I have to admit that my early morning wake up was something that I am going to turn into a habit.  Completing my workout first thing this morning was great for so many reasons!

1. I had more time and was able to really focus on what I was doing
2. I had more energy than I do in the middle of the afternoons, which is when I typically workout
3. The gym was pretty empty, so I didn’t have to fight any meat-heads for the benches in the weight room
4. My attitude towards the day became significantly more productive

Morning workouts are CLEARLY a must for this girl.  :)

After showering and getting ready for class, I made up a quick protein smoothie to take with me in hopes that it would fend off any hunger during class.  It did just that, and it was the BEST smoothie I have ever made.  Instead of using a frozen banana, I decided to try using a plain Greek yogurt mixed with sweetener and it gave the smoothie a perfectly thick and creamy consistency.

In my cute pink tumbler :)

In this smoothie, I used:

• 1 scoop organic vanilla protein powder
• a handful of frozen strawberries
• 1 container of plain Greek yogurt mixed with Splenda
• a little bit of water

After class and a little bit of studying in the library, I headed back to my room and made up a quick and easy lunch of a grilled chicken breast and roasted brussel sprouts.

Want to know something funny?  I only love roasted brussel sprouts because of the leaves that fall off and get burned in the oven.  I love burned brussel sprouts.  Yep, I’m a weirdo!  They remind me SO much of kale chips, so I’m thinking that one of these days I may just take the time to pull apart each brussel sprout and burn them all haha!

Get in my belly!

Well, luckily I completed my workout this morning because after lunch my cold was fighting me with FULL FORCE and it won.  I felt super crappy, so I curled up and fell asleep for awhile unaware that I would wake up feeling even more crappy.  I made a quick trip to Walmart before my duty shift began at 5 to pick up the miracle drug…

I only resort to medicine that I have to drink (Theraflu or Alkaseltzer) when I REALLY feel sick because they typically trigger my gag reflex really bad.  I don’t know what it is… maybe the fact that Alkaseltzer is disgusting and bubbly and tastes like barf, or maybe it’s due to a new little fact I learned today.  Let me explain first that there is nothing I hate more in this world than a cough drop.  I literally will NEVER take one.  I would rather have a raw, swollen and bleeding throat than suck on a cough drop.  Well, I made one of the daytime Theraflu teas and was hopeful that the berry flavor would taste decent.  I must have completely missed the little text on the front of the box saying that it was MENTHOL INFUSED.  Oh my gosh.  Long story short, I rewarded myself for each sip of the tea with a huge drink of diet mountain dew because it each sip of the tea made me gag.  Literally.  Well, it is what it is, but I’m sure hoping that the nighttime tea will clear my head up so that I can sleep tonight.

Now… onto my dinner surprise!!  :)

While at Walmart, I remember that I was out of Tilapia and when I went to grab some, I noticed that Swai was the same exact price.  I had never heard of Swai, but it looked delicious so I decided to give it a try!

This is what I ate! (except not this big. obviously.)

Swai is a catfish-like fish that’s found in Vietnam.  It has a very mild flavor.  VERY mild.  It honestly didn’t taste very fishy at all, but I was ok with that!

I sprinkled it with a little salt and pepper and paired it with a serving of Alexia’s Sweet Potato Fries to make a delicious meal!  :)

The rest of the night is going to be full of homework, research and watching Jane by Design!  Pretty darn perfect, if ya ask me.

Hope you’ve had a wonderful day!

Here’s a Thought:

Talkatchalater,

Happy Hippie

This morning began quite early (7am..EEK) due in large part to the stupid cold that has taken over my body.  You know when you have a cold and you wake up all snotty with a dry throat and pounding head?  Yeah, me too.  Well, upon waking I made a very quick decision to scour my room for some sort of cold medicine, figuring that I must have something on hand from past colds.  Colds/ Bronchitis are pretty common for me around this time of year, so luckily I had some left over Mucinex and Day Quil stashed away in my nightstand! :)

Before I went to sleep last night, I was browsing around Pinterest and found a picture that stuck with me and kind of set the tone for today, so I figured I would share!

Well, that was the exact thought that popped into my head after taking my medicine this morning and, after chugging a bunch of water I decided to take advantage of the few extra hours that waking up early gave me!  I brought back the Jamie Eason 12 Week Live Fit Trainer today!!!  Hallelujah!!  I’ve decided to just start the program all over, because I want to do it right and life has kind of jumped in the way for the past week.

This morning’s workout was the exact same as my first one on the program, so I will just use a recycled picture.  Go green. I began with a twenty minute warm up on the elliptical to get my heart pumpin’ before completing a great (and tough!) chest/ triceps workout!

Today's workout!

I left the gym much sweatier than the first week that I attempted this program, but I feel like that’s probably due to the fact that I did do a cardio workout (bad girl.) and that I’ve been out of commission for a few days.  It felt SO great though!  Oh my goodness.  Upon leaving the gym, I ran by the grocery store to pick up a carton of eggs and returned home to make a delicious breakfast of 5 egg whites and two pieces of Healthy Life toast.  I kind of mixed it all up and put two of the egg whites on the toast with a dash of ketchup to make a sandwich and enjoyed the other three on the side with a little bit of garlic sea salt.  Maybe I’m weird, but I seriously love LOVE LOVe egg whites on toast.  It’s quite possibly the most bland meal imaginable, but it does it for me!

Breakfast was eaten while watching Dr. Oz, of course.  I feel like of like my mom in that I’ve developed a love for random morning television, but Dr. Oz ALWAYS has something interesting on his show that I didn’t know before watching, so I consider this educational television.  Better than those Kardashians…. (Sad to say… but I’m a sucker for them, too.)

Well, it’s time to shower and try to look a little less haggard today.  I don’t wear this tired/ sick/ stressed look well at all and, quite frankly, I would be perfectly alright with it leaving RIGHT NOW.  :)

Here’s a Thought:

Talkatchalater,

Happy Hippie

I was chatting earlier today with a few girls from my class about how funny the weekends are.  Either you have a very fun and productive weekend, leaving you mentally and physically refreshed and ready to take on a new week, or the weekend flies by, full of fun, but leaves you feeling a little rough come Monday morning.  This morning was DEFINITELY the latter.  This could possibly be due to the fact that…

This....

Went to…

This.

Or possibly due to the fact that Saturday was spent doing absolutely NOTHING.   Except lots of Twilight movies, ice cream and dying Hil’s hair….

In a makeshift hair dye resistant shirt. :)

I think that it was mainly due to the fact that girls weekend was perfect.  Yep.  That’s it.  Sometimes a spontaneous weekend with a few of your closest friends is exactly what you need.   If I were to prescribe someone the perfect weekend to remind them just how wonderful life really is, the ingredients would be:

• Friends
• Strong drinks
• Lots of laughing
• Movies
• Ice Cream
• No makeup
• Sleep

Yep.  Perfection.

Well, Monday morning wasn’t quite welcomed around these parts, but regardless of my attitude; it still came.  I woke up feeling pretty darn crappy, which made my already wonderful attitude even better!   This stupid cold has been going around and it finally caught me. Boo.  There were no pictures of breakfast this morning, but it was perfect.  I had initially planned on an egg white omelet, but my sore throat fought that idea off right away and settled for oatmeal instead.

This isn't mine, but it looked just like this!

Included in the oatmeal mix was:

• 1/2 c oats
• 1 c water
• Dash of salt
• Cinnamon
• Splenda
• Splash of almond milk
• Diced peach

It doesn't look nearly as good as it tasted :)

 

Ingredients:

• Diced zucchini
• Chopped onion
• Chopped carrots
• Cabbage
• Mushrooms
• Chopped fresh garlic
• Cumin
• Garlic Salt
• Pepper
• Italian Seasoning
• Basil
• 1/2 container low sodium chicken broth

Directions:

1. Chop the vegetables and place in a pot
2. Add chicken broth and seasonings
3. Bring to a boil for 6 minutes, then cover and simmer for about 25 minutes
4. Eat!

It was seriously the perfect sick meal.  I can’t even explain.  The cumin really gave it a great flavor without being too overpowering, which I was really happy about because I didn’t even know what cumin was until today.  I just randomly bought it, figuring that it might taste good in the soup.  Boy was I right!

After dinner; I cleaned up, did the dishes, took a long a shower, worked on some homework and now I’m watching the latest episode of The Lying Game before staff meeting!  I’m SO obsessed with this show.  You should watch it.  Right now.  :)

Sweats

The first three Twilight movies

Ice Cream. Duh

Afternoon naps

Pizza for dinner

Breaking Dawn Pt. 1

All in all?  A perfect day.  :)

Here’s a Thought:

Talkatchalater,

Happy Hippie

Aka… A good night. :)

Yep.

Talkatchalater,
Happy Hippie

Today has been NUTS!  I have never felt so excited to climb into bed with some popcorn and a movie as I do right now.  :)

I finished reading Medea for my World Masterpieces class and, let me tell you, it’s quite a disturbing story.  We’ve been reading a plethora of old Greek stories including: Oedipus, The Iliad, The Odyssey, and Agamemnon and, while these all have a very interesting plot lines representing the values of ancient Greek culture, this one definitely took the gold.  The odd thing, though, was that despite Medea’s complete and utter insanity; her way of living by more masculine values (fighting back and seeking revenge when her strength was challenged) reminded me a lot of myself.  The discussion that we had in class definitely had me captivated the entire time, making the class fly by.

Since I am still working on getting life back in check, I completely forgot to snap food pictures today, but eh… it happens!  During class I snacked on a Nature Valley oatmeal raisin granola bar that I picked up at the Union after printing a few things this morning.  It was so good!  I looked for a box of them when I was at Target tonight, but sadly there were none. :( Thank goodness for dining dollars on my student account!  I’ll just have to keep getting them from the Union until I find some.   After class I went to a meeting for about an hour and once I finally returned home at 3 I was super hungry for some lunch!  I wish I would have snapped a picture because (prior to mixing it all up), it looked really cool!  I topped a package of Tofu Shiritaki Noodles with a Tyson Grilled and Ready chicken breast, roasted mushrooms, a spoonful of salsa and a spoonful of Greek yogurt.  I was craving something with a little spice to it, and added the Greek yogurt for a little bit of a saucier taste (or maybe because I was on a Greek kick after my discussion in class today!).

After taking about 45 minutes to sit down (lay in bed…lazy?  Yes.) and watch Dr. Oz, I headed out to Lee’s Summit for my class which I realized, once I got there, was online this week.  Whoops!  I had already driven the 30 miles out there, so I figured I would take advantage of the shopping scene and hit up Target.  I LOVE Target.  After browsing around for about an hour, I left with a big (and very cute) planner, a journal to start writing in, printer paper, Almond Breeze, and TWO new popcorn seasonings!!!

I got the Buffalo and Kettle Corn seasonings!!

I’m so pumped to try one of them tonight!!!  I’m even more pumped about the return of my beloved Almond Breeze!  Walmart stopped carrying the one that I like, so I switch to the So Delicious Unsweetened Vanilla and, while it was good, I love my Almond Breeze.

I got back to Warrensburg, attended a quick training session for my job, came back and showered (yay for smooth legs.  you have NO idea how bad it was hahaha) and now it’s time to curl up with popcorn and a movie.

Overall?  This day has been a success.  One really important thing that I’ve learned this week is that things will happen in your life that will bring your world to a complete halt.  They will push you down and knock the wind out of you, leaving you and your world motionless and breathless.  The real kicker?  Even though your world has stopped, life doesn’t stop for you.  It doesn’t wait around, but instead gives you the option to lay down and let it pass over you, or to brush yourself off and fight back.  To keep living.  To choose courage and strength.

Things that I’m thankful for today:

• The sun shining
• The strength to push forward
• Popcorn seasoning
• Razors and smooth legs

I’m sorry it’s been literally a week since I’ve posted.  Life kind of REALLY got in the way this past week, but that happens from time to time I guess!   So, now that life back back in action, I figured it was time for a quick blog post before class! :)

After playing a lot of catch up last night and being on duty, I fell asleep around 1am and slept until 10 this morning.  You have NO idea how much this girl needed some good sleep.  I feel much more refreshed this morning and I’m excited to tackle the day!  The first thing that I thought upon waking was GET SOME FOOD IN MAH BELLY!  Between being in Oklahoma, Arkansas and St. Louis over the course of the last week, I obviously haven’t stuck to the Jamie Eason plan, so I plan on starting the workouts back up either tomorrow, or just start completely fresh on Monday.  As far as the eating plan, I wasn’t too worried about straying from it because I’m less focused on that side of the program and more focused on the actual workouts, but I think that I ate semi clean about 70 percent of the time at home.  So yay!  The other 30 percent was definitely delicious and included a cookie dough milkshake from Steak and Shake that definitely put a smile on my face and a smile in my tummy. :)

So… anyways.. breakfast this morning was an egg white, mushroom and tomato sandwich.  It was AMAZING.  I toasted two pieces of  Healthy Life 100% Whole Wheat bread and threw on a little squirt of ketchup and put together this little guy to make a delicious and savory breakfast.

I also decided to cook it in the dorm kitchens rather than my room to make the egg patties a nicer size for the bread.  Sometimes cooking the egg whites in the microwave make them take on a very odd form and them come out looking like some kind of alien blob.

Cooking them on the stove definitely helped a TON! :)

Time to go print some paperwork and finish reading Medea for class!  It’s going to be a really busy day, but I promise I’ll post again before bed tonight.

Hope you’ve had a great week and that you have a wonderful day! :)

Here’s a Thought:

Talkatchalater,

Happy Hippie

1. Caffeine is your friend

2. Rain and semi’s are NOT your friend.

3. Pandora will play through your iphone the WHOLE way wherever you’re going.  Thank you Augustana Radio for giving me great tunes!

4. Snacks are KEY in keeping your energy up and your belly happy. :)

5. Modern technology isn’t always helpful when travelling…

6. When you see a Pike Pass, don’t just go through it.  Even if your dad says (via telephone) that it’s just for semi’s. It’s for you too.

7. When you don’t see signs for miles, but you know that you should have been to your destination 20 minutes prior.. start getting worried. 

8. When you realize that you got on the wrong highway in the dark.. and rain… and have driven to Oklahoma instead of Arkansas… make the best of your stupidity adventure: pick up a box of  Rice Krispies at the local Walmart, snuggle up in your bed at the Super 8 and laugh at yourself.   

Not that I know anyone who did this tonight… I just thought the travel tips might help you out sometime! ;)

Here’s a Thought:

Talkatchalater,

Happy Hippie

Here’s a quick update on the Jamie Eason Live Fit 12 Week Trainer thus far!  I decided to check my measurements this morning to see if there was any change over the course of the week because a lot of people see changes in the first 5 days and I was actually surprised to find that I have results too!  Now, I didn’t post my measurements to begin with, and I probably won’t, but I might post them in a chart at the end of each of the three phases in order to show the results/ benefits of the program.  Well, I was pretty excited and figured that I should carry my happy mood over to breakfast and get my body going for the day!

Breakfast was the same as yesterday, except I threw a little bit of ketchup on top of the egg whites that didn’t make it into the tortilla because, well, I love ketchup.  And I decided to put the breakfast burrito on the George Foreman for a minute to make it crispy and delicious!

There’s nothing like a hot breakfast on a cold morning.  :)

Well, I’m off to study, go to class, get in a great workout (shoulders and abs today!) and tie up some loose ends before packing my bags and heading to Fayetteville tomorrow morning!  I seriously cannot wait to see my sissy.

See ya at lunchtime! :)

Here’s a Thought:

Talkatchalater,

Happy Hippie

While I do miss camp A LOT, I’m kind of grateful to be writing this post in my yoga pants and sweatshirt rather than a one piece swimsuit over a pair of shorts with a beach towel cape and soda bottles in my hair.  :)

Today has been great!  I slept in quite late this morning due to a weird sleep last night.  I had a terrible migraine and fell asleep around 10, which is pretty early for me.  Around 1:30 am, I was wide awake and ended up being up until 5 am!!  I was, however, productive with my time spent awake and decided to go grocery shopping for a couple of things at Walmart.  Thank goodness for stores that are open for 24 hours.  On my way back, I was super thirsty and swung through McDonald’s to grab a diet coke before heading back to my room to read and eventually fall asleep.  I woke up around ten thirty and was ready to eat right away!

On the menu: egg whites, veggies, 1 La Tortilla Factory wrap

I decided to go with the La Tortilla Factory wrap rather than toast because while they hold the same amount of calories, the wrap has loads more fiber, which I knew would keep me fuller longer.  I needed a breakfast that would stick this morning because, due to a weird Wednesday schedule, I had to do my workout right after breakfast rather than later in the afternoon.  I forgot to snap a picture of the actual page (I will include it in tonight’s post), but today’s workout was legs/ calves and it was TOUGH.  I honestly went to bed last night thinking that today was going to be so easy because I have pretty strong legs already.

Here’s what the workout looked like:

I began with ten minutes on the elliptical and then completed the Live Fit Day 3 workout.

Live Fit Day #3

I have underestimated the intensity of these workouts so far, which makes me REALLY excited about the rest of the program.  I love being able to push myself to the limit during a workout, and while my usual cardio intense training gives me that, it gets a little bit monotonous doing the same run every day.  It also isn’t doing much for my body anymore because my muscles are accustomed to it.  This little switcharoo has proven to be exactly what my body needed!

After leaving the gym with quivering legs, I got back home and made up a quick protein shake using 1 scoop vanilla protein powder, 1/2 frozen banana, a few small strawberries and water/ ice to thicken it up a bit!

This was so sweet and filling as a post workout snack!!  While I LOVED yesterdays’ mix of turkey muffins and cottage cheese, I was definitely in the mood for something sweet today and this did the trick!  The only thing that I hate about working out SO early in the day is that my metabolism seems to be on fire for the entire day and I feel like I could eat everything in sight.  This was heightened to a new degree today because the weight lifting is making me so much hungrier than cardio does.

After a meeting with my boss, I ran back to my room to prepare lunch/ my late afternoon snack because I work the front desk from 3-6pm on Wednesday’s, and then I headed down to start my shift!

Lunch today looked like this:

I had basically the same exact thing that I ate yesterday.  I’m a creature of habit.  It happens.  Lunch was comprised of a Tyson Grilled and Ready chicken breast on top of garlic roasted zucchini and hot spinach.  This was paired this with a honey-crisp apple and two plain rice cakes to make a very filling meal that pretty much covered all of the bases nutritionally!  :)

Well, it’s time to do a little work on the blog, and add a few new recipes before my shift is over!

I hope you’re having a WONDERFUL day! :)

Here’s a Thought:

Talkatchalater,

Happy Hippie