End-of-Week Recap

I can't believe it is Monday already! Where did the weekend go? I was really pleased with how I did this week, even though we did go out to dinner three times. Here is a quick recap of the end of the week... Saturday We stayed over at my Mom's house on Friday night after a dinner at the Tokeneke Club. Such a treat! I got up at 6:50 to take Rusty for a walk with my Mom's dog, Lucy. We walked for about a half hour and then I came back to get ready for Crossfit. Our regular coach wasn't there, so our workout was a little different. Tons of box jumps, which I'm still afraid of. Not sure I will ever get over that! I really liked the WOD though. It was 3 rounds of 15 deadlifts, 15 box jumps (I used a stack of weights instead) and a 400 meter run. We were aiming for 9 minutes or less, and I finished at 10:06. I am still carrying a lot of extra weight, so I was proud of myself to finish relatively close to 9:00. I thought I would finish closer to 15. After I got home from my gym and Daniel got home from his, we had breakfast (which really ended up being brunch). OMG pancakes. The best!

After our delicious brunch, we got a little bit of work done around the house. At 4PM, we went to our friend Sara's art show. She is so talented! Her turtle pictures made me reminisce about snorkeling in Hawaii.

We stayed at the show until they closed and then we went to Mikro for dinner. There was a little bit of a wait, but the food was really yummy once we were seated. Daniel and I split a burrata salad to start and I had a burger for an entree. We went home after dinner and hit the sack. Sunday I slept until 8:00AM! So late for me. I am usually up with our dog, Rusty by 7:00, so this was quite a snooze for me. Daniel got up earlier and took Rusty for a walk while I caught some extra z's. When I got up, Daniel had breakfast re-heating in the oven (we have a mini-kitchen). For breakfast we had French press coffee, OMG pancakes from Saturday, leftover bacon, and some greek yogurt with blueberry jam.

The blueberry jam is homemade from our friend, Leslie. She gave it to us over a year ago and we have been savoring it ever since. There is nothing like those Maine blueberries! After breakfast, we decided to go for a walk in Devil's Den. It is a Nature Preserve just one street over from our street. It is so close by and this was only our second visit.

It is such a pretty time of year to hike at Devil's Den! No mosquitoes is a definite bonus. They love me and the feeling is not mutual.

Devil's Den is very clearly marked, and they have a sign-in post when you enter the park. They also have maps for visitors. We took one and kept it, in hopes that we will go there more often.

The fallen leaves were so pretty!

We hiked in Devil's Den for 3 hours. We are trying to get ready for our big trip to Peru in July.

My stomach was growling by the time we got back to the apartment. Daniel whipped up some chicken salad with leftover chicken, greek yogurt, a tablespoon of curry powder, 1 avocado, red onion, and some raisins. Such a perfect lunch.

I just needed a square or two of dark chocolate after lunch. I love this Trader Joe's dark chocolate. It is so dark that I only need a square or two to feel satisfied.

We cleaned up and did some more work and then our wedding photographer (and dear friend), Molly came over to discuss our wedding album. Before going over the layout for our album, Daniel and I made dinner. I put together a salad with mixed greens, dried cranberries, blue cheese, red onion, and walnuts. Daniel made a masterpiece on the grill. He marinated pork chops in soy sauce for about an hour. He grilled the pork and then melted a slice of gouda cheese on each piece. He served the pork with grilled slices of pineapple. It was so delicious, I didn't get a picture with a full plate.

Yup! I dove right in. Delicious! When Molly left, it was time for bed to rest up for my first graders. Such a nice weekend!

2 Days in a Row

Part of my switch to a more primal diet has been reading blog posts on Mark's Daily Apple. Mark advocates practicing fasting on occasion and I had one such un-planned fast today. While Daniel and I had the best of intentions of cooking on Sunday and making meals for the week, we visited some friends instead. With all that has been happening over the last two months, I was happy to fit in some much needed friend time, even if it was at the cost of being prepared for the week. As a result, I didn't have lunch made for today, and my plan of ordering a salad at school got scrapped with a late arrival to work and a parent meeting at 8:30. When I realized I forgot to order lunch (just 15 minutes prior to my lunchtime) and I had a ton of work to do, I decided this would just serve as a mini-fast. I would just skip lunch. I was productive during my fasting lunch and wasn't that hungry. I used almond milk in my breakfast shake (instead of water) and I think that had something to do with my staying full and satisfied for longer. This might have to be a permanent change... While I wasn't that hungry after work, I was nervous to go to tutoring with nothing in my stomach since breakfast. So I polished off some Spanish Almonds from Whole Foods (I'm addicted - and they've been on sale).

I also finished half a bag of plantain chips. Whoops!

And tried four of these. I am not a fan - not worth the flour cheat!

Although it was a lot of snacking, I avoided Donut Delight. My tutoring gig helped me to develop a Tuesday afternoon habit of visiting Donut Delight. I would order a coffee and a glazed donut or a bagel toasted with butter. Tasted great, but packed on the pounds AND made me fall asleep at tutoring every time. So embarassing. Since I've cut out those Tuesday afternoon visits, I've stayed awake for every tutoring session. Dinner was just as unplanned as lunch today and Daniel and I made a quick trip to Whole Foods. I got kale salad, beet salad, and roasted butternut squash with peppers. When we got home, I had a few more plantain chips with guacamole, a Trader Joe's pork sausage and my roasted butternut squash. I was full before I could dive in to the kale and beets. Looks like I have a healthy lunch for tomorrow.

Of course I'm never too full for a little dark chocolate. I had 4 mini-squares from a Trader Joe's dark chocolate bar. Yum!

I ran my 2nd marathon...a year ago.

I recently met with a colleague to discuss some research ideas with which I've been toiling, and she advised that I pursue my research aspirations, but why not I start a blog in the meantime. I replied that I did have a blog! A long-neglected blog! One that I seemed to lose track of when I started teaching. Teaching has a way of doing that. Of taking over your life. I was warned, and I wouldn't change my decision to be a teacher, but I've noticed that in the last four years, since I went back to grad school, got my Master's and started my job as a first grade teacher, a lot of my interests have fallen by the wayside. I am hoping I can make a comeback this year. Not only with my neglected blog, but with my relationship with food and exercise habits. I realized that it was a year ago this weekend that I ran my second marathon.

It wasn't an easy race for me. I had grand aspirations of breaking my first marathon time, and instead, it took me about an hour longer to complete the 26.2 miles. Somewhere in our training my husband and I decided that we would be better off doing a run/walk combination. It got us through training and it got us through the race. I highly recommend it if you're considering. It just meant letting go of my goal. Although I didn't achieve my marathon goal last year, the race did help me reach a health and fitness goal that I had since college. I wanted to get my weight back down to 140lbs. Somewhere in between college, study abroad, living it up in Los Angeles, a second move across the country, and a career change, my weight and fitness level went through so many ups and downs and hovered around the 155 - 160 mark. With our wedding on the horizon, and a marathon two months before the wedding, it seemed like the perfect time to finally get rid of that extra weight. Through the marathon training, eating something similar to the Paleo diet, and lots of Core Fusion classes at Exhale, I got my weight down to 138lbs. I was so proud of myself! I expected to gain a little weight after the wedding. I was able to fit in my dress, so the pressure was off. We went on our honeymoon, sold our house, moved, and from February to June, we ate far too much fast food. The weight seemed to come back on a lot faster than it came off and before I knew it, I was back at 160. Our trip to Iceland and Germany in July packed on another 10lbs, and by August 2014, I weighed over 170lbs. The most I've ever weighed in my life. So on this anniversary of running my second marathon, it is hard to believe I was able to run or even run/walk that distance just a year ago.

I am hoping to reclaim this blog and visit at least once per week. I am hoping that writing about my progress will hold me accountable. I'm trying once again to eliminate grains, legumes, and limit dairy in my diet and I joined a Crossfit gym. My tiny victory today was not reaching for the danish sitting in front of me at Professional Development. Here is to many more tiny victories and achieving my goal again. I can do this. Baby steps.