Survey

Thought it was time for another survey...

1. What are you looking forward to soon?

2. How is your week going?

3. Any new and exciting purchases?

4. What's your favorite color in general and favorite color to wear?

5. What are we gonna do for Ally's birthday?

Bad Foods You Think Are Good

I read an article in Cosmo: 13 Healthy Foods That Can Make You Fat. It was interesting because I felt these were good food choices, but they really aren't... here are the most interesting ones:

Sushi Rolls: The veggies and seaweed wrap are low-cal, but the other ingredients aren't great and the seafood inside may be battered. These can be 500-600 calories per roll!

Dried Fruit (one of my favs): This has 5-8 times more calories than fresh fruit. Fresh grapes have 60 calories compared to raisons which have 460... Of course I knew that fresh is better, but I didn't realize that dried had that many more calories.

Wraps: No matter what you put in it, the average rap can be 1' across and pack up to 300 calories. The surface area is way bigger than two slices of bread, so more condiments are also used with these. Dang, I thought this was a good choice.

Rice Cakes: These are fat-free and low in calories, but they lack in fiber and protein so downing 2 or 3 won't do anything but add calories to your daily total and leave you wanting something with substance.

You can read the entire article with all 13 foods in Cosmo, but hopefully you found these interesting. =)

Car Update

A quick update on my car... great news! The guy ended up having insurance, so his insurance company is paying for everything. This is such a relief since I was prepping myself to pay a $500 deductable in the next few weeks or just pay for the whole thing so I didn't have a claim on my insurance. I have an appointment on Wednesday and my bumper will be as good as new after that!

I also test drove a 2008 Volvo S40 last week. It was really cute and is smaller than my car, but didn't have a sunroof or heated seats and the salesman annoyed me, so I didn't want to get it. It was silver and now I keep thinking about it. Sigh.... Here are pictures of it - what do you think?

Adele

This week I downloaded the Adele album "21."  I saw her on Chelsea Lately and I've heard a lot of people talking about her.  I like the album.  She has an AMAZING voice and some strong "kick-ass woman attitude."  The songs are kind of slower paced so you have to be in that kind of mood.  I think this would be a great album if you were going through a breakup (which hopefully none of us will).   It is definitely worth listening too, but you may want to listen to it first to make sure it fits your music style.

I want to download some more music.  What are you guys loving right now?

Cook Yourself Thin

I know I've told you guys about this cookbook that Aaron and I are working through, but I wanted to do a formal post about it because I really like it.  So far, we have made 32 recipes from this book.  The majority of the recipes are very easy to make.  It doesn't really require any crazy ingredients, but we've had to buy a lot of different things because we've never done much asian cooking and there are a couple asian recipes in the book.  As far as the nutrition values, the recipes range from around 3-10 weightwatchers points.  The portion sizes are generally pretty small and I usually have enough points left to eat a double portion and still stay within my daily points allowance.

Some of our favorite recipes:
* Penne alla "Not-ka"
* Chicken tenders
* Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna
* Mini Turkey Meatloaves
* Turkey Chili Crunch
* Shrimp Tacos

Slim Down Solution

I downloaded Jillian Michael's free Slim Down Solution app on my new phone.  I really like it because it gives a weight loss tip every day plus you can read Jillian's exercises, recipes, and other weight loss information.  Today I tried one of her circuit training workouts.  There are 5 different circuits with 3-5 exercises in each circuit, ending with a cardio exercise.  I did the workout at home using only my body and 5 lb dumbells.  Two of the cardio exercises called for the treadmill, so I ran laps around the basement instead (this really confused Franckie).  The workout kicked my butt!  It probably took about 30-40 minutes total and I was dripping sweat and exhausted by the time I finished.  

I would recommend this free app if you guys can get it on your phones.  It is free so I think the health info and workouts are worth it.  I think there is an extended version you can pay for, I may eventually get it but right now I'm satisfied with the free version.

Need Vacation

I need a vacation. I am so sick and tired of this rain... and now I hear that a big snowstorm is coming tonight.

Ally - Please blog about your vacation so we can live vicariously through you. ;)

It's Tea-bag time!!!

I'm 27 and I'm old because t-shirt time (Pauly D's phrase for getting ready to go to the club, around midnight) has become t-bag time (time for my evening tea before bed, around eight o'clock).  I love it though because it's warm, delicious and I can drink it while catching up on my DVR.

This week I bought two new teas.  First, I got Celestial Seasonings Wellness Tea.  It is an echinacea complete care herbal supplement tea.  It claims to promote the body's natural defenses, contains vitamin C and zinc, all the while providing you with a soothing eucalyptus flavor.  This week was a great test for this tea.  I spent a great deal of time face to face with one of my students who was coming down with a cold.  I drank my tea all week and by Friday I was feeling slightly under the weather.  However, my aide and "sick boy" were feeling downright terrible.  So did the tea make the difference or was it simply because I eat a well balanced diet and always get ample sleep at night?  I don't know the answer but the important fact for me is that the tea tastes delicious and therefore I will continue to drink it.

The other tea I bought is from a new brand I saw at Wal-Mart.  The brand is called Yogi and I got the detox tea which is supposed to promote healthy liver and kidney function.  The flavor is great, has spice of the "chai variety" which I always enjoy.   I like the Yogi tea because it uses organic ingredients and has a nice little quote on the label of each tea bag.  It is more expensive than other brands though, which is a downfall.

All in all they are both teas I would recommend and buy again, except I always like to try new things so it'll probably be a while before I get around to buying these again.

Also,  I know I've talked about "cleanse diets" with both of you.  I asked my friend Gretchen, who is a nutritionist her professional opinion on the subject.  She basically said that our bodies have their own cleansing organs (liver and kidneys) that do this job for us so we shouldn't have to do anything out of the ordinary to cleanse our bodies.  She says the best thing to do is hydrate, hydrate, hydrate and make sure you're eating plenty of fruits, veggies and whole grains.  I'm kind of glad, because that sounds much easier than any of the cleanse diets I researched.

Until next time...

Better Late Than Never

Ok time for this week's survey!

1. How is your week going so far?
2. What is the best meal you've had this week?
3. What is the last thing you bought?
4. What does your current workout routine consist of, or if you aren't currently working out what is your favorite workout?
5. What are your plans for the weekend?

Car. Hit.

Well, some guy just hit my car. I backed out of my parking spot and was going to put my car in drive, then some other guy backed out of his spot and hit the back of my car. He snapped my bumper or something because the side is kind of off now. He said... "oh looks like we were backing out at the same time"... I'm like umm no, I was already out. There was a lady who saw the whole thing who actually works for McD and was coming to a meeting at our office, so she stuck up for me. I got his info and hers and filed a claim.... but it's on private property so it's between the insurance companies and hopefully he says what really happened! This sucks.

Naked

Also....since I have all this time on my hands. I have been trying out my share of the Naked Smoothies. Trying new ones and taking suggestions. My comfort zone is always a classic Strawberry Banana. So along of a Strawberry Banana I also purchased a Protein Zone Double berry. My thoughts on this are eh. I was not expecting it to be so thick. And kind of chewy. Not my fav and probably will not buy this again.

Whats Cookin!

So I thought that since I have some free time on my hands I have been cooking new things lately. Thought I would start sharing with you some of the things I have been making. I wish I would have done this last week because I made some really good meals. But any who. For lunch today I made Portobella Burgers. They were really good. This is Drews Im not that big of a fan of that many condiments.

I just looked up a recipe on food.com and improvised with that I had. They were delish!

Happy Birthday Justin Bieber!

What an amazing day!  Apparently today is Justin Bieber's birthday.  I know this because the kids at school  let me know.  We celebrated by turning up his music and having a dance party.  I got some really cute videos of my kids dancing.  I would love to post the video, but I'm pretty sure that's a privacy issue.

Then the day went drastically downhill.  We had an unexpected fire drill and one of my kids tried to run down the street.  I literally had to sprint after him in front of the whole school.  How embarrassing!  I caught him and he proceeded to try to beat on me the rest of the day.  My job is such a good workout!  I think it would qualify as kickboxing if I were allowed to fight back.  As it is, I just do a whole lot of self defense and restraints, which actually require a lot of strength.

Speaking of workouts, Stacy and I went to a new class at the YMCA last night.  It is called 20-20-20.  It involves 20 minutes of cardio (we did step aerobics), 20 minutes of strength training (lunges and lifting), and 20 minutes of yoga/pilates.  It was a really good workout, slightly harder than step and burn so I know I'll see great results if I keep it up.  Apparently the instructor is one of Beth's parents.  And also she's 3 months pregnant.  I hope I'm in that good of shape when I'm prego!

Also, I got an iPhone last night and I absolutely adore it.  Its so incredibly easy to use.  There was hardly any adjustment period at all.  Texting is even easier than I thought it would be.  I hate to say it, but it's sooo much better than my blackberry.

Bad Mood

Don't you hate it when you wake up in a horrible mood? That's me right now! I am so mad... I don't want to be at work at all and just want to go home. I seriously am furious about nothing! HELP!