Weekend Recap – Page 26

I can swim but I can’t run MIMM#48

December 7, 2015 by Alicia 2 Comments

Hello everyone! Is it really December 7th already?! I may not have an advent calendar and countdown to Christmas but I am counting down to the week of Christmas since it’s a short work week. One more 5 day workweek after this week. I am looking forward to next weekend already as I have some plans on the calendar. This weekend there were no plans besides the usual errands and workouts and of course relaxing, which is absolutely perfect. I definitely found things to do to keep busy.

Friday evening I started putting together some presents and doing some wrapping and taping up boxes to mail. I have a pile of boxes in my living room corner that need to go to the post office this week. Let’s just say a Christmas movie and wrapping presents was just what I needed. I didn’t even feel like eating dinner but eventually had some chips and hummus. I am kind of addicted to making hummus in my Blendtec, it’s so much better fresh. Thursday was a rough day, so the relaxation on Friday was much needed.

Saturday morning I slept in until 8. It is easier to sleep in when 1) you go to bed after 10 and 2) the sun doesn’t rise until 7. I like to wake up with the sun. As much as I am a morning person, winter mornings are definitely harder, but I am happy with getting up at 8 as there are still 4 hours left in the morning. I had a quick bowl of cereal and headed to Cherry Hill to do some shopping. I got my groceries and then stopped at the Target there since it was nearby and would have been out of my way if I had gone home and then to the other Target. I discovered that Target was next to Kohls and I had received a 25% off coupon in my email and decided to check out some shoes and was successful. By the time I had hit up 4 stores and drove home it was about lunch time and I was hungry since all I had was a bowl of cereal.

I put together a snack plate of ham, cheese, hummus and chips and drank some rehydrate and lots of water because I was feeling dehydrated. I put on a Christmas movie while I ate and then got ready for the gym. I usually aim to go to the gym around 11am on Saturday to swim, but all my shopping delayed me until about 2pm. Seeing as it was later in the day, I wasn’t sure how much energy I would have, but I got in the water and it felt so good. I just kept saying to myself, just keep swimming, just keep swimming…

I pushed a bit father and managed to swim just over a mile for my first set and then I broke it up into smaller sets for the remainder of my swim. Sometimes I like to imagine if a camera were set up while I swam and you could see how many people come and go while I just keep swimming, like in the movies were they speed up the time and I am still doing the same thing, swimming back and forth. Anyway I felt good and I just kept going and listening to my body for when I would change strokes. [Due to my shoulder bursitis I usually only swim 10 laps freestyle before switching to breaststroke for 2 laps just to break up the laps better. I have found that way I can last longer, otherwise my shoulder will start to ache and I will have to stop.] In the end, for fun, I added in some backstroke and kicking on my back. Overall I managed to swim 170 laps plus 10 laps kicking in 1 hour 35 minutes. My distance was 4500 yds total or 2.5 miles, the most I have ever swam in one session. I have been working on my 2 mile swims for over a month now and I thought it was time to push farther and I didn’t have anywhere to go anyway so it was perfect. My arms felt stronger and I wasn’t sore this time around which I think helped a lot. I did yoga on Friday morning instead of weights and it felt good. Even though there were a few 30 second breaks during the last mile and a bit between sets, I reached my goal of swimming 2.4 miles in one swim session at the pool that I have had set for years and I was really excited!!

Based on my title for today’s post, you might notice I can swim, but running for more than 2 minutes is still a challenge for me. I have realized with swimming, I am good at pacing and just swimming, because you have to breathe during a stroke and lift your head out of the water, as you can’t breathe in the water, but running, the breathing is still a challenge for me and it’s also harder on my knees, but I am working on it slowly.

By the time I got home, the sun was about to set…I am not a fan of these 4:30 sun sets. Anyway it was time to make some dinner and then relax on the couch for the evening, watching more Christmas movies, my favorite Dear Santa was on Lifetime and then the new Lifetime Christmas movie, The Flight Before Christmas. Not sure if you can tell, but I love Christmas movies!

Sunday morning I slept until 8 again, but this time I didn’t have to run errands. I attempted making some pancakes that kind of failed but were still tasty and then I went to the gym to get my squat day in. My legs have to be getting stronger, because they were not feeling as jello like this time. That just means next week I will have to increase the weights a bit more. I am sure I will still be sore tomorrow but fitting in some foam rolling to hopefully help with recovery.

Once I got home, I did some meal prep, making some bean salad and then eating some for lunch.

The afternoon was nice and sunny, but a little chilly. I enjoyed working on building some yoga sequences and sitting in the sunlight from inside. The evening included more meal prep as I made dinner for myself and then more Christmas movie watching and relaxing on the couch. I also made some homemade almond butter cups, so yummy.

Here’s to a new week. Last week things were breaking on me and I am hoping this week goes better. I am also hoping to get a tree next weekend as it just doesn’t feel as Christmas-y without one.

What did you do this weekend?

Thanksgiving 4 day weekend: MIMM#47

November 30, 2015 by Alicia 4 Comments

Hey all!! Here we are back at Monday. My 4 day Thanksgiving weekend was a much needed break, but of course went by way too fast. Now back to the 5 day work weeks until Christmas.

I had a nice Thanksgiving. I slept in, made some protein pancakes and did some yoga at home (thanks OneOEight) before heading out on the road at 10:30am.

2015-11-26 12.26.21 — iced tea on the road, it was 50 degrees out…

I arrived in Binghamton shortly after 2pm and the dogs were happy to greet me. Brian was working for the holiday but I joined his family for Thanksgiving.

2015-11-26 15.07.23 — Greta enjoying the spot on the couch next to me

People started coming over around 4 and we snacked and then ate until 6 or so. We also watched a few Adele Youtube videos, from the SNL skit, the original “Hello” video and Adele trying out for Adele. It was fun!

After eating some pie, I headed down to Marathon where I joined some of Brian’s friend’s family. They have so many family members and the house was packed. There were also 3 new baby cousins this year so I was enjoying the babies, though the 2 month old was very unhappy. The babies a bit older were more alert and just fascinated by all the people.

I stayed there for the night and then Friday morning met up with Brian’s mom for a late breakfast, where we enjoyed talking for a while. Before noon I was back on the road. Luckily everyone was out shopping so the highways weren’t too crowded lol. I stopped at Wegmans since it was on my way back and stocked up on food for the week.

Can I just note that on my drive home I was sweating and even turned on the AC, it was 67 degrees outside!! No complaints here but felt odd the day after Thanksgiving. When I got home, I wanted to shake out my legs and enjoy the unusually warm weather, so I changed into some leggings and did a bit of running/walking around the complex just as the sun was about to set. The rest of my evening wasn’t too exciting, but got some laundry done, cooked and relaxed for the evening with a Christmas movie. The day after Thanksgiving and it’s now appropriate to watch Christmas movies all the time and listen to Christmas music, YES!

Saturday was another wonderful day of sleeping in. I had breakfast and headed to the gym. I got my squats in and turned my legs into jello before heading into Target for a few items. Then I had the rest of the day at home. What was I to do? I got into a cleaning spree and going through some boxes of stuff and the afternoon was flying by. Also, thanks to the emails on all the sales, there were a few that got me and I decided to order some Christmas gifts for others and myself. I did not plan on buying anything with the Black Friday deals (which continue onto Saturday and Sunday at some places now…), but it was nice to get some shopping out of the way. I am looking forward to the many packages I get to open arriving in the next week or so and putting together presents.

I also really wanted to cook and bake and was excited to have time to be in the kitchen. I made Davida’s muffins again, half the recipe so I wouldn’t eat 12 muffins by myself…and also treated myself to some steak I bought and cooked up one of my favorite veggies, broccoli. Don’t let the plate fool you as I ate more after this, but only ate 2 of the muffins that evening.

Saturday night I was excited to settle down on the couch reading until “A Gift Wrapped Christmas” premiered on Lifetime with Beverly Mitchell. I guess all my sleeping in has finally helped me catch up on sleep because I managed to stay up until 11 Saturday night haha, but still enjoyed another 8 and a half hours of sleep Saturday night.

Sunday was laid back other than my 2 mile swim, which is more challenging after a leg workout day, but I pushed through it. I may not have walked well afterwards, but at least I spent some time on the couch reading and didn’t have to go anywhere else.

I did some meal prep for the week, baked chicken and roasted veggies.

Besides that, it was a good day for reading, finishing a book and brainstorming some yoga sequences. Also some yoga and foam rolling my legs out, OUCH, but so good.

My weekend wasn’t that eventful, but I got some good workouts, things checked off my to do list and gifts ordered, so I would call that successful.

I hope everyone has a great Monday.

Did you go Black Friday shopping or shop online?

Do you enjoy watching Christmas movies?

Relaxing, Hunger Games and Baking: MIMM#46

November 23, 2015 by Alicia 4 Comments

Hey guys!! Happy Thanksgiving week to my American friends. The grocery stores this weekend were CRAZY!! Luckily my list of groceries was shorter because I am headed to Brian’s family’s house for Thanksgiving and I have 2 lunches this week out of my 3 day work week. One from last week got moved which was fine by me. I am happy I only have to get through 3 days of work and then can enjoy a 4 day weekend. No crazy Black Friday shopping for me either. I actually don’t even know what I am getting people yet, still in the brainstorming phase. But anyway this weekend was nice as it included a lot of relaxing.

Friday evening I got home and Brian arrived about a half hour after me, bringing some Chick-Fil-A for dinner. I enjoy their chicken strips. Their salads look good too. I haven’t tried them but Brian got one last time and I almost stole it from him 😉 . I also had picked up some cookies for us for dessert from Insomnia Cookies. I highly recommend the smores cookie they have as long as it is warm. I stuck with some classics, chocolate chip and peanut butter for us.

We started watching 30 Rock on Netflix from episode 1. I have seen a few episodes of it when it was on but not sure what season it was and I enjoyed it. Nice that all the seasons are on Netflix so we probably got half way through season 1 this weekend…

Brian already treated me to some Christmas gifts, a couple yoga props and a new phone as my current one is breaking. Apparently my smart phones can’t last more than a year…

We also got a full length mirror which I was excited about!! (It’s the little things…) Brian got it put together on Saturday.

Moving onto Saturday, we went to see The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 in IMAX for the 9:30am showing.

With it being opening weekend, we knew it would be crowded in the evening and this got us out of the apartment early. It was perfect since the theater was pretty much empty and it ended around noon so we could head out to lunch. I actually never finished the third book of The Hunger Games. I tried to read it twice. I think I got to around page 100 each time and then put it down. I guess I was tired of all the killing, but I do think they did a great job on this movie and IMAX was worth it, especially since it’s $3 cheaper in the morning :).

We ended up eating lunch in Cherry Hill at Bobby’s Burger Palace. We have eaten here one time before and loved it. I got the topless burger salad with the LA style burger. We split a side of sweet potato fries as well.

We then briefly walked through the mall before heading to Wegmans which was crazy crowded. This is why I usually go around 8am, but we made it through the cart traffic in the store getting the few items on my list and picking up some pork for dinner.

Then we had a couple other places to go and finally made it home at 4pm. We were basically gone for a whole work day, 9-4! We cleaned up a little and then made dinner.

Brian made the pork tenderlion in the oven and I heated up some veggies and made fresh guacamole. We then finished off these peppermint pretzels for dessert and continued our 30 Rock marathon.

Sunday morning, we both took a while to get out of bed. It’s just so nice to sleep in past 8am on the weekend. I made us some pancakes and bacon, though my pancakes got a little dark. Maybe I should not have been multi tasking making granola bars at the same time, but oh well, still tasty.

Around noon, Brian headed out on the road to head back to work and I headed to the gym to get my weekly swim in. I love having my weekly swims again and by going at noon I started with the whole pool to myself and then 2-3 people showed up towards the middle/end of my swim. I again swam a mile straight and then did 2 sets to equal another mile. I also cut almost 3 minutes off my swim time so that was cool. I am not really aiming for speed, I simply love to swim but I like to time my whole swim time just to get an average speed and how I am doing and improving. I think having my massage last Thursday and also 2 rest days really helped.

After a quick stop at the store for a couple things, I came home and made Davida’s chocolate gingerbread muffins.

I ate 2 because post swim hunger…

The remainder of Sunday included some cleaning up, blog reading and relaxing on the couch.

Hope you guys had a great weekend and enjoy your day!!

Did you read The Hunger Games series?

What’s your favorite food around the holidays?

As you can see I am into Peppermint and Gingerbread flavors right now.

Backbends, Swimming and Meal Prepping: MIMM #45

November 16, 2015 by Alicia 1 Comment

Hello and happy Monday!! I can’t believe we are now half way through November. I think it helps that the weather has been pretty good lately and making the days more enjoyable, even if I rarely see the sun. Thank goodness the sun was out yesterday and shining in the window by my desk so I got some warmth. Now let’s recap this past weekend. It was not too eventful but got some good workouts in.

As the work day went on Friday, I was just thinking about jumping into a swimming pool and doing some laps. However, by the time I got home, it was dark, kinda chilly and the amount of traffic looked nuts. Not to mention, it was Friday the 13^th and I just felt like I needed to stay home. I decided to do a short yoga flow to open my hamstrings (thanks OneOEight) and do my Instagram challenge pose. Then I warmed up some chicken and veggies for dinner and found a movie on Netflix to watch. I only got about 30 minutes into the movie when I decided to turn off the tv for the rest of the evening and instead just write. I haven’t let myself just write out my thoughts in a while and it’s really so therapeutic, I should do it more often.

While it may seem like a pretty uneventful night, it was absolutely perfect to me.

Saturday it was wonderful to sleep in and let the sun wake me up shortly after 7. I took my time and eventually headed out to the store. I checked out the Whole Foods in Cherry Hill as well and it’s a decent size and pretty close to Wegmans so I may be frequenting there more often as it makes sense in terms of mileage.

When I got home, it was nearing lunch time so I decided to spiralize a butternut squash. I had never had butternut squash before and when I saw Ali’s Periscope (@inspiralized) the other day with spiralizing it, I thought it was a great idea because veggies taste better spiralized!

A little sauteing in the pan with some grapeseed oil and salt, topped with broccoli because I had to use it up and some honey ham on the side. Oh and I may have been playing with my food or carving it while cooking…

After I ate I was running around cleaning up and changing to head out the door for a yoga workshop on backbends. The workshop went differently than I expected, as in we focused on other poses besides wheel. Of course I realize there are other backbends in yoga, but wheel is my favorite. We worked on opening up with upward facing dog and used a chair for a prop. I definitely learned some new things and enjoyed it. I was already sweating in the first 30 minutes of the 3 hour workshop and definitely got a workout. We finally reached wheel pose towards the end of the workshop and I loved when we partnered with 2 people so that one person could have a strap under your sacrum and another person had a strap under your shoulders, almost in the arm pits and then together they lift you up into wheel. OMG the feeling of that is amazing. You feel so light that you could potentially lift up both hands and just hang out for a while.

At the end we did shoulder stand on the chair and I’ll admit I was slightly scared as we got set up, worried that the chair was going to fly somewhere even though it was on my mat. I got the shoulder stand part but did not make it to plow and then I was thinking how the heck am I going to get off the chair and when we switched to savasana, I not so gracefully slide off the chair and rolled to the side and messed up all my props (blankets and blocks) I had set up and had to reset up, but I figured it out and survived. We kept our legs bent and on the chair in savasana, like legs up the wall except bent legs resting on a chair.

By the time I got home, it was time for dinner and tons of water! I seriously couldn’t get enough water Saturday night and had a slight headache from the dehydration, so I rested on the couch and finished the movie I started Friday.

Sunday morning I made some protein pancakes with a banana, egg and protein powder (and added a lot of chocolate chips) and made sure to continue to drink lots of water before heading to the gym to swim. I actually swam 70 laps (1 mile) non stop other than the 2-3 times I had to quickly defog my goggles in 36 minutes. Then I swam 30 laps and 40 laps to equal another 70 for another mile. Brian says my nickname is Dori now.

I came home and started to work on my blog. Not sure if you noticed, but I finally purchased and installed a theme!! Yay! I also added a picture and About me section to the sidebar which links to my about me page. However due to the new theme I have yet to figure out how to get the link back up for my about me page, but there is progress and I am hoping to have a logo and better fitting picture along the header sometime soon.

Time seriously flew by as I worked on the blog and figuring things out and I forgot I hadn’t eaten since returning from my swim. I finally put together a snack plate for lunch and then I had to set the blog work aside and do some meal prep for the week, some of which I will talk about in tomorrow’s post.

I did create a version of this salad from Pinch of Yum. I love their recipes and to keep up with my goals of the month I am trying to make a new recipe each week, even simple salads, but it has been a while since I have had a kale salad so I used kale as the base.

The rest of the day wasn’t too eventful, just getting some things cleaned up and getting ready for the work week.

What did you do this weekend?

« Previous Page