Veg Week: Day Two

Lets dive right into day two of my Vegetarian Week!

My meal plan for the day: Click the links for recipes!

Breakfast: Mocha Shake

Snack: peaches and handful of pistachios

Lunch: Weekly Lunch with my Girlfriends!

Dinner: Fajita Quesadillas with Roasted Brussel Sprouts

How I’m Feeling: Wow! I woke up with a ton of energy! Either I slept really well or this veggie thing is already making a difference. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow if the trend continues. Usually on a normal day, I wake up begrudgingly and walk immediately to my coffee bar. Today, I jumped to start on my day’s  to do list and got a ton of stuff done by 9am! I was really impressed. I wasn’t hungry at all today. I got my house all cleaned and a loaf of bread made early, because I had my weekly lunch with my girlfriends planned. Today was my turn to host. I always have a wonderful time, and I look forward to it every week. I normally hit a wall around 2pm, but today I kept going without a slump at all! I certainly hope this continues. Its amazing what I can get done around my house when I am full of energy. Dinner was fantastic. I might sound totally crazy when I say this, but I’m completely addicted to brussel sprouts. I pretty much cooked that entire pan just for me and didn’t willingly share with my family. I just want to eat them all! So delicious! I wasn’t hungry after dinner! That’s a first for me! Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!

Ciao!

 

 

Goals for 2015!

“If you don’t have goals, you aren’t growing. If you aren’t growing, you’re dying.” -Anthony Robbins

“Where there is no vision, the people parish.” Proverbs 29:18

I am a notorious list maker, planner lover and goal maker. If I don’t have something to look forward to, or work towards I go insane. That’s probably why at the beginning of every year I set out to write my list of goals for the coming year. It’s incredible what happens when you write words down, and think on them throughout the year. Honestly, everything I wrote last year happened. I am writing my list publically this year to prove that words are powerful!

My goals for 2015:

1. I would like to run at least a 5K race, if not longer races. EVERY MONTH. On the months where weather doesn’t permit, I will run an indoor 5K at my gym.
2. Up my writing on and off this blog. I have a passion for writing, and I want to spend more time in that. Specifically, I want to blog about food at least twice a month.
3. As the chef of the family, and the caretaker to everyone’s health, I have decided to implement “meatless Mondays” as I dabble in Vegetarian cooking. I have had some great friends and family who are vegetarian come forward with some incredible recipes. I can’t wait to start this! And this will coincide with my food blogging as well! If anyone has any good recipes PLEASE comment! I am SO new to this, I need help.
4. I want to get my photography business off the ground here in Utah. Click here to see my Facebook page! Since the move, I haven’t had any sessions nor have I even thought about it. But I’m ready to get back to another passion of mine.
5. I am dying to get back to school. Since we aren’t considered “residents” of Utah until we’ve lived here a year, it’s been a long wait. However, I should be able to return to school in the fall, and get this associates degree DONE with for good!

 

What are your goals for 2015? Have you ever had the experience that what you write come true? Make some goals! You will be amazed what that does for you! Wishing you a fantastic 2015!

 

Summer: a paraphrase

I haven’t blogged since July. That’s so sad. My laptop died a heroic death, but unfortunately it took everything with it. I’ve always had a passion for writing. It gets all my ideas out of my head and helps me keep my sanity. Im not to keen on the desktop though, but I guess I need to get over that. So much has happened since July: So incredibly much.  I honestly don’t know where to begin.

To save all the hassle of writing up all the blogs I should have in the last 3 months, I am going to paraphrase.

JULY: Florida: 4^th of July. Many days at the beach. Mini golf, the kids first time ever. Sam’s birthday. Dave Matthews Band Concert. Art museums, yes I’m that girl. St. Augustine. Gater farm. Clearwater. Incredible white sand beaches. I don’t ever want to leave. Meeting old army friends. Shark teeth. Back to our new home in Salt Lake City: Settling in. MY SISTER MOLLY HAD HER BABY!!! A beautiful baby girl named Zoey. School started so early for the kids. Girls started Kindergarten. Since when is that okay? Pool time with Corah while big kids are at school. She had a hard time adjusting to being without her siblings.

AUGUST: I started training for my half marathon. Intense. In awe with the mountains, every day. Corah turns two. Wait, what?! My lovely friend Tiphani came to stay with me for two weeks! We took full advantage of the Utah sun and outdoors while she was here. Hiking. Beaching. Crafting. And silly drinking game nights. Enjoyed every minute and cried like a baby when she left. Continued to soak up summer sun. Talked with an old friend. Magic. Lavender fields. Still training every day for that marathon. Kayak on the lake.

SEPTEMBER: Football season starts. Are we the only Seattle fans in Utah? Apparently not. Still training. My kids are settled in school and have friends now. Makes me happy. I don’t get to go to Canada to see my new niece, so sad about that.  Flag football starts for Aedan. That’s entertaining. I get some much needed alone time. Heart break ensues. #41.  Sam started a new job at Morgan Stanley. So proud of him! Dave Matthews has his own wine? Why didn’t I know about that? I have too much free time. Grey Street. Fall décor. More Seahawks games. More training.

OCTOBER: Its already October? How? Kids are out of school for a month. We’ve been playing. Reading. Walking. It’s still warm here? This is so weird. Flag football ended for Aedan. He loved it. Sam and I have been having nightly walks together after the kids go to sleep. Works wonders. Sky full of stars. I still have too much free time. Looking into going back to school. My half-marathon is in 3 days!!! I leave for my brother’s wedding in Virginia in 5 days!! Excited to see my family! And to be at a wedding that’s on a vineyard… Wine does equal happiness.

We have packed so much into a short amount of time. Not only was it a lot of activities, but it was a lot of life changes. A lot of heart changes, a lot of up-rooting and rearranging my entire life type changes. Damn it was a summer.

I will write more, I promise. I’ve missed it too much.

Making Fitness Fun!

I am so thrilled that being fit is really in now-a-days because there has been a huge rise in AWESOME 5K’s. I participated in the Color Run last Saturday (09-21-2013) in Tacoma. It was honestly the most fun thing I’ve done in quite a while. Let’s be honest, how many of you enjoy running on the treadmill? Definitely not me. I’d rather run on a track or outside on the awesome forest trails around my house, or even on the water front. Treadmill is a last resort.

This was my first color run, so I really didn’t know what to expect. It felt like more of a party atmosphere than a racing one. Music blasting! We had to wait for what seemed like a long time to start!

Starting line!

party time!

Tiphani and I at the starting line

BLUE color station

PINK color station

YELLOW color station

At the last color station!

At the finish line was the color party! This was my favorite part! Think of it as a mosh pit of color! Blasting your favorite songs with color flying in the air!

Katie and I after being powdered with color

Tiphani and I after the color party

And best of all I found the Sonic’s guy and got a picture with him!!

I am looking forward to more runs! In October, we are doing the Zombie run. In November, we will be doing the Ugly Sweater Run and in December we will do the Jingle Bell Dash! Please join us! I love making fitness fun!

Fitness Schedule

With the twins returning to preschool three days a week from 8:30am to 11:00am, I can finally add some strength training back into my fitness schedule without costing a fortune in daycare at the gym. This summer, my gym time has been sporadic at best. Thankfully I have kept up with my daily yoga, but I can’t say how happy I am to get back to a routine of strength training.
Just like I did with my clean eating, I’d like to be open and accountable for my fitness schedule as well. I am a very organized person, and schedules are the utmost important thing for me to stay on track. If you think I’m a dork, that’s okay, but this is how I get it done!
My gym has a cardio area with what I call a “child prison.” You don’t have to check your child into the actual daycare; you just put them in this little “play” area where you can watch them play while you are on the treadmill or the elliptical. I plan to do this the two days a week that the girls aren’t in preschool. I can let all three girls play while I do an hour of cardio! During the days the twins are in school, I have an hour of time to actually workout after I drive there and check Corah into daycare. I plan to do 45 minutes of weights and 15 minutes of high intensity interval training (HIIT) cardio. On Fridays, I have a bible study group during the preschool hours that is more important than working out. Luckily on Fridays my chiropractor does a “workout with the doc” where I can get a KICK BUTT workout in. If our schedule permits, I am hoping to do a cardio and total body strength training session on Saturdays.

Fitness Routine:
Monday: CARDIO ONLY, YOGA
Tuesday: CARDIO ONLY, YOGA
Wednesday: Lower Body Weights, HIIT Cardio, YOGA
Thursday: Upper Body Weights, HIIT Cardio, YOGA
Friday: HIIT, YOGA
Saturday: CARDIO, total body weights, YOGA
Sunday: Rest day, YOGA

YAY for schedules! My goal is to be STRONG! I am thankful to have you come along this journey with me! Accountability is the best way to get anything done! Let’s encourage each other!

getting my sweat on

Herbed Chicken, Orzo and Zucchini

My grocery shopping day is Tuesday, so until then I have to get creative with what I already have in the house. Tonight, I looked in my fridge and took a little inspiration from pinterest to come up with dinner.

The website of my inspiration dish: http://www.recipe.com/herbed-chicken-orzo-and-zucchini/

Herbed Chicken, Orzo and Zucchini:
3 chicken breast
2 zucchini
1 cup dried orzo
basil
olive oil

Season chicken breast with salt, pepper and basil. Heat olive oil in pan and add chicken. I put it in for a few minutes for color and then cooked it all the way through in the oven at 365 degrees. I then added the cut up zucchini to the same pan for a few minutes and it was done! For the orzo, I cooked in water per the box instructions, drained and then added a little bit of olive oil and parsley! YUM!

chicken breast seasoned with salt, pepper and basil.

cut up zucchini, waiting for the pan

Mom’s plate!

Kids plate!

A few notes: Sam wasn’t home, and I know for a fact that if he was, 2 zucchini wouldn’t be enough. He loves zucchini and I had NONE left over. The kids absolutely loved it! Its also a favorite of mine. MORE zucchini next time for sure. The kids ate all of their dinner, and loved every bit of it. However, this isn’t a big deal at our house, since my kids always eat dinner. Luckily my kids are not picky and they love healthy food. But I think even if your kids are picky, they will like this dinner. I normally wouldn’t use pasta as a carb, but orzo was all I had today! Shopping plan for my upcoming week to come!