Caribbean Jerk Chickpea Burgers with Mango Slaw. Amazing.

 

So, the weekend, yadda, yadda…bad food choices, laziness. However, on Friday I made this lovely dinner and it’s the star of today’s show.

Mango Slaw (4 servings, 0 points per serving)

Ingredients

1/2 a bag Broccoli Cloeslaw Mix  
1/4 cup onion, finely chopped  
1/2 medium mango, peeled and chopped  
2 Tbsp SPLENDA® SPLENDA No Calorie Sweetener  
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar  

Instructions

In a bowl combine broccoli coleslaw mix, onion and mangos.

In a cup dissolve Splenda in vinegar, add to cabbage and toss. Serve cold.

Caribbean Jerk Chickpea Burgers (4 servings, 4 points per serving)

Ingredients

15 oz canned garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup parsley, fresh
1/2 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped  
1/4 cup onion, finely chopped  
2/3 cup Panko crispy bread crumbs - plain  
1 egg, lightly beaten     
1/4 cup Lawry's Caribbean Jerk Marinade  

Instructions

In a food processor, pulse the chickpeas and parsley until finely chopped.

Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl and stir in the bread crumbs, onion and cucumber. Stir the egg and Jerk marinade into the mixture and form into 4 patties.

Cook the patties in a large skillet or grill pan for 4 minutes per side until done. Serve with 1/3 of a cup Mango Slaw on top.

You know I love the Lawry’s Marinades. They are affordable and great in moderation. This is the one to look for.

The burgers fall apart a little, so try not to move them much when cooking. I used my Foreman grill.

I enjoyed eating vegetarian dinners so much, that I’m going to go for week 2…well, I will probably opt for pepperoni on Tuesday, but mostly vegetarian! ;)

Meatless Monday – Black Bean Cakes with Avocado Salsa

Tuesday – Pepperoni Polenta Pizza

Wednesday – Grilled Vegetable Panini 

Thursday – Greek Chickpea Burgers

Friday – Leftovers

I overslept this morning so I’m not kicking the week off with a work out and that bums me out. However, I am going to making the choice right now to make this a good week.

I hope you all had great weekends and are ready to have a great week!

Super Weekend!

 

My weekend was fantastic! I hope yours was too! Saturday night we hosted game night at our house. 6 of us played games, had some drinks and ate some great food. 

The star of my weekend was Sunday. I spent the whole day with the husband and it was GREAT. I started the day with 45 minutes on the stationary bike at the gym and then we went to a Golf Superstore. I was not thrilled about this at all at first. However, looking around the store I saw so much cute golf stuff and my husband was so excited telling me about all the different clubs and tools, I started to gain a little interest. I thought it would be something active that we could enjoy, outdoors, together. After we did some more running around I asked if he would take me to the driving range. I think he was shocked at first, but he asked our friends Keith and Cyndi to come with us. Cyndi is also new to golf and I was able to hit her golf clubs. I’m not that great, but I did make several good shots and now I can’t wait to go back!

I was coached after that 2nd picture by the husband to not lift my left heel off the ground. Hey, it’s my first time! I was looking at the ball at least.

After the driving range, I had to make dinner and I finally decided it was time to make Ranch Chicken. I’ve been meaning to for weeks! My friend Kim makes an awesome ranch dip for parties. She uses fat free greek yogurt and a ranch dressing packet. That’s it and it’s great for veggies or chips! I love it so much, I decided to try marinating chicken in it.

Ranch Chicken (2 servings, 5 points per serving)

Ingredients

7 oz uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast  
1/4 cup plain fat-free yogurt  
1/2 cup Progresso® Bread crumbs Panko crispy bread crumbs - plain  
1 Tbsp Hidden Valley Original Dip Mix 

Instructions

Mix together yogurt and ranch dressing mix. Place chicken into yogurt mixture and allow to marinate for 15-20 minutes.

Remove chicken from mixture and coat with Panko bread crumbs.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly spray a baking pan with non-stick spray and bake chicken for 20-25 minutes until done.

It gives the chicken amazing flavor and the Panko adds a great crunch! Perfect summer meal when you have some Sunday Sweet Potato Salad on the side.

My Meal Plan for the week is:

Meatless Monday – Spicy Malaysian Noodles (a variation of this recipe)

Tuesday – Beer Can Chicken (the husband is making it on Monday, I’m going to have it leftover on Tuesday)

Wednesday – Roasted Veggie Pizza

Thursday – Taco Night!

This weekend was supposed to be so many things. It was supposed to be a movie date and me learning to use a grill. I’m so glad that I ended up playing Sunday by ear and just enjoying the time. My life is very planned out and I’m a very structured person. It was nice to just wing it and step outside of my comfort zone.

What did you do this weekend? Did you try anything new?

No regrets.

 

I had an amazing weekend. I ended up taking Saturday off and spending the weekend celebrating my friend Kelly’s birthday as well as her father’s birthday. She had family and friends in town from all over the east coast. We ate, we drank and we were very merry. I didn’t make the best food choices, I went terribly overboard at times, and I didn’t make the time for my workouts, but I have no regrets.

This did not derail me. I indulged, relaxed and now I will let it go. A weekend with that much happiness, love and laughter can in no way shape or form be bad for me.

That being said, it’s Monday. Life is back to normal as I know it. So I will start this morning off at the gym for Alternate Cardio & Weights,* followed by work and a Meatless Monday dinner tonight. Here is my meal plan for the week:

Meatless Monday – White Bean & Spinach Soup (with some tweaks)

Tuesday – Greek Quorn Pita Sandwiches

Wednesday – Whole Wheat Couscous & Kidney Bean Salad

Thursday – Grilled Ranch Chicken

Friday – Leftovers

In case you missed it yesterday, I posted a recipe for a Sunday Sweet Potato Salad that I threw together last night. It’s what I have for lunch today and if you like sweet potato you will love this recipe.

Yesterday I also planted a Topsy Turvey Tomato Grower on my porch. I filled the 3 growing pods with Tomato, Zucchini and Bell Pepper. Cross your fingers, I’m not the best green thumb in the world! My little herb garden is growing well this year and I also prettied up the porch with some new begonias and impatience. It looks so nice out there! I also think that gardening (even if in containers) should be considered exercise. I had to carry a very heavy bag of potting soil on my shoulder up a flight of stairs! My arms are actually a little sore this morning!

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Sorry the pictures aren’t very good…I took them at 5:40am this morning because I didn’t think to take any yesterday afternoon!

What did you do this weekend?

*Gym update: I made it to my amenity center this morning, noticed all of the flat screen TVs (5 total) were missing, cables dangling. I did 10 minutes on the elliptical and moved to the weight room to find some wall damage, the chair used to hoist the thieves up still in place, gloves on the chair and a generally creepy vibe. Since I had no phone or anything on me and there isn't one in the center, I left, mildly freaked out, came home and reported it. My little corner of the world has always been crime free. :(

*Gym update 2: The HOA called me back and the break in actually happened on Thursday night, the marks on the wall were from a messy finger printing job by the sheriffs department and since they are still investigating, they haven't cleaned up the place much. Supposedly there was a letter to this effect hanging somewhere in the complex, but it wasn't on the main door because I looked. Oh well, serves me right for skipping the gym for 2 days. ;)

Friday Highs & Lows

 

Training 

Yesterday was a beautiful day. I spent most of it, like this:

I worked out first, so I didn’t feel guilty being lazy by the pool. I did the exercise bike, walked on the treadmill and did a circuit around the weight room. I need to nail down a work out schedule. Something I can hang on the fridge and stick to. I seem to do better that way.

Weigh-In

This week’s weight: 158.2lbs, –1.7lbs.

I am shocked that I lost this week. As you know I struggled at a work conference, my work outs lacked quite a bit and at home I seemed to be a bottomless pit. I guess I didn’t do as bad as I thought, but I do consider this a gift from the Weight Loss Fairy. Next week I will feel like I earned the loss!

High/Low

Since Friday is my weigh-in day, and the start of another Weight Watcher week for me, I tend to write my weekly recaps on Friday. I’ve decided that I want to start recapping my high points and my low points of each week. So I’ll start here.

Highs:

• I ran my first 10k race in 66 minutes!
• I spent a great weekend with my Mom.
• I made an awesome Black Bean Quesadilla.
• I took a lot away from my conference both personally and professionally.
• I met my husband and friends out for drinks last night and I didn’t over-do it and I didn’t succumb to bar food. I came home and made Black Bean Quesadillas, again. :)

Lows:

• I didn’t track my food much at all this week.
• I made poor food choices most of the week.
• I didn’t get as much activity in as I wanted to.

Wrap it up Tonyne.

I plan to move forward this week with a positive attitude. I am going to continue to work on my customer service skills and take this week’s loss and run with it. I want to keep the momentum going…even if I’m not sure what swung the pendulum this week. Next week I want to say “I’m responsible for that loss”. I have some planning to do tonight to make sure that happens. I also need to figure out if I’m going to run one of the Wilmington 5k’s coming up in the next few weeks. So much to do in the next week!

To those of you that celebrate Fridays, Happy Friday to you! To those of you, like me, who have to work on Saturday…good luck and Godspeed! :)

How are you going to stay active this weekend?

Weekend Update with Tonyne

 

Hi everyone! I had  a pretty good weekend. I hope you did too! I ate well, I got a new running headband, from BonidiBand.com…

…that I love and I think sums me up pretty well! I ordered it and 3 days later it arrived! They are super fast! I tested it on my Sunday run and it stayed on my head the whole time, it worked GREAT. They didn’t give me this headband or pay me to say that either. I’m just a girl that has been desperate for years to find a headband that stayed on my head. Thank you BondiBand!

On Saturday, I had to work. After work I went to the grocery store…totally boring! But on Sunday I met my friend Kelly for brunch and I wore another skirt! I think I’m liking this skirt thing.

 

I ate a bit heavy at brunch because I started my day off with a pretty decent 4 mile run, so I was starving by the time we got there. This will be my last long’ish run before the 10k on Saturday.

I did log the points for everything I ate and I started my meal with mixed fruit. After brunch we went to the beach. Sadly, I don’t have any pictures, but it was a beautiful day.

A few days ago, Jen from Slim-Shoppin.com, asked if I would be interested in being part of her weight loss success story blog series. Of course I said Yes! She asked me some really great questions and posted my story on her blog Sunday evening.

Her site if full of good information and inspiration! Be sure to stop by and say hello!

All in all, it was a great weekend. I wish I could have spent more time with the husband but his main goal this weekend was sleep and I think he may have overachieved his goal a bit! We work different schedules so now I won’t see him again until Wednesday.

Here is my meal plan for the week!

Meatless Monday – Vegetarian Burrito Casserole

Tuesday – Spinach & Feta Stuff Chicken breast with Quinoa

Wednesday – Eggplant Cutlets with Tomato Olive relish

Thursday – Cheeseburger Pita Pizza

Friday – Whatever my Mama wants for dinner! She is coming down for my 10k! :)

It’s Monday again. They seem to be coming around fast these days, huh? I plan on doing some Yoga after work. My body just told me to sleep that extra hour this morning…I didn’t feel much like arguing with it.

What book are you reading right now? I need some recommendations for beach/poolside reading!

I’m 30, that’s not so bad.

 

Today is my birthday, I’m 30 and that’s not so bad.  29 was great. I accomplished things beyond my wildest dreams. Two 5k’s, lost almost 50lbs, started a blog, worked hard to better my marriage, made some amazing friends and if I accomplish half of that in the next year, 30 will be nothing short of fantastic. Speaking of amazing friends…

 

Savannah was AMAZING!  I ate poorly, drank a lot, but walked a lot and enjoyed myself. My friends had “tasks” for me to complete on Saturday. I had to do everything from kiss a bald guy on the top of the head to wear a hazmat suit and get people to sign. I had to belt out “Wind Beneath my Wings” and get two guys to slow dance and I had to collect 30 pennies from strangers. I was terrified when they told me that throughout the day I would be given certain tasks, but I completed them all. As I completed them I received charms for a Pandora Charm bracelet they gave me over lunch at Lady & Sons, each charm with a special meaning from each person. This was all a surprise to me, I had no idea what they were planning. There was so much planning and though involved, my heart is full. I have worn my new bracelet every day since. It gives me a feeling of happiness every time I look at it. I feel so grateful to have such amazing women in my life. Here are some pictures…the ones safe for viewing. :)

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So, here’s to 30! If it’s half as good as 29 was, bring it on! I’m ready.

Girls Weekend!

Today is the day! We are leaving shortly for Girls Weekend in Savannah, GA! I am so excited I can hardly sit still. I know I've been quiet this week, but getting ready to go out of town is always a rush against time between work and home. I apologize for my absence, but I promise you haven't missed much.

My weight as of today: 161.2lbs!
-.9lbs

I'll take it, especially this week! This doesn't give me the 50lb weight loss I wanted by this time, but I'm pretty darn close.

I want to go into a little bit of personal background about me. I've never had many girlfriends in my life. I've never had many real friends period. I'm good at being a loner. I actually enjoy it. However in the past year I have really started to come out of my shell more and appreciate the presence of other people in my life. The fact that I have 9 other amazing women in my life that want to go on an out of town trip with me to celebrate my 30th birthday is nothing short of amazing to me. I want to publicly thank them all for this weekend, in advance, they have no idea how special this truly is to me.

I know there will be a million pictures, some I'm sure will be hysterical. There are a ton of super secret plans that they have made and I have no clue what they have schemed up. I do know that my sister asked for very detailed measurements for what I can only assume is some sort of humiliating but hysterical costume.

I am giving myself permission to not track my points, have fun and enjoy my weekend. I am not giving myself permission to make this a total derailment. My whole goal is to find a balance that I am happy with.

Our plans include, lots of bars, lunch at Paula Deen's Lady & Sons restaurant and a haunted pub crawl! I have a 7 mile run scheduled on Sunday and I am going to try to do it before leaving Savannah, but if I don't, that's alright, I know I'll get it in later in the week.

Well, I guess that's it for now. I did get my work out (my sister joined me!) and a green monster in this morning so no matter what happens, I know I'll have started off the weekend the right way for me!

Happy Weekends to you all and I'll talk to you again on Monday! :)

SELF Magazine, what? That's nonsense!

I can finally tell you my super secret news!

On Saturday, I got a phone call from a friend shortly after getting home from work. "YOU'RE FAMOUS" she screamed into the phone. I wouldn't go that far, but it is pretty cool to finally be able to share my super secret news with you.



That's me, down at the very bottom, sharing a magazine page with Jessica Alba in SELF Magazine's April issue! I was asked and the pictures were taken back in November (well, except the running picture which had to be retaken...still not fond of that one) and I didn't want to tell anyone until the magazine was on the shelves. We all know how these things can fall through.

How did it happen? Well about 9 months ago SELF asked a question on Twitter (I don't remember the question or my answer) and I answered. They didn't use my answer for whatever it was but several months later I got an email from one of the editors telling me about their new "My SELFy Day" column. They thought I would be a good fit and they wanted me to submit some tweet-like updates about a day when I did SELFy things, healthy and balanced. I used a day when I was in Greensboro as an example. They liked my submission and therefore made me the first My SELFy Day in print form.

It's really surreal, but I have to say, it's a pretty awesome way to turn 30...which will happen on March 31st. :) Speaking of that, on Friday I leave for Savannah for Girls Weekend and I couldn't be more excited! My meal plan for the week is pretty lame because of it, but here it is:

Meatless Monday - Healthified Three-Chesse Manicotti from EatBetterAmerica.com
Tuesday - Boca Burger and French Un-Fried Potatoes
Wednesday - Butternut Squash Orzo
Thursday - Tuna Cakes and some vegetable side

Since I'm leaving Friday morning I have no idea what my Friday night will be like!

Oh and just in case you're interested, on Sunday I had a kick ass 6 mile run. Yes "Kick ass" is needed to describe it.



How was your weekend? Did you do anything active? Cook any crazy good healthy recipes?

Not into it.

I have nothing witty to say today. No marvels of wisdom, no recipes to share. I did start my day with a very green Green Monster....



I wanted to report my weight for the week, 162.1 (-2.1lbs). It's going to be beautiful here in Coastal NC on Saturday and I will be stuck in my office. I have a 6 mile run on Sunday and I think it's supposed to rain.

I was supposed to run yesterday, but my knee bothered me.

I woke up this morning with a terrible headache and went back to sleep.

Tonight I am going to try my best to at least do some yoga. My body just doesn't feel quite right. I don't know if it's allergies, stress or some type of bug. Whatever it is, I hope it's gone soon because 1 week from today, I leave for my Girls Weekend trip to Savannah!

Do you ever just feel, not into it? That's me today. I'm not into it.

Hopefully I'll rebound on Monday with some exciting super secret news that I will hopefully be able to share at that point and a meal plan for next week. Thank you guys for sticking with me, even during the boring stuff.

Happy Weekend!

And we're back!

Monday arrived as quickly as usual and here we are again. I hope you all had fantastic weekends. Mine was very laid back, but very great. Saturday we took our niece to the movies to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D. While waiting, we had some fun with our 3D glasses.

And before you even ask, yes I ate popcorn with butter and yes I shared a regular Coke with the husband. I enjoyed it, I planned appropriately points wise and I moved along. It's all about balance, remember?

After the movie we went grocery shopping and I loaded up on fresh produce! That whole, 2 weeks without a trip to the grocery store left me craving fresh fruit and veggies with a vengeance. I have eaten 3 monster size salads since Saturday night and I have one packed for lunch! When I post my meal plan in a few minutes, you'll see the veggie craving there as well.

On Sunday I had a 6 mile run scheduled. It was really windy here, so I chose to do the run on the treadmill. The dehumidifier in my amenity center is broken (there is an indoor pool in there) and it was like running in a sauna, but I opened the windows and had a nice breeze flowing through. It turned out to be a pretty good run!



So much to say today!! Can ya'll still hang with me for a bit?



I would like to send out a HUGE congratulations to Nicole over at ...Let Them Eat Lettuce... today for competing in her first 5k on Sunday! And she did it on near her birthday! So congratulations and Happy early Birthday!!



Meal Plan for the week!

Meatless Monday - Roasted Vegetable Fajitas with Mexican rice
Tuesday - Chicken Stroganoff type dish using greek yogurt that I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to make yet.
Wednesday - Black Bean Cakes with Avocado Butter
Thursday - Grilled Vegetable Pita Pizzas
Friday - Crunchy Talapia Filet with a salad

See, I told you you would see a lot of veggies. That's 3 meatless meals!

Wow, if you managed to stay with me through all of this, I am IMPRESSED!

Tell me this...is there anything you'd like to see more of here on Unlikely Success Story? I know I write this mostly for me, but I would like to keep you somewhat interested.

What can I do to keep you reading?

Manic Monday!

I'm pretty sure that whenever you take a vacation day from work, those who are left in the office find extra work for you to do upon your return to punish you. At least that's what it feels like this morning. My office is a zoo. So, this will be quick.

My trip to Greensboro was wonderful, as always! I packed healthy road trip snacks. Thank you guys so much for the advice! You had some great ideas!



100 Calorie popcorn, Diet Snapple Peach Tea, a plum and 2 mini Cadbury Eggs. It was perfect! I ate everything but the plum during the drive.

Friday morning I woke up wanting to run. Since I skipped my Thursday run, I figured why not! So I put on my shoes and started out with no real plan. I had a great run and stopped at one of my favorite spots.



Friday night we went out and had a GREAT time. I ate too much and drank too much but if walking from bar to bar and dancing my butt off burns calories, I probably did pretty well. Here's a group shot!



Saturday was my rest day and I rested. I got my hair cut, spend some time with my family. We cooked dinner at home and watched DVDs.

Sunday was my 5 mile training run. I didn't want to get out the door, but I'm really glad I did. The weather (for both of my runs actually) was BEAUTIFUL. Here are the stats:



Like my other long runs, the 2nd time doing the distance is a little easier than the first. Greensboro has a lot of hills and I'm used to running at the beach with no hills. So that presented a nice challenge, although I was cursing the hills most of the time. After my run I hung out with my family for awhile before beginning my drive back. My snacks included a 100 Calorie Oatmeal Pie and a Diet Pepsi.

Now I'm back at work and it's crazy. I haven't even begun to think of a meal plan for the week, I'll probably work on that tonight. Tonight is Meatless Monday dinner and I'm torn as to what to make. I know it will involve some or a combination of the following:

Butternut Squash
Spinach
Pasta
Soy Crumbles
Frozen Mixed Vegetables

That's what I got in the fridge...who has some ideas?

Do you find it hard to remain true to your healthy lifestyle when around your family?

It's so hard for me. I am really proud of myself for running, usually I just go completely off the wagon.

Welcome back to Monday!

Hit the Road Jack...

"You work impossibly fast. And your power over me is strong. You make my eyes close, against my will. And sometimes you take me away to a different time. you never eat or drink any thing. you don’t go into the sunlight. I know what you are."

"Say it. Out loud."

"Sleep Monster"

"Are you afraid?"

"No."

This morning, I totally gave into the power of the sleep monster. The bad part? I got up out of bed, brushed my teeth, got into my running clothes, had 1 shoe on and then took the shoe off and went back to bed in my running clothes. While sitting in the chair putting my shoes on I was hit with a wave of exhaustion, not just regular sleepiness, but absolute exhaustion. I don't have much exercise guilt about it because I have a 3 hour drive tonight after work and I would rather skip my run than fall asleep during the drive. Sometimes your body just lets you know when you need an extra hour of sleep.

I'm driving to Greensboro tonight to spend the weekend with these characters...


Please pardon my "wine lips" in the above pictures.

My Family! My sister (by choice, not by blood) Jen, my brother Ritch and my Mom, Mom. :) I always have so much fun when I go to visit! I miss them all terribly. It's only a 3.5 hour drive but due to my work schedule I don't get to visit as often as I'd like, which is probably a good thing because my healthy eating habits tend to go by the way side when you put me in their house which is always filled with goodies.

Last night's dinner was yummy!! It's a weight watcher's recipe for Creamy Butternut Squash Orzo. I made 1/2 of the recipe and I made note of my changes in bold.



Creamy Butternut Squash Orzo

1 spray(s) cooking spray
2 cup(s) butternut squash, cut into small cubes
1/2 tsp olive oil
1/8 tsp table salt, or to taste
1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter (I used Brumel and Brown yogurt butter)
1 cup(s) uncooked orzo
1 1/2 cup(s) water
1 cup(s) canned chicken broth
1 tsp thyme, fresh, or 8 whole sprigs (sprigs preferred) (I used dry)
2 Tbsp fat-free half-and-half (I used 1 Tbsp Fat Free Ricotta Cheese)
1/3 cup(s) grated Parmesan cheese, such as Parmigiano-Reggiano
1/8 tsp table salt, or to taste
1/8 tsp black pepper, freshly ground, or to taste
2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 cup fresh spinach chopped

Instructions
Preheat oven to 425°F. Coat a small rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, toss squash with oil and salt; spread in a single layer on prepared baking sheet, leaving space between squash cubes. Roast, stirring halfway through, until squash is tender and lightly browned, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat; add orzo. Stir constantly until orzo begins to smell toasty, about 3 minutes. Add water, broth and thyme sprigs and garlic; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until liquid is nearly absorbed, about 15 minutes. Add chopped spinach for the last 5 minutes.

Remove thyme sprigs; stir in half-and-half (or ricotta cheese), cheese and roasted squash. Season well with salt and pepper; serve. Yields about 3/4 cup per serving.

This was amazing decadent, simple and delicious. I will definitely be making it again. This is a great dish for entertaining because it's impressive. Not very pretty to look at, but amazing to taste!

I also made some roasted brussels sprouts (yes it is brussels sprouts not brussel sprout, although both are totally acceptable I think) which I tossed in 1 tsp olive oil, 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, couple dashes of worcestershire, salt and pepper. I just threw them in the oven along side the squash, in a separate pan of course.

This would make a great Meatless Monday meal too, of course you could have it any day of the week!

How do you guys prepare for road trips? Do you bring a snack or grab something at the store? I try and bring a piece of fruit and a drink (either Diet Snapple or Water) from home. I find it helps, but sometimes the lure of the fast food temptress is a powerful thing.

Monday with a Bullet

I wish the weeks were only 2 days long and the weekends were 5 days long. I personally think I would be more productive in the 2 days than I am in 5. I'm just saying. :)

Weekend catch-ups!

My "Holy Crap" Saturday continued when the husband agreed to go bowling with me on Saturday night. My husband is a REALLY good bowler and has bowled most of his life. He "retired" last year and is taking the year off from bowling. When we first started dating we bowled together all the time. I've never been good. He usually spends most of our games bowling with his left hand (he's right handed) or throwing trick shots. We truly just play for fun. Well, he gave me a few pointers Saturday night...I ended up breaking 100 for the first time ever! I also beat Jeff...of course, he wasn't really bowling very seriously.



He may kill me for posting that, but oh well. :)

We met some friends out for drinks after bowling. I was very proud of myself. I kept in mind the fact that I had a 5 mile run on Sunday morning and only had a couple beers. I woke up Sunday morning feeling great, but a little tired. I had a bagel thin with some sugar free strawberry preserves, had some coffee and about an hour and a half later headed out the door for my run.



That is the longest I've ever ran outside. I ran around my neighborhood and had to run a 2nd loop. I hate repeating runs, they are so boring. Half of this run was done "against the wind" and every time I say that (or type it) I start singing that damn song. It was a tough run, with some wind gusts up to 15mph, but I'm glad I did it. I'm just praying for no real winds on the day of my 10k.

It's the first day of the March and I have so much going on this month.

March 5-7th - A trip to Greensboro to see the Family
March 13-14 - My last official weekend off for the season, my days off will switch back to Sundays and Thursdays - Boo.
March 26th-28th - My Girls Weekend trip to Savannah to celebrate...
March 31st - My 30th Birthday

There is something else special that is going to happen in March, but I can't tell you what it is right now. You're just going to have to wait and see.

I hope you all had wonderful weekends!

What are you looking forward to this month?

A Friday Funny!

I want to start with one of my favorite jokes, it goes like this:

A guy was riding the elevator into work one morning and a lady got on and said "T.G.I.F.!" He looked at her and "S.H.I.T.!". A bit more determined she repeated "T.G.I.F.!", he replied again and said "S.H.I.T.!". She's a little angry now and says "T.G.I.F., you know, Thank Goodness it's Friday?". He looks at her and smiles when he says "S.H.I.T., Sorry Hun, it's Thursday."

I love that joke. :)



Well, it's Friday, this I know! I'm am so looking forward to the weekend! I don't have any real plans. Saturday I may take Chaser to the new dog park. Then the husband and I are planning to go out Saturday night, nothing major, just a few drinks, just us and then meet up with some friends later to celebrate a birthday. Then on Sunday I have a 5 mile run. The weather won't be nearly as warm as it was last weekend, but it will be sunny!

I know there's something I'm supposed to tell you guys on Fridays...it's slipping my mind though....

I have my meal plan ready for next week, here it is!

Monday - (Meatless Monday Meal) Spinach Lasagna Rolls
Tuesday - Oven Fried Chicken & Hungry-Girl's Butternut Squash Bake (the recipe link I can't seem to find now)
Wednesday - Beef & Broccoli Stir Fry
Thursday - Butternut Squash Orzo and Brussels Sprouts
Friday - BBQ Chicken in the Crockpot

Yummy! I'm looking forward to eating next week!

Man, I know something is slipping my mind...

I finished reading My Sister's Keeper last night and it was such a great book. I totally did not expect the ending. I haven't seen the movie yet, not sure I want to. I don't want to give it away, but if it's a great book and I recommend it!

Maybe I forgot to tell you my mini-goal for the next week.

Have only 1 snack after dinner. I have a problem of snacking several times after dinner. I know I'm a night-time snacker and I allot points for that. I want to limit myself to 1 snack after dinner.

I remember what I'm supposed to tell you know...I'm supposed to tell you to Have a great weekend!!!

Right?

Ok, ok, I remember! I weighed-in this morning at 162.7, -.3 lbs for the week. You were all right, the scale surprised me. I will take the .3 loss and be VERY happy about it. :)

Do you set mini-goals for each week? If so, what is your mini-goal for next week?

Where did the weekend go?

This weekend just seemed to FLY by. Friday night I made my "leftover whatever" pizza, which turned into a Roasted Veggie Pizza. It was delightful! Then I settled in to watch the movie Food Inc.. I thought it was a very eye opening movie. I will be a little more selective of my food from here on out I think. It's good to be knowledgeable, but my food ignorance bubble was kind of blissful.

Saturday I went grocery shopping and that was it. Literally. I went grocery shopping and I came home, laid around the house all day with the husband who was feeling under the weather. At first I was kind of upset for wasting a beautiful day, but honestly it felt nice to just do absolutely nothing.

Sunday, I had a GREAT run!



I think me and the Asics GT-2110s have officially bonded. The weather was absolutely beautiful and I ran the island of Sunset Beach again. I am really beginning to enjoy my Sunday training runs a lot. Sometimes it's hard to get out the door, but once I do, I love it!

After my run I went to my friend Kelly's house for coffee, which turned into lunch, which turned into beers sitting out in the sun for the afternoon. It was a great, laid back time and perfect for the weather. I even demonstrated some yoga moves since I was feeling so Zen.



Would the pose had been more effective had I put the beer down? Maybe. Would it have been as funny? No.

I was doing GREAT on my points going into Sunday and had not dipped into my flex points once. Then, the beer started. I ended up using quite a few flex points by the time I ate dinner, but it was well worth it and I didn't go completely overboard.

All in all it was a great weekend, the husband is feeling a little bit better and now it's time to tackle another week!

Tonight for my Meatless Monday dinner, I am making Roasted Bell Pepper & Tomato Soup with a grilled cheese sandwich. Yummy! I'll be back tomorrow to share pictures!

How was your weekend?

Weekend Update of Love

I hope you all had wonderful Valentine's Days! :) My husband surprised me by leaving a dozen roses on the kitchen counter for me to find when I got home from work on Friday. We don't see each other on Friday due to our work schedules, and he has never bought me real flowers (he did buy me beautiful handmade paper roses for our 1 year wedding anniversary) before so I cried like a baby. They are beautiful! If you look closely you can see a picture from our wedding day in the background...I noticed it when I was picking pictures for this entry! :)

Friday night, my friend Kelly came over and we booked hotel rooms for a Girls Weekend trip to Savannah, GA for my 30th (ugh) birthday next month! I am so excited. We are staying in the super lovely Inn at Ellis Square and planning a Haunted Pub Crawl for Saturday night. 38 days to go and I am so excited!

If you remember, on Friday I was talking about how we were rumored to get a very rare beach snow on Friday night. Well, we got 3 inches, which is VERY rare for this area and it was beautiful!




Chaser The Wonder Schnauzer wasn't really sure how felt about it.



Jeff and I went out grocery shopping and the roads were completely clear. It was the perfect snow, beautiful to look at, clear roads and it melted quickly!


Saturday evening Jeff and I decided to stay in and watch movies. I had it in my head that I was going to order pizza. I was going to eat as much pizza as I could stuff in my mouth and enjoy every bite. I took a few minutes and thought about it and decided that I would make a pita-pizza at home. This may not seem like a big deal to some, but to me, it was a huge victory. You know what? It tasted just as good as delivery and was so much better for me!





Sunday, I had a great 4 mile run! This is my longest outdoor run yet! I felt great, took a few walking breaks when I needed to and still averaged a pretty decent pace...for me at least!



After my run I decided it was finally time to buy some new running shoes. I love my current Asics GT-2140s, but they are causing me blisters now and the support is all but gone. I have well over 300 miles on them and it's time to replace them. I found a GREAT deal on Asics GT-2110s at Amazon.com. I got them in the White/Periwinkle. I can't wait until they get here! I never thought I'd be so excited about running shoes!

All in all, I had a fantastic weekend! I hope you did too!

How was your weekend? :)

Everybody's Working for the Weekend!

It's Friday AND they are calling for snow here at the beach! That makes it a crazy day in my world! I love snow, so I don't mind!


Let the mass chaos begin!

First things first, weigh in - 164 lbs. -2.2lbs this week. Recycled weight loss as I was down to 163.4 a few weeks ago. It is a loss though, so I will take it!

With Valentine's Day this weekend everyone at work is handing out candy! My husband has a severe nut allergy, so I avoid most chocolate and anything that might contain nuts on days that I will see him (my husband works nights, I work days most of the week) and the owner's of the company I work for and some coworkers know this. So they got me Conversation Hearts! Less caloric for me and safer for the husband. I promptly figured out the points valves and wrote them on the back of the packages, so I wouldn't mindlessly snack.



I did my meal planning last night and here is what we have so far!

Sunday - Roasted Veggie sandwich on Ciabatta bread with Sweet Potato Fries (this will count as my meatless Monday meal, I will eat the leftovers for lunch on Monday)

Monday - Shrimp and Quinoa, my take on Shrimp and grits

Tuesday - Chicken Sausage with Spinach in the crock pot over rice, a recipe from the current WW Magazine

Wednesday - Little Lasagnas, also a recipe from the current WW Magazine

Thursday - A Chinese application of chicken...not exactly sure what application yet.

Friday - A pizza made with leftover whatever from the week that would be good on pizza crust! :)

Since I started planning my meals out, my grocery list is much shorter, I have significantly less food waste and I never get tired of my leftovers because I only make 2 servings. One for dinner and one for lunch the next day. I know I've said this all before, but I am really shocked by the difference meal planning has made for me. As always, I'll share the best recipes! :)

Last night, my meal plan was for taco salad! I love taco salad! I made my own tortilla chips using the Mission Corn tortillas, I used ground turkey instead of beef and reduced fat cheese and fat free sour cream. I packed up the leftovers for lunch today. I like everything to stay divided until the last minute, so I package my salad and cheese in the bowl, put sour cream, salsa and meat in little snack baggies and lay on top of the salad in a large bowl. I use a recycled whipped cream bowl. I heat up the meat in the bag and then mix it together. Super easy and tastes fresh! I let my tortilla chips go a little too long...don't let them get this brown if you make them at home.



I hope you all have very wonderful weekends and very Happy Valentine's Days! I think the husband and I are going to stay in and watch a movie...no great shakes, but it will be nice to just have some quiet time together.

Anyone have any romantic Valentine's Day plans?

I did it! A weekend on-point!

Do you see that people? That is every drink and morsel of food that entered my mouth from Friday-Sunday night. (Just add 1 point for a bag of 100 calorie popcorn that I ate after I snipped the above image) I only went into my flex points by 3.5! They thought I was crazy last night, logging onto my Weight Watchers account from my Blackberry logging in every beer and even 1 shot, but I had to keep track! Too many times I just drink and say "forget it, I lost count!" Not this time!

So I would call this weekend a great success for me! I managed to go to the movies and resist temptation, I made White Bean Burgers on Saturday, I made 3 so I knew I would have healthy meals easily available on Sunday. I'm not going to share the recipe here because I didn't really care for them that much, no great shakes really. In summary, some simple planning made it easier to stay on track!

How about that Super Bowl? I was rooting for The Saints and I guess it paid off!



Me and Kelly with our Mardi Gras beads.

I had a wonderful time at the bar with friends. I missed so many commercials! That's my favorite part...I love the Betty White Snickers commercial though! And the Budweiser one with the Horse and the Cow on either side of the fence. So adorable!

Chaser Update: He is almost 100% back to normal. He's still a little groggy, but he's happy and playful and no worse for wear. He was so pitiful. For those of you who missed it, Chaser The Wonder Schnauzer had a vaccine reaction on Saturday.

Be sure to check back tonight for my Meatless Monday recipe. I'm playing with Tofu again with a Broccoli, Ginger and Tofu Stir Fry with brown rice.

Did you watch the Super Bowl? What was your favorite commercial?

Eventful Saturday!

 

First off, I did GREAT at the movies last night! I snuck in two 100 Calorie bags of popcorn (one for me, one for Kelly) and a bottle of Diet Peach Snapple. Kelly snuck in some “fun size” (aka – evil size) chocolate candy!

I almost got busted at the concession stand when my dear friend Kelly, who forgot her drink and had to buy one, badgered me in front of the guy at the register about why I wasn't buying a drink. I had to give her the "giant eyeball are you serious stare-down" before she realized what she was doing. I ate my bag of popcorn and 1 evil size Snickers bar. My snacks were better than the movie “Dear John” I’m afraid. I just was not impressed at all. We rented “Whip It” to try and redeem the evening and it did! That movie was fantastic!

This morning I took Chaser to the Vet. He’s such a happy dog, no matter where he is!

 

However, after his appointment he was not too happy. I got home with him and he began panting heavily and broke out in terrible hives. Having been a Vet Tech for a few years I recognized the signs, he was having a vaccine reaction and took him right back to the Vet. They gave him some IV Meds and stopped the reaction. I’m very happy to say that he is doing much better but tonight he is a very tired pup!

After our eventful morning, The Husband and I headed out to get groceries and supplies for the Super Bowl party at the bar tomorrow. While I was out, I picked up this!

I’m sad to report that it appears my Wii Fit has been correct on my weight, only off by about a pound.  However, I am happy to have this new scale and have set up a weighing area in my laundry room along with a graph to track all the body analysis this crazy scale does! Remember, there’s a $5 off coupon at Coupons.com for WW Conair scales! I ended up paying $24 for this after the coupon.

 

Once home, I was famished, the yogurt I had eaten at 10am was gone. So I whipped up a quick Tuna Salad and ate it on tostadas with some spinach. YUM!

My Tuna Salad is simple!

1 package of tuna

2 Tbsp Miracle Whip

1 Tbsp Dill Pickle Cubes

1-2 squirts of lemon juice

Salt, pepper, garlic & onion powder and paprika to taste.

The whole shebang, with 2 Mission Corn Tortillas (baked until crisp to make a “tostada”) ended up only being 7 points.

So, it’s been a very eventful day here! I’m relaxing with a beer watching Iron Chef with the husband. We plan to watch some movies tonight and rest up for tomorrow.

I hope you are all having fantastic weekends!

Are you ready for some football?

Weigh-in this morning: 166.2lbs +2.8lbs from last week. Of course, last week I had an uncharacteristically big loss (-3.5lbs) and I know I made terrible food choices and did a lot of mindless snacking in Greensboro. I think the combination of that explains (although does not excuse, I still stand by my "no excuses" policy) why I had a gain. I will buckle down this week. I am also going to buy a real scale. I've been weighing myself on the Wii Fit only, so I'm curious to see how a scale compares. Coupons.com has a $5 off a Weight Watcher Con-Air Scale coupon, so that will help!

I am setting a Mini-goal, that's not so "mini" to me.

Stay on track this weekend.

That's it. Track everything I eat and drink and stay on on-point. I can and will do this even if it takes using all of my Flex Points. Did I mention my husband is a bartender? We always go to his bar for Super Bowl and they have a big party with loads of booze, food, shots and friends. It's going to be tough, but I know I can do it. Right while typing that, I heard the ESPN Sports Center jingle.

Weekend plans for me:

Tonight: Go see Dear John with my friend Kelly. Sneak snacks into movie theater. Come home, meal plan for next week while catching up on my DVR'ed shows.

Saturday: Chaser The Wonder Schnauzer goes to the Vet, then it's shopping for Super Bowl party stuff and groceries with the husband. Have no idea the plans for tomorrow evening but I'm sure they will be laid back since we will be out on Sunday.

Sunday: I have a 3 mile run in the morning and then I am going to eat a healthy breakfast and lunch before heading up to the bar for the Super Bowl! This year I'm mostly just excited about the commercials, but if I have to pick a team, it's probably going to be The Saints!

What should I sneak into the movies tonight? I know I'm going to sneak in a 100 Calorie bag of Pop Corn...anything else? What's your favorite movie snack?

Happy Friday everyone!