Daily Archives: January 8, 2010

Goals in action

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Hello! It’s the weekend again! I’m so glad I only had three days to get through this week, because I have been so worn out from my vacation.

I haven’t been documenting my food too much lately, but I did have a wonderful sandwich for lunch today.

It was just half an avocado, 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, and freshly ground pepper on two slices of nutty bread. Simple and a good source of protein, whole grains and healthy fats and delicious.

So, I’ve been so busy rambling about the past (New Year’s Eve and my vacation) that I haven’t really been talking about what’s going on in the present. Not that there’s anything too exciting to report, haha.

But the one thing I’ve been really focusing on is making sure I follow my New Year’s Resolution by continually challenging myself.

I’ve already started challenging myself as far as my workouts go by doing several things:

  • Working out longer each night when I work out at home. I’ve only been back for two nights, but I’ve put in a solid hour of exercise both nights. I used to only average about 45 minutes. Wednesday night I did a full body strength training session and yesterday I did a 45 minute cardio DVD and 20 minutes of yoga.
  • Adding variety to my workouts. I started doing this with the ST on Wednesday, which I usually really skimp on. I am loosely following Jessica’s No More Resolutions plan to make sure there is a lot of variety in what I’m doing. I inted to do: 1 full body ST, 1 upper body ST, 1 lower body ST, 2 yoga sessions and at least 4 days of cardio. The ST sessions will hopefully be different every time and the cardio will take on many forms. This will be a huge challenge for me because I have pretty much married the elliptical and consider any other form of cardio to be adultery. This must stop!
  • Getting back on the running horse. Okay, I haven’t done this one yet. But I did spend an hour yesterday adding all my planned runs into my Google calendar. That counts right? I am buying new running shoes tonight because my old ones kill my ankles, and I’m going to start running again next week. I’m really nervous about it because I am a terrible runner, but I love the feeling I get after finishing a good run.
  • Joining a gym. I know I said I wasn’t going to, but I think I found one that’s a really great fit for me, so I’m going to probably sign up there on Saturday. They have a lot of great classes that I’m really going to challenge myself to try out. I’m also going to start writing down the strength workouts I plan to do and taking them with me and forcing myself to get over my insecurities and pump that iron!

I’m not really doing any of these things specifically to lose weight, although that would be a nice bonus. I simply want to change up my workout routine because I love the feeling of accomplishing something new and different that I didn’t know I was capable of.

2010 is all about going above and beyond where I was in 2009 for me. Last year I made the big step to start working out again after several months of being inactive (I’ve always been a bit of a gym rat so that was a long time for me), but I never really did anything besides the elliptical, light running and yoga. I want to really take it to the next level from what I’m comfortable doing! I’ll be sure to keep you all updated with the progress :)

I’ve been working on challenging myself in other ways too, but I think I’ve rambled on long enough.

Oh wait, no I haven’t! I was recently given a blog award from two wonderful bloggers, Lisa from I’m an Okie and Angie from Caffeinated Cardio. Thanks girls!

So now I get to tell you 7 things you don’t know about me! I’ve done this once before, so I hope I don’t repeat anything.

1. I am really self conscious about my large rib cage. I try to act like I’m not, but I am. I guess it could be worse though, at least there are lungs in there ;)

2. I get a little anxious around balls. Get your minds out of the gutter! I mean basketballs, baseballs, soccer balls, etc. I can throw a football okay and I can play golf but I’m hopeless at any other sport involving balls.

3. I still have a Little Mermaid themed comfortor from when I was little and I use it as sort of an adult security blanket. Any time I can’t sleep or I’m feeling down I get it out and curl up in it. It has healing powers! My old roommate even recognized it’s wonder.

4. It gives me serious heeby jeebies to be in the same room with a flushing toilet unless the seat is down. I can’t stand it.

5. I’m incredibly awkward at talking on the phone. When I start dating someone they always think I don’t like them because of the way I act on the phone. I envy people who can talk for hours without ever running out of things to say.

6. I’ve never broken a bone and the most gruesome injury I’ve ever had to endure was my left ear piercing splitting all the way through when I was in 3rd grade.

7. I only have two cousins. I’ve always wished I had a bigger family and hope I marry someone with a lot of siblings and cousins.

Okay, now that you’re aware of how strange/nerdy/unathletic I am I challenge you to:

Tell me one random thing about you.

Tell me one blog you’re really into right now.

Have a good weekend everybody! I get internets at my apartment tomorrow so I’ll be around this weekend, woo hoo!

Cozumel Part II

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So, I said yesterday that the food I ate in Mexico wasn’t that great, and I have to stand by that statement. Since we were at an all-inclusive resort, the majority of what we ate came from a buffet and none of it was outstanding. However, the benefit of having all your meals paid for is pretty amazing.

I will say that out of the two all-inclusive resorts I’ve been to, the food at this one was way worse :( We stayed at El Cozumeleno Resort in cause anyone was curious.

I still managed to eat a few good things though. Breakfast in the morning was usually okay. There was a lot of fresh fruit to choose from (papaya, pineapple, watermelon, honeydew, grapefruit, etc.) so I usually had some of that and an omelet.

Oh, and that little pastry hiding in the back is a cream cheese thang that rocked my socks off. I may have had 2 or 20 over the course of the trip ;)

Lunch was at the buffet everyday and I never took a picture of it because it was always so hideous once it was plated. But the main components were salad, rice and beans, quacamole, and fruit. Nothing too exciting.

One day we did order off the a la carte menu, which was a little better but not much. One lesson I learned: When in doubt, go with the Ceaser salad. This particular salad came in a crispy bread bowl that I didn’t eat, but found to be a nice touch in presentation.

Along with my salad I ordered a bowl of tomato soup.

This was terrible! It was cold and foamy, ick. I don’t really even know why I’m showing this picture.

This particular meal also came with a side of… something.

My guess is that this was sliced yucca? I don’t know why I am guessing that, it just seems right. I liked the actual fruit/veggie slices whatever they were, but that spice they included for dipping was just not right in my book. Still, style points for presentation I suppose.

We got a meal included on our Pirate Dinner Cruise, which came with either steak, chicken or lobster. I chose to go the vegetarian route, which meant a plate of cold noodles, a baked tater and cold veggies. We did get a delicious Caesar salad as a first course though, which saved the meal from being a total disaster. Excuse the flash, it was pitch dark outside.

Loads of dressing that I’m sure was not vegetarian. I should have just had the lobster. But I don’t really like lobster so it wouldn’t have been worth it.

Another night we ate at the nice restaurant at the resort. We sadly only got to eat there one night, which sucks because the food there really was pretty good. We started with (can you believe it?) Caesar salad’s. These were kicked up a notch with chipotle caesar dressing and a side of avocado. Oooh. Aaaah.

We were also served a loaf of hollowed out bread topped with olive oil and minced garlic. It was crazy good.

For my entree, I decided to learn from my mishap with the cold pasta and order some fish. It was a white fish of some sort and a small medallion of salmon atop some veggie rice pilaf.

It looked so pretty, but it was just meh. The fish wasn’t really cooked right. The rice was okay, but nothing spectacular. Megan had the Surf and Turf (she took a bite before I could snap a picture) and said it was the best thing she had the whole trip.

There was a delicious-looking dessert tray, but we’d both stuffed ourself too much with the bread so we opted out.

The next night I decided to make up for that decision with this cute, swan-shaped cream puff.

Ain’t it cute?

And that’s all she wrote about Mexico. I’ll be back later today with the details about the first step in achieving my New Year’s Resolution.

Happy Friday!