Nerdy Secret

Memorial day being on Monday has totally thrown me off my normal schedule. I thought today was Tuesday at least 4 times #doh ! Luckily, it's not though! Hooray for short weeks!!

Tuesday turned out to be a meatless day. Completely by accident!
For breakfast I gobbled oatmeal with honey and strawberries...

I loaded up on the honey too. If you couldn't tell from the picture. I enjoy starting the day with fruit and oats. The oats seem to keep me full until lunchtime and sometimes even through lunch. This was the case yesterday and when lunchtime came I found myself not very hungry. I decided to skip having a real meal and decided to munch on an apple with Justin's Peanut Butter and Honey butter and a yogurt. 

Since I wasn't in the mood to drive further to go to the Kroger I purchased the above things at Target which is conveniently located right across the street from my office. This Target was recently remodeled and during the remodeling they added a Starbucks to the store making it very easy for me to feed my coffee addiction. I choose a iced coffee with skim milk to sip on through the afternoon. 

Since I really didn't take a lunch I was able to leave the office a little early and get in my run for the day for the #RWRunStreak. I had plans to meet some friends for a few games of bowling in the evening and I wanted to make sure I had enough time for everything. 

OK guys...I have something to tell you.  OK...I guess this really makes me a little bit of a nerd....I used to be in a bowling league (blushes). 

Yes, I have my own bowling ball and shoes. Yes, my shoes match my ball and my towel. I am not really sure how I got involved in bowling. It was one of those things that kind of found me I guess. I feel kind of nerdy saying it but I used to be on a bowling league and I really enjoyed it. The league I was on was composed of mostly older individuals, above the age of 60, which was my favorite part. Some of the people playing on the league were even 80 years old! And let me tell you they still beat my butt. Totally impressive! If I live to be 80 I want to still be active like some of the older people I met on the league.

After a few games of bowling we called it a night and I headed to my friend Morgan's to eat some BBQ. Morgan is a vegetarian and I enjoy her cooking. She is always mindful of my diet restrictions too, which is super awesome of her. By the time I arrived there I was famished and immediately headed for the food table. I piled my plate with grill squash, tomatoes and grilled peaches. I am not sure about the combination of foods on that plate but that is what my body was craving and that is what I fed it. And let me tell you, grilled peaches are amazing! My belly was happy and content after I cleared my plate. 

Has anyone else forgot what day it is because of Memorial day being on Monday? 

Does anyone bowl?

What is your favorite kind of fruit? 

Memorial Weekend Recap

Sunday was a relaxing kind of day here in Atlanta. 

I started the day off with an hour tennis session which went great! It felt so good to be back in the game. I almost had forgotten how much I enjoyed playing tennis. Keep in mind I haven't played in a year so I was a little rusty but I didn't let those stray balls that flew over the fence get me down. I recognize that it will take time to get back in the groove and I am OK with that ☺

Before the tennis clinic I enjoyed a hard-boiled egg with chives. I haven't ever liked eating a large meal before playing tennis because of all the movement that is involved so I opted for this. Eggs are very filling to me and give me a lot of energy so I like to eat them before going to exercise or play a sport.

After freshening up I decided to take a trip to the farmer's market to get some lunch. It wasn't so bad (heat wise) outside so I decided to walk there to save gas. It's pretty close by only about a mile away and I am always up for some exercise. I had never eaten from their salad bar but kept getting great recommendations to try it out so I was excited to see if it was any good. I was very impressed with their salad selections and toppings. I loaded up on bean sprouts, zucchini, carrots, beets, quinoa with grape tomatoes and feta cheese, corn and black beans along with mixed greens. It was delicious. 

Earlier in the day I had suggested to Philip that we go out for drinks in the early evening and make something small for dinner. He was in agreement with this. By the time he came by my apartment to pick me up I was craving margarita's so we headed over to The Corner Pub for some cocktails and outside patio seating. 

Monday was Memorial Day and we were headed to Lake Lanier for some fun in the sun and some sailing for the day not until I finished my 1 mile run for the Runners World Summer Running Streak #RWRunStreak. If you guys aren't already participating you definitely should. What this is is a challenge with yourself to run 1 mile everyday until July 4th. The challenge was to start on Memorial Day and end on July 4th. This would mean if you run 1 mile everyday until July 4th you will have run for 38 days straight! How awesome! I was immediately on board when I read about this. 

After running my 1 mile and packing a cooler for the day we headed up to the Lake. It turned out to be a beautiful day. Clear skies, the heat wasn't too bad, a great breeze and a vacant beach! What more could you want ☺

When we arrived we broke into breakfast which was fruit salad and almond butter dip with iced coffees. You guys know I need my coffee in the mornings. ☺

Soon after we finished up breakfast Philip's father along with his brother Peter and his wife Jen showed up. Philip's father has a catamaran (pictured above) and he took us out on it. I had never been sailing before and it was an exceptional time! It was peaceful and beautiful out in the Lake. The air was fresh, the water was a blue/green color, kind of like the water around a tropical island. It was amazing. I had a wonderful time. I can't wait to do it again!

Are you participating in the Runners World Running Streak #RWRunStreak?

Have you guys ever been sailing before? Or on a catamaran?

Are any readers also tennis players like myself?

Holy Hotlanta!

Now I know why they nicknamed Atlanta 'Hotlanta' everyone. Oh my gosh it was HOT yesterday. I can stand heat. I really can. I am not being a baby about this, I swear. But you know it's hot when right after showering you get dressed and head out to your car, which is parked right outside your door, and you are wet with sweat and feel like you need to shower again. Yes! That happened to me. Luckily I had this...

Iced coffee with coconut milk and the air conditioning of Urban Grounds to help beat the heat. Geez it was a scorcher. It's not even June yet and Atlanta's temperatures are in the high nineties. I am getting a little nervous guys. Just a little bit. 

Thanks to the people who offered some advice about why I might have been 'Feeling Strange' the other day. I appreciate you guys offering advice and I really enjoy interacting with you guys.

Friday, was a BUSY day. I worked over 12 hours and wasn't in the mood to do much but to enjoy a quick run, eat some dinner and go to bed early. I decided that I would get up early on Saturday and head to the gym for a Body Pump class. I have been wanting to try one now for some time and thought it would be the perfect opportunity to do so since it is a Holiday weekend. I assumed most people would be at the beach or up at the lake.

Alas, my plans were foiled when I arrived at the gym and the class had been cancelled. I was a little disappointed but took full advantage of the almost empty gym and used some free weights to work on my shoulders and arms. I really enjoy working on my arms and shoulders. I think it is very attractive for women to have toned arms and shoulders.

I started my work out with 20 minutes on the elliptical to warm-up. Next, I moved to an arms and shoulders workouts and I concluded my work-out by using the rowing machine. Gosh, I love that machine. Guys I am telling you it's great! You can get a total body workout in 20 minutes. Seriously, this might be the best machine in gyms to date. Short side-note I had a friend in college that was on the rowing team and she was in the best shape I have EVER seen anyone in. I never put two and two together until recently.

Back on track now...I was able to row a full 2000m in 11 minutes and 2 seconds. I was so excited and proud of myself. My goal is to be able to row 2000m in 7 minutes and after yesterday I feel I will be able to attain that goal very soon. I was pretty impressed with myself.

I left the gym yesterday feeling wonderful and decided to treat myself to that iced coffee with coconut milk pictured above. While I was hanging around the coffee house I worked on some articles I needed to get finished and before long it was time to head to a cookout at a friends house close by. There was A LOT of food to choose from but due to my diet of eating gluten-free I had to eat very selectively. I opted for two spare-ribs that were cooked with agave nectar and orange juice, corn and black bean salad, grilled veggies and a cold Crispin. It was a perfect combination. I wasn't able to snap any photos of this meal because well....I just straight out forgot. Sorry guys!

Do you guys like coffee as much as I do?
What are your thoughts on cookouts?
What's you favorite machine at the gym? Or favorite workout?

Feeling Strange

Yesterday was a totally weird day for me. I came into work and felt wonderful in the morning and early afternoon then suddenly things went downhill. Let's start at the beginning.

I started my day off with a breakfast of champions. A banana and chocolate hazelnut butter sandwich on my gluten-free bread along with a Starbucks via packet which I had never tried until yesterday morning. I have been missing out! They taste just like you would get fresh from Starbucks!

Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter with the banana tasted like it should be a candy bar. It was delicious. 

I nominated the whole thing in .03 seconds.

I still have sleepy eyes in that photo because the caffeine didn't kick in yet. ☺

Around 9am the caffeine started kicking in and I tore through my morning work tasks. Boosh! I was feeling victorious when noon came and thought I would treat myself to a big lunch of veggies and steamed brown rice. I stopped by the farmers market and picked up this delicious lunch and headed back to my office. 

As I prepared for my afternoon meeting I finished up my lunch and slugged down an iced water. I took about 10 minutes and planned out my grocery list for the night. I was planning on making a German dish my Grandmother used to make but with a healthier twist. I was really excited. I love German food. Around 2pm I headed to my all afternoon meeting. Those are the best...NOT! Things were going well when suddenly 30 minutes into my meeting I started feeling funny. I started to feel light headed and became short of breathe. I tried to remain calm because there was NO way I could leave in the middle of this meeting because it was very important. After feeling like this for about ten minutes I started to worry. I started feeling like I might pass out. I couldn't focus on anything either. 

I made it through the meeting and decided to cancel the grocery shopping and just head home. When I got there Philip was already home. I told him what happened and he said it sounded like low blood sugar. What do you guys think? So he grabbed me some OJ and I sipped on that and started to feel a little better. Since I was in no mood to go grocery shopping or cook and the meeting I was in turned out to deliver not great news to my work team I just wanted to go to bed. 

Against my whining Philip told me he was going to take me somewhere that would cheer me up. And he sure did. My favorite Vietnamese restaurant for my 'comfort food' Pho. I am not sure that I have ever talked about how much I love Asian food. I am a tremendous fan of Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai and 'Real' Chinese food. I mainly enjoy these types of foods because they don't use gluten in there cooking. So it's very easy for me to find something that I can eat. Philip always jokes with me that I whenever I make dinner it somehow always resembles a stir-fry or an Asian dish. I just stick me tongue out at him ☺

We started off with a combination crepe which I was unfortunately not able to take a picture of because we dug into the thing right away. I ordered my go to dish of Pho which was delicious and did cheer me up ☺

I wasn't able to eat all of my Pho because it comes in a super large bowl. I love that the Pho comes with basil and some mint and bean sprouts! MMMM

During dinner we chatted about food. Of course! One of my favorite things about Philip is that we are very like-minded in our view about America's food. He had recently come across a video of a woman, Robyn O'Brien, discussing her findings about what is really in our food here in the United States and food allergies.  He shared the video with me and let me just say that I was a little unsettled about it. Something to think about.

After dinner was finished we got smoothies because I just can't leave this place without one of their fresh made smoothies. This time I tried the passion fruit kind....mmmm it was delicious.

On the way back to my apartment I remembered I was supposed to take my car to the dealership to get it looked at. It has been having some issues with the headlights. I thought if we drove out there at that time and dropped it off I could come back and get a late night yoga session in at home. Apparently, my body wasn't down with that idea though because on the way to the dealership I started to feel the same way I had felt in the meeting in the afternoon. This time things heightened though and I had to pull over; luckily we were close to the dealership at this point. I felt really strange though guys and I started getting a little worried that maybe something was wrong. 

After a little while I started to feel better and was able to drive the rest of the way to the dealership and drop off the car for servicing. Philip drove us back to my apartment and I decided it was best to call it a night and get some extra shut eye. I decided that if I still felt the same way today I would make a doctors appointment but so far today I feel normal.

Do you guys think this is totally weird?

Any ideas what this might be about?

Have you ever tried Pho? 

What is your favorite kind of cuisine?

It's almost Memorial Day! I love it! Summer is almost here 'officially' ☺

What are your plans for the weekend?

Back in the Race

The thunderstorms here in Atlanta last night were outta control!
I live in what is considered the south eastern part of Atlanta and we got hit pretty hard with them last night.

As I was driving home from work the sky turned very ominous and I knew rain was on the horizon. I decided to do my best to run 3 miles before it started to rain. It turned out pretty well actually because it was like a game to me. I started off on my usual route and thought OK you have maybe 45 minutes to make this happen. Lets do it!

I started off in a jog which turned into a run and when I hit 1 1/2 miles I was sprinting. It felt good. I felt good. For the first time in a pretty long while I was running without any pain. I can't stop saying it because its so awesome!! I am so grateful and thankful.

I stopped to let a car pass and snapped the below picture of the thunderstorm rolling in.

Finally the impending storm rolled in though and stopped me dead in my tracks with pouring rain. I am not even exaggerating when I say that. I was so certain I was going to be able to finish the 3 mile loop I created but alas I feel short. The rain was coming down so heavy that it was hard to see making it back to my apartment. I have no problem running in the rain if it isn't coming down very hard but this was to much for me. I bet I sounds like a wuss saying that but if I can't see I am not going to keep running in it. Plus, I still get nervous about slipping and breaking another bone. 

I will pat myself on the back though because I ran 2 miles in 14 minutes and 50 seconds. That is my best time yet! I am still pretty impressed with myself. 

Once back at my apartment I showered and cleaned up. Wouldn't you know that it cleared up and the sun came out for a hot minute. Harumph! Lucky for me, I needed to go out and run some errands before starting on dinner and while I was out I passed a Smoothie King and well I just really wanted one ☺ 

So I stopped in and grabbed a small Gladiator with Strawberries and Oranges and Strawberry Protein Powder. It was pretty delicious!

I love me some Smoothie King smoothies and it is unfortunate that a small of the smoothie pictured above is over $5! Yes, over $5. Blows my mind. Harumph. I finished up my errands and headed back home. When I got there I wasn't very hungry and en-light of it being #meatlessmonday I decided to just sauteed some broccoli, yellow squash and green pepper with extra virgin olive oil, garlic, onions and black pepper. 

Perfecto! Since the thunderstorms continued on and off all night I decided to hang at home and catch up on some reading. I finally finished up the book Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner. I enjoyed it. 

Next, I moved on to looking for 5K's to run. I browsed through a lot of them on active.com and finally found one that looks right up my alley. The race that I decided on will take place in Candler Park . This 5K starts off the park's Midsummer Music and Food Festival and all race participants get a complementary beverage coupon and wristband for the festival. Sweet!! Nothing like running for motivation ☺ All the money that is raised by participants in the 5K goes towards keeping Candler Park beautiful. 

Alright kids, so lets break this down. I have 25 days until the race. AHH! That means that I have to be sure I can run continuously without any pain and with stamina by then. I think that is pretty attainable seeing that I have been on a running rampage recently. This will be the first race I will have run in since I broke my leg 2 years ago. The last race I ran was the Susan G. Komen, Race for the Cure in Philadelphia. I finished in 19 minutes. Pretty awesome! ☺ I used to run that race every year because of the people in my life that are affected by breast cancer (my Mom). Unfortunately, after the broken leg and all the back issues my racing days had come to a halt. Until now!!!

Friends of Candler Park 5K prepare to get stomped! Mwhahahaha ☺

Have you ever had an injury that prevented you from being active?
How many races do you run in a year?
Do any of you run in the rain?
Are any Atlanta readers running the Candler Park 5K?

Wrapping it Up

Getting out of bed this morning was rough. I definitely could have slept for another hour at least. 

Ugh, well anyway here we are again...Monday. 

I wrapped up the weekend of birthdays last night. Geez, this weekend was packed with activities. Yesterday, I slept in until 10:30am. That is completely not like me. Now that I work a 9-5 job I can't sleep past 8:30am but yesterday I snoozed right past 8:30 and awoke at 10:30am. 

Since I have deemed Sunday as my day of rest for working out I decided to put around the house and do the odds and ends things that needed to be done. Soon it was noon and my tummy was grumbling. Philip suggested breakfast for lunch so I made omelets. Or I should say attempted. I didn't have any luck in the omelet area and my dish instead turned into a scrambled egg dish. Delicious all the same though. 

I made mine with kale, ground turkey, cilantro and carrots on the side. MmMmMm it hit the spot. After brunch I worked on some blog related activities and was hoping that we could fit in a small tennis session but I took waaaay to long on the blogging tasks and before long we were on the road to the last and final birthday celebration of the weekend.

Our friends Meredith and Stiles were having a party at their house for Stiles birthday. Neither Philip or I had ever been to their house before so we just followed the directions. We parked and I noticed a sign that read 'The Party's Here' so we began walking over to the house. As we got closer I didn't see either of their cars in the driveway or any of our other friends cars but we didn't think much about it. I noticed people in the back yard so we walked around the back of the house and entered through the gate...we were faced with a group of teenagers and some adults. All of who looked at us like 'What the heck are you doing here' suddenly I realized this was a high school graduation party and we were at the completely wrong house on the wrong road...everything wrong. HAHAHA ☺

We immediately left and laughed all the way back to the car. I couldn't believe it. HAHAHA  ☺ Eventually we did make it to the actual birthday party and had a very nice and relaxed evening. 

Have any of you ever went to the wrong party by mistake?

Have you ever 'crashed' a party?

Do you like omelets? If so what do you put in yours?

Fitness Friday and Birthday Saturday

Friday was fitness Friday at work! It was a blast. Well, I had fun at least.

Work sponsored a health fair for us they had representatives from Weight Watchers, Curves, the different health insurance companies that they offer to us for coverage and a few personal trainers from our gym at work. 

I made sure to chat with my health insurance company's 'Healthy Life' representative. I learned about the healthy lifestyle program they offer. They give you incentives for living a healthy lifestyle. I think that is great. I feel like that could give some people the extra motivation they need to led a healthy life. 

Also, I made sure to stop by the personal trainers station to ask a few questions about the gym at work. I found out some awesome details that I didn't know. Such as, there is a new rowing machine at the gym! I haven't been to the gym for a few weeks because I have been running outside a lot since the weather has been great. I was hoping that they would get a rowing machine. I missed using it. My gym in Pennsylvania had one and I feel in love with the workout after a few times of using it. 

Lisa, one of my favorite personal trainers at work, offered to show me the proper rowing form and how it worked. I jumped at the opportunity. We made our way to the gym and I got an up close training session. It was great! I was able to get a great 30 minute workout in too. 

Saturday was the day of birthday celebrations! I started off the day with a 3 mile uphill interval running session. It was intense but I crushed it! I treated myself to a nice iced almond coffee afterwards. 

First up on the agenda was zip lining at Lake Lanier. I had been trying not to think about it because I am scared of heights but as I was picking out an outfit for the day I started getting nervous. I was hoping that I would find my big girl pants before I left the house but that didn't happen either. I spent the car ride there trying to overcome my nerves. 

We arrived a little late for our scheduled tour which in a way I think was good because it didn't give me time to think about anything as they got us geared up for the course. Before I knew it we were flying through the sky. Honestly guys I wasn't scared at all. The only time I got a little nervous was when we were standing on one of the platforms and another group came in behind us. There was a total of 14 people on the platform at that time and it was a little shaky. But that was all! It was a great time! One of the lines went straight across a portion of the lake. It was an amazing view. Our guides Cody and Carly were very informative and helpful. They were fun and helped made us all feel as ease during the course. While chatting with them I learned that they were hoping to make this their full-time jobs for the summer. How cool!! What a great way to have fun, live on the edge and stay in shape. 

I wish I had pictures from the experience but we were encouraged to leave all our things at the zip lining station so nothing got lost. 

Once we were finished everyone was starving! The birthday girl wanted to go to the rather new restaurant in the Highlands called HD1 so we headed there. HD1 is a haute hotdog eatery in the Virgina Highlands. The atmosphere is very modern. Starting with the door into the restaurant. It is a large wooden wall that you push to open. It was super cool. The inside is welcoming and the staff very courteous, knowledgeable about the dishes and friendly. I was nervous at first that they didn't have anything for me to eat but it turned out that they offered at few gluten-free food options. 

HD1's menu offers the usual options you would expect to see offered for hotdogs and sausages but their haute hotdog's section I would say makes them unique and independent in this area of restauranteering. Everyone decided on trying some of their beer/unique drink selections and I was pleasantly surprised when I saw they offered a cider option. 

Blackthorn cider is a delicious alternative to beer. Since I am not a fan of sweets I was happy that this cider was on the very dry side. 

For my food selection I choose a turkey sausage with sauerkraut and mustard. Sauerkraut is one of the favorite things. I love enjoying sausages with sauerkraut. I would say that most likely has something to do with my German heritage. One of my friends even said to me when I got my plate, 'That is a very German meal'. I also ate to many handfuls of their Spiced Boiled Peanuts which were delicious and I couldn't get enough of. The spices on the peanuts added an extra kick to them inspiring me to make my own boiled peanuts. I have been wanting to try to do that for a while and now I have the inspiration to do so. Thanks HD1!

If you guys are in the Atlanta area and looking for a unique and delicious hotdog restaurant I strongly suggest HD1.

After our meals where finished Philip and I headed over to our mutual friends house for another birthday celebration. It was great! Our friend Ross and his wife Libby are super chill people. We hadn't seen them in a few weeks and were excited to catch up. Ross (the birthday guy) received a projector from a group of his friends and they decided to set up a screen and play old movies in their backyard. It was perfect. When we arrived they were just starting the movie Grease. I am sure you all know what that movie is right? I hadn't seen it in so long. It was a total blast from the past. We all sung and some danced to the music parts in the movie. It was so much fun. 

Philip and I concluded our day of birthday celebrations by relaxing at a rather chill get together for another one of our mutual friends birthdays. There was fancy cocktails being served at the get together but I was getting sleepy at that point and passed on the cocktails. Our friend Bart is an artist and his most recent work was this creation. 

He has this outside in one of the sitting areas that has a very zen garden like vibe. We had a great time. Not before long though I was super tired and ready to hit the hay. 

I had a great Saturday! It was filled with a wonderful first time experience, a great workout and some delicious food. 

Have any of you guys ever gone zip lining? Where have you gone? 

Are you scared of heights?

Have any of you been to HD1? What did you think?

Does your work have Fitness Days or Health Fairs?