19
Questions Answered: LISA!
Tonight’s questions come from the most awesome Lisa. Lisa is so full of funny and I actually get a little giddy any time I see her pop up on my twitter or facebook feed or my feedreader because I know that I’m about to giggle at her fabulous sense of humor.
Favorite feature about Ben?
Physically, his eyes. They really are a window to his mind. I can generally tell what kind of mood he’s in from across the room by his eyes. They look the best though when he’s smiling.
Non-physical would be his passion for everything he believes in. He LIVES life.
Biggest fear?
Death. I’m scared to not be here to watch Cassidy have children and grandchildren. To not see the kind of man and husband my brother becomes. To not see Ben grow more handsome as he get old and wise. It’s something I try and deal with but there are times where the fragility of life hits me and I can’t breathe and I can feel adrenaline pump into my veins as a panic attack starts but I just close my eyes, think of the HERE and NOW and remind myself to be thankful for that, and to live each day like it’s the most important one yet.
Biggest wish for Cassidy?
To know what it feels like to love somebody so much, you’d walk in front of whatever danger might exist to protect them. To know that overwhelming feeling of aww and joy as you look down for the first time at a new life you have created. To know struggle, and what it feels like to overcome, and to persevere and to LIVE. Just to experience EVERYTHING life has to offer.
Favorite healthy food?
It’s say a toss up between Ellie Krieger’s turkey meatloaf and my own homemade turkey chili. I’ll have to post that recipe soon!
Favorite unhealthy food?
Homemade: Fettuccine Alfredo with Parmesan Crusted Chicken!
Restaurant: Hamburgers! I’m a TOTAL red meat eater. Thick, and juicy and rare and smothered in blue cheese, please!
Dessert: Godiva Chocolate Soufflé from Bella Vista
10
In which I hiked.
We hiked 3.5 miles up and then UP SOME MORE, then back down the UVAS canyon. It was a gorgeous day out and it was great to get out into the open wilderness and get lost in the beauty around us for a few hours.
We started out with a decent ascent up the first trail which became a narrow set of switchbacks through a beautiful shaded path. It was a little steep at times but doable and Ben walked out in front of me to set a pretty decent pace. I was able to keep up with him for the most part and only had to stop a few times for water breaks.
And to admire the view.
And to make sure that we were avoiding the poison oak that was EVERYWHERE!
We made it to the peak of that hike and I was feeling pretty great and checked my heart rate monitor for the first time to check my calorie burn and it was at almost 500 calories! So it was time to refuel with some Kashi bars before heading back down the mountain on the more scenic, but not as steep trail.
We were checking the map and I saw this offshoot trail that was only half a mile long and thought that we should totally try and tackle that and Ben was up for anything so we decided to hike up it and see what was at the top. The map had the name of the trail and the word STEEP in brackets but I thought that it couldn’t be much more steep than the one we had already hiked, right!? BOY WAS I WRONG! I jokingly asked Ben to pose in front of the sign so that I could title the picture “before I died”. I didn’t realize then that THAT HALF MILE WOULD ALMOST KILL ME! 
It took pretty much every single bit of will power I had in my system, then some of Ben’s, to get me up that hill. It was TOUGH. We stopped at one point to take pictures and after the first two Ben was like, “You should at least TRY and look happy! LOOK HAPPY!”
So I did.
You can kind of see how steep the climb was there. Trust me, it was twice as steep as it looks there. Even though Ben is in much better shape than I am and was able to motor up that climb MUCH faster than me, even he stopped to enjoy the break at the top.
After that short break we started back down that steep path and it was then that I realized that the rest of the hike back to the car would be down hill and this is how I felt about that.
All in all it was a GREAT way to spend 2.5 hours of our Saturday and burning 1480 calories in the process. We had such a great time that we are planning on hitting a more challenging 11 mile hike next weekend. I was pretty proud of myself for making it not only through the hike, but up that last half mile section. I know that a year ago, I’d NEVER have been able to do that. I’d have either not even attempted it or quit half way up because it was too hard. It’s just such an amazing feeling to know that I accomplished a big goal for me which was to go on a hike with Ben. It’s a goal that I’ve been working towards for a long time and I DID IT!
Not only did I make it through the hike but I felt AWESOME after the fact. We stretched really well when we got back to the car and my legs feel great now. We set a goal to keep doing these mini practice hikes and eventually, hit Half Dome in Yosemite. Ben has done it before and he’s said he’s in better shape now than he was then but it’s a TOUGH hike so it’s not something we are going to rush out and to tomorrow, but eventually!
Hope you all are having a great weekend! 
3
Peddle Faster!
So I kind of quietly started a new round of P90X on Monday. I didn’t really tell anybody but Julie and Ben because that meant having to admit out loud that I totally failed the last round. I’m not sure what happened but about half way through I just lost steam and motivation and gave up.
But I’m back, baby!
I’m not following the workout plan exactly because on cardio days I’ve been out on the bike peddling off the calories. I finally had to admit to myself that I’m just not going to be able to run. At least not right now. My shins have never stopped giving me problems and after trying stretching techniques, icing, aspirin, new running shoes, neoprene wraps, focusing on my landing, EVERYTHING, I’d still have KILLER shin splints every single time I tried. Having to admit it just WASN’T going to work was really hard on me because I hate being a quitter.
BUT! On a more positive note I’ve discovered that while I’m not a runner, I AM a biker! Ben, Cassidy and I started taking bike rides and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. The first day we rode about 10 miles and for the following two days I walked funny and had a hard time sitting down but that hasn’t happened since and I’ve been able to do the 9-10 mile rides with great success. I still can’t keep up with Ben, but I’ll get there soon!
So for right now (and at least the next two weeks) my schedule looks like this:
Monday: P90X Chest & Back
Tuesday: Bike ride (this week we did a 10 mile ride and I burned 700+ calories)
Wednesday: P90X Arms and Shoulders
Thursday: Bike ride (did 9.6 miles, 670 calories)
Friday: Rest day
Saturday: P90X Legs and Back
Sunday: Bike ride plus either X Stretch or Yoga X
Friday was a rest/free day for me and I think that I might stick to that for awhile. I have a LONG week of working and by Friday I am BURNT OUT. Ben and I like to have date nights those nights and then I’m in bed REALLY early. If I can manage to make it to a Friday with enough energy to work out I’ll probably plug Kenpo X, Plyometrics or a ride in there but for now, I’m not going to get down or myself or feel bad if I don’t manage to get to it.
Also, I’ve stopped using Spark People. It’s a great site but SO BLOATED with extra crap that I don’t need. So I’ve switched over to MyFitnessPal and I love it so far. So, if you use it add me!
And I PROMISE I’ll get back to blogging more regularly again. I was in kind of a slump there for a bit but now that I’m back on track and eating more healthy and getting some great exercise I feel like I’m getting all my energy and spunk back.
28
Television is to news what bumper stickers are to philosophy.
I’m exhausted. This is actually pretty normal for a Friday night but this week it’s worse because I spent the last two days at work trying to catch up for the two days I laid on the couch with a fever and scared to turn my head because the wave of resulting nausea was crippling.
No, I am not pregnant. I think it was just a flu bug and it sucked. Balls.
I hate staying home during the week. I hate that I am so swamped at work that when I come back there is ALL THIS STUFF, TWO DAYS WORTH, that I have to take care of RIGHT THIS SECOND. And then the days of playing catch up afterwards. But more than that, I just, home is BORING! At least Ben was here so I didn’t have to talk to the wall, or the dogs, or the remote… but still! I wasn’t really in a talking mood and for some reason as bad as I felt I couldn’t get much sleep and I couldn’t move my eyes to read (WAVE OF CRIPPLING NAUSEA) which left me with *sinister music* DAY. TIME. TV.
Now, I’m just going to lay this out there: I love The Young and the Restless.
THERE I SAID IT, OKAY!
I’ve been watching it for YEARS AND YEARS AND YEARS and it’s a guilty pleasure I don’t often talk about out loud. Ever. To anybody. I can’t even talk to Ben about it because any time I try to watch a DVR’d episode he rolls his eyes with such force that it knocks the pictures off the walls. IN CHINA. Actually, I’m pretty sure the BP oil leak in the gulf was caused by Ben rolling his eyes when I turned on an episode of The Young and the Restless.
Other than that show though day time TV is PAINFUL and at one point I woke up from a short nap and The Maury Show was on and the remote was like, THREE WHOLE FEET AWAY, and I just didn’t have the willpower or the mental capacity to REACH ALL THE WAY OVER THERE to turn the channel.
About 10 minutes in I started to shake and broke out in a cold sweat and I think my braincells were starting to march, single file, out of my ear to GET AWAY FROM THE MAURY SHOW. AT ALL COSTS. There’s only so many times a person can watch a girl having a FOURTH MAN DNA tested to attain the proud job of deadbeat baby daddy before they break. Somebody has to be this kid’s dad! Like, I’m totally behind the closing of Guantanamo Bay now because all we really need to do is lock a person in a cell with a 60 inch TV screen playing The Maury Show. I give them 10 minutes MAX before they break. PROBLEM SOLVED! MILLIONS OF DOLLARS SAVED!
I need to write this shit down more often. America would be so much better off.
Also: Working on and off on a new theme for the site so if you come and things look broken or ugly, it’s because of that. Or Ben went and rolled his eyes again, either way.
But it’s probably Ben’s fault.
I’m just saying!
29
Friday Five: “Second star to the right, and straight on ’till morning.”
I kinda miss doing the Friday Five so I think I’ll start again. As usual it’s three days late and not the one actually from this week but I’ve never been one to comply CORRECTLY. HA!
1) What time do you usually wake up on weekdays?
Every day is pretty much the same except that some days the snooze button gets the best of me but this morning was a typical morning and looked like this:
4:15AM – Alarm goes off.
4:23AM – Turn off alarm before it goes off again.
4:30AM – Get out of bed
4:50AM – Get out of shower.
5:00/5:10AM – Leave house.
5:50/6:00AM – Get to work
9:00AM – Officially wake up for the day.
2) What about weekends?
Ben and I rotate having to get up with the dogs. If it’s my turn, they’ll let us sleep till about 9:00AM MOST DAYS before totally dying of hunger and driving us insane. This weekend they were feeling particularly feisty and had me up by 7:00AM both days. If Ben gets up with them, I’ve been known to sleep till 11:00AM at which point Cassidy starts making noise outside my room till I get up.
3) What do you eat for breakfast?
SHAKEOLOGY! When I have it. I’m ordering more Chocolate today with my credit I got from sending my Greenberry back. I would go into the entire OMG SHAKEOLOGY RULEZ speech here but you can just read all about it on my health blog. But seriously, OMG SHAKEOLOGY RULEZ! My recipe is this:
1 cup plain light Silk Soy Milk
1 scoop Chocolate Shakeology
1 TBSP natural peanut butter
7 cubes of ice
BLEND!
I drink it on the way to work then wash out my cup when I get there. SOMETIMES I’ll wait till I get to work to drink it but I usually can’t wait that long because it’s too good to wait.
On days I don’t have the shake, I’ll grab a banana on the way out the door, or bring some bread with me to toast and I keep peanut butter and sugar free jam here at work.
4) Do you take a shower at night or in the morning?
At night when I exercise then again in the morning depending on how insane my hair looks when I get up. I’m bad about falling asleep with a towel still in my hair and then the next day it’s LIKE WHOAH!
5) How long does it take you to get ready?
See #1. I get out of the shower then leave the house 10 minutes later. When I get to work I’ll put on minimal makeup, usually it’s MAC Studio Fix powder for foundation, NARS blush in Orgasm and then whatever mascara I love at the time. It takes about 2-3 minutes tops. Also, I use the heater in the car to dry my hair in the winter, then roll the windows down in the summer. I know that sounds crazy but if I did all that at home, makeup and blowdry would add another 30-45 minutes to my morning and I already get up early enough. Stupid thick hair…
If I’m getting ready go out and actually look nice (full makeup and making my hair look nice), it’s about a hour from getting out of the shower to out the door.
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