wanted chocoalte, and we don't have any so I opted for the only chocolatey type thing we had in the house, a cookies and creme pop tart I bought during pms time or something. hahaha. I had half of a pastry. Not too bad.

Afterwards I decided to skip the run and just walk with the pups and Mike. We went to this other trail in Austin, I think Zilker Park. It was a nice walk, and was definitely more refreshing than staying home watching TV.

Tomorrow I am planning on going on a run after work or to try out a class at my new gym.

I now officially do not have health insurance, or rather hospital insurance as Mike and I like to call it, because that is really all it is good for. It really creeps me out not to have any but I am not sure I want to spend a ton of money signing up for a new plan for 2 months. My monthly prescription is not too expensive, and much cheaper than paying for health insurance. I am undecided about all of this. My sister is big on never having health insurance for some reason and has gotten into a TON of debt because of it. Scares the hell out of me. I won't be able to make a decision until I have money to start a plan anyway until a few days. So I guess I have until then.

Also do not ever freeze your membership on the 24 hour fitness website and expect it to really stick. Super lame. I got out of the charge, but now I have to wait for the refund, and then I have to wait until that refund is in my account before I can cancel 24 hour fitness. They want a 30 day warning before hand as well, and I have a feeling they will try to get at least another month out of me. I should have just canceled by phone last month. Oh well.

Anyway, I think I am going to bed pretty soon so I can make sure to beat the virus my co-worker has. Have a good one!

Food Eaten Today
B: Coffee, Waffle (w/ strawberries, cashew butter, flax seed, walnuts)
S: kashi bar
L: Quiche, fruit cup
S: peanuts, 2 baby ruth mini bars
D: 1/2 serving of some stir fry mix thing with tofu, and then half a pop tart

Workout
Does a 45 minute walk count?

The Week Begins

Oh man. My third week in Austin and my 2nd weekend out of town. Oh well. haha.

On Friday I ended up getting out of work around 4pm, a little later than I thought I would. But Mike and I still went to the mall and did some shopping. I got a really cute dress, some cute shirts, and a sweater thing, as well as some new flip flops. We also went and watched the Incredible Hulk, which was a lot of fun.

On Saturday we took the pups to the river and let them play with the other dogs. Emily will actually swim and Ender just likes to bark at the other dogs who are brave enough to go in the water. haha. Emily ended up seeing a water snake which freaked out all the dog owners, so we also left. Knowing there are water snakes in the river really freaks me out. Nightmare style. I will try to get over it though. haha.

After the river we drove out to Houston with the pups. We stayed a hotel that Mike's mom set up. Then we went to dinner at Fogo De Chao, which is a Brazilian place where they give you a TON of food. I ended up not even stuffing myself though. I was full, but not where I felt uncomfortable. One person there ended up filling themselves up so much they had to puke afterwards. Thankfully I get the signal to stop eating at a good point and actually stop. Afterwards we went to a few bars, which ended up being more driving around than hanging out. haha. Oh well.

Mike and I left Houston on Sunday morning. We ended up getting back into town around 3pm. I had to pick up my prescription before the Target one shut down. That is where I found out that healthnet apparently does not work in Texas, which is fabulous to find out when picking up a prescription. I changed my address with Healthnet about a month ago and they never told me that they do not serve the area. I really never even thought it was an option. I am pretty annoyed they charged me for this next month, knowing full well I cannot even use it here. BOOOOOOO. So I have to deal with that today.

Also I froze my membership with 24 hour fitness a few weeks ago. Thought it was good to go, but apparently it was not. they charged me for the next month. Boo. so I have to deal with that today too. Booooo.

Oh also I shopped at HEB this past weekend for a real shopping trip (other times it was just for beer, haha). It ended up going really great. I only ended up spending $26 when I thought it would be around $40. Woo hoo! Thank you coupons and sales!

I did go on a run yesterday though, unfortunately my only run this weekend. Oh well. It was good though, basically a 5k in a really pretty area near the river. I loved it. Mike wants me to work on going faster, but I told him I only care about running for extended periods of time. As in I would rather run 5 miles in 50-60 minutes, opposed to running 3 in less than 30 minutes. But apparently it hurts his knees to run as slow as I do and he wants to run WITH ME so apparently I need to get faster. I will figure it out, but I am really not concerned with speed and never have been. I think saying i can run for 45-60 minutes is far more impressive than saying I can do a mile in under 8. But that is just me.

If I were to work on my speed, how do you suggest I do that?

Planned Food for the Day
B: coffee, waffle (w/ strawberries, flax, cashew butter, walnuts)
S: Bagel
L: Sandwich or something small (i forgot my lunch today! boo!)
S: granola bar
D: Pumpkin Torteilli w/ alfredo/tomato sauce.

Planned Workout
Gym after work or run after work.

Friday!

The meeting actually went better than I thought it would. It was pretty depressing hearing how long and how much more you pay when you even have a .1% increase in your interest rate. But then after remembering that I will be in debt for most of my adult life, that what I have now is not really a big deal. The counselor actually said I was doing everything right. The only thing I need to do is see if I can consolidate my student loans. The whole process is overwhelming to me, but if I can figure out what I am doing at work right now, I can definitely figure this out.

In other news, it is a half day today! It is almost like a 3 day weekend. Speaking of which, the July 4th weekend is soon! Woo hoo! Some places I have worked I didn't get holiday pay until I worked a few months. I have no idea how it works here. I think they just start paying you for the holidays here without the wait. At least I hope so :-)

What are your plans for the July 4th weekend? My plan is to discover what people in Austin do for the weekend. Something seems to be going on every single night here, so I am sure something big will be happening here.

Today the plan is to go to the mall for some free a/c and cool summer clothes. I am excited for an afternoon off. The options seem endless. haha.

Also I plan on a run tonight, and one tomorrow morning before the trip to Houston. The place I am eating at in Houston is like a Brazilian buffet, so lots of eating will be happening. I am pretty good at keeping portions small now though. You would be impressed by me recently. It is probably the only reason I am not gaining weight, although I am not losing any either because leftover birthday cake, etc. hahaha. Oh well. Totally worth it.

I am excited for the run tonight though. I just love being outdoors with all the other running around trying to achieve some sort of goal. It is very inspiring.

Okay, time to go. Have a great weekend! I will try to write, but I doubt I will have time.

Planned Food for the Day
B: Coffee, Frozen waffle (w/ cashew butter, walnuts, banana, flax seed)
S: Granola Bar
L: Pizza (free for packing day)
D: Pumpkin Torteillini

Planned Workout
Run for 30 minutes

According to Excel........

According to an Excel spreadsheet last night, I am worthless. At work they set up to have someone come in and help us with our finances. Although I desperately need this, it kind of freaks me out, because I was trying to hide from all the debt I have. I had to pay for college myself, including housing, bills, and if we want to get into specifics, EVERYTHING. When you do this in San Diego, it can be tough, especially when every single one of your friends have their parents helping them and spend like their parents are helping them. When I calculated all my debt, the final result was that my net worth is in the negatives. I suppose that is not too surprising since the only thing I have of worth is my car, which in itself is not worth that much.

I definitely made some money mistakes while in college, and lets hope that this financial counselor will lead me in the right path to fix it. At least my rent is cheap now that I moved to Austin. haha.

One good thing, I thought the interest rates on my credit cards were a lot higher than they actually are. That was a nice surprise. Although one of my student loans has a pretty high interest rate. Weird, right? Right.....

I know this is completely off topic of the whole fitness thing, but I think if people talk more about finances and learn about it, then maybe they will have more time to work out, or even more of an ability to pay for a gym to work out at. hahaha.

My fear is that the counselor will be like WOW, you are in debt, you need immediate action, NOW. But Mike told me that if she is a financial counselor she has probably delt with people almost going bankrupt, or even going bankrupt so my debt is probably not THAT bad. And anyway, my debt is nothing compared to the people who buy houses in California right? ;-) haha.

I am looking forward to the weekend already. I have not gotten very much sleep at all this week. I don't think I have gotten more than 6 hours a night every night this week. Boo.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a half day at work though, since we are moving offices. Maybe I will spend the second half taking naps. Although it is waaay too hot to sleep in the afternoons. I will probably just go somewhere with free air conditioning. ahhaa.

This weekend I am supposed to go to Houston for Mike's brother's birthday. Mike's mom is coming down as well and we are supposed to go to this Brazilian place. I am excited. mmmmmmm.

Tonight I am planning on going for a run by the river with Mike. Finally a night without more specific plans than a run. Woo hoo!

Have a great day!

Planned Food for the Day
B: Coffee, Waffle (w/ flax seed, walnuts, cashew butter)
S: Granola Bar
L: Turkey Sandwich & peach
S: Goldfish
D: Pumpkin Tortelinni

Planned Workout
Run at the river

2.5 Days Down

Work is pretty busy, all the time, but I swear the hours pass me by without me noticing until I see others head home. I am taking that as a good sign.

Last night was really productive. I signed up for Premiere Lady Fitness. Yes, it sounds pretty hilarious. But it seems really cool, a lot of fun unique classes that switch up every month or so, and no need to worry about those guys that slam the weights on the ground and let out big groans just to show everyone how tough they really are. Also it is really cheap, and is close to my home and work. sweet!

I did not bring stuff to work out in for some reason, so I decided to just go home and do an Exercise TV on Demand thing. I WAs planning on going on a run, but this would let me do laundry while working out. I ended up doing 3 loads of laundry and put it all away. WOW. haha.

I ended up going to bed pretty late, but that is just because I was appreciating my night alone. I spent 3 hours on my computer without ever feeling guilty. hahaha.

Tonight I am going to watch Big Trouble in Little China with Mike and perhaps some co-workers. They are playing it on the big screen down here. I have never seen it, which is appalling to most I am sure, but it should be nice to see it on the big screen for my first time.

I need to figure out how I am working out since I do not think I will have time for a run tonight. Either way I am sure I can make it up. I have 2 days down already of working out for the week ;-)


People at work are talking me into going out for lunch. Not sure if I will do it, but we shall see. Have a good one!

Planned Food for the Day
B: Coffee, Waffle (w/ flax seed, cashew butter, banana, walnuts)
S: Granola Bar
L: No Idea, possibly my turkey sandwich
S: goldfish?
D: No idea

Planned Workout
Not sure, may skip.