Trying a New Routine

Fact:  Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day.

Fact:  I’m usually hungry pretty much as soon as I get up.

Fact:  The time I go in to work alternates from week to week.

Fact:  The alternating of what time I wake up/eat really throws me off for the rest of the day if I’m not careful. (i.e. watch your fingers at either lunch or about 3:30 in the afternoon)

Anyhoo… rewind to my trip to Madison with Megan. Being as how we seemed to form a friendship that stemmed from our love of discussing food on our blogs, it’s not much of a stretch for us to discuss it on a regular basis. Yesterday we discussed croissants. And fudge.

Anyhoo again… Megan suggested I try eating breakfast at work. At first I pooh poohed the idea. Not eat within 20 minutes of getting up?  Are you crazy??? Do you want heads to roll?

Then I thought about it. On my weeks where I’m in the office SUPER early (7:30), maybe I could try it. Sadly, this means my options for breakfast are a bit more limited. But hot damn, Megan is a smart chick. Even if my peanut butter bread got way too stuck together. *shrug*

Sure, I felt odd skipping breakfast in the middle of my morning routine at home. But my “I’m so hungry” feeling seems to be more of a habit than actual hunger.  Because it subsided.

And I wasn’t ready to eat my arm off by the time lunch came around.  Good thing, too- a catering rep dropped off some free lunch for us kids that she works with on a regular basis. And I would have been embarrassed if I just dug in face first.

Does anyone else eat in the office?  Or do you eat as soon as you get up?

Or do you not eat breakfast at all?  And if you don’t eat breakfast, how do you not go through the morning in a serious rage?  I don’t understand…

So that worked out. Or at least “Day 1″ did. We’ll see how the rest of the week goes. 

Another new thing in my Monday routine? A longer run than the usual 4-milers I had been pulling. First the extra mile on my Wednesday workouts and now this?  Was I drinking when coming up with my half marathon training plan?

The answer to that is “no”, by the way. I remember what was going through my head- the need to be more aggressive in my training.

And that’s fine. But it seems I forgot that mindset when I looked at my plan this morning and said “oh geez- 5 miles? What have I done?!?!”

It wasn’t bad. I had no issue securing a treadmill and spent the last couple miles of my run being amused by the boyfriend who was clearly dragged to the gym by his girlfriend who was doing her thing on the elliptical. He was bored and wandering aimlessly. Homeboy even tried to jump rope.

Homeboy can’t jump rope.

Either way, the run was less of an ordeal than I originally anticipated. 5 miles at an 8:36 pace.

That deserved wine in my opinion. And since my opinion is what matters, I had wine.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go pretend like it’s not the crappiest day of the week and enjoy my coffee.

Ciao!

And Then…

You guys didn’t really think I’d leave you hanging with no pictures of Ugly Sweater Day, did you?Sassy, yes? It’s all about accessorizing.  Oh and I have no answer as to why we have formal tea cups and saucers in our break room.

A big thank you goes out to my friend Annie for hooking me up this year with this awesomely bad ensemble!

Sadly, I took third.  No matter how hard a girl tries, boys in women’s Christmas sweaters are just unbeatable.  Gah!

At least I had plenty of comfort food to make me feel better.  It seems all the gifts staff (aka Jaime and I) received yesterday came in edible form.

It included boy scout caramel corn:Yessss! Caramel corn  love.  Nothing like starting your day with it, in my opinion. (kidding… sorta)

My brother and I used to LOVE the big tins of popcorn (cheddar was my fav!) for Christmas and never understood why our parents refused to buy them.  Then I grew older and realized how gross it actually was.

But this stuff?  You boy scouts are A-ok in my book.

And then… AND THEN this came:Toffee has quickly been my most recent obsession.  And it showed up in a big box with a bow.  All 2 pounds of it.  Seriously… who really needs 2 pounds of english toffee?

Oh… my stomach will answer that question.  By saying “I do!”

I plan on taking a lot of it home to freeze.  By firing up “the google”, I found out it’s ok to do that.  In case you were wondering, too.

Expect toffee-infused baking in my future.And then our building management dropped off my afternoon snack.  They brought a really nice gift set.  And I ended up with one of these bags of chocolate-covered mixed nuts.

AND THEN (seriously, does anyone remember this movie?  And then… And NO AND THEN!), I came home to a package from Ashlee- one of my lovely best friends from my hometown.  We decided to do a cookie swap.  So she got some of the baked goods from my baking extravaganza a little bit ago and I got this:Sugar cookies!  And the cutest cupcake tin keepsake ornament!  I think a gift like this deserves a shout out – Go Team Baxhoff! For those of you who are curious, that’s our team name for when we get together and combine our forces of awesomeness.

I never said I was normal.

As you can imagine, a day like this also requires some balance.

That came in the form of a long sweat session.  And a huge bowl of broccoli as part of my dinner.

But I’d rather talk about the sweating.  Broccoli sometimes gets old.

I came home and immediately started up The Shred.  Nevermind this was directly after I tasted a sugar cookie from Ashlee. 

It was the perfect warm up for my treadmill session.

Totally mean that.  Once I got to the gym, I jumped on that thing and WENT.  Mile repeats.  Five of them at 8:34 each. 

Do you prefer the long runs or intervals?  Granted, I wasn’t really doing speedwork, but this was a good way to keep me from getting too bored (it hardly ever happens, but half of the run was spent all by my lonesome, so I had no people to “people watch”).

Over the holidays, I hope to finalize what my next big race will be.  A few are being considered, but they require some planning around things that aren’t finalized yet.  And after thinking about it, I realized that another 12-week training plan for a possible spring race would require me to get on it.  Like now.

Paige mentioned this in her post yesterday, and I didn’t realize I had been doing the same thing.  My typical oatmeal mornings have been replaced all week.  With all the Christmas candy/cookies being passed around, it’s left me with serious cravings for “savory”. Who would have ever thought??? (This is a recycled pic because I was lazy this morning and um… we all like to see pics of Jake G.)

And with that, I am signing off.  Have a good morning, everyone!

A Whirlwind

Yesterday was just that.  I feel like it all went by so fast!  I swear we filled all the seats.  It turned out well.  Whew…

One event down, one more to go.  Then sanity can re-enter my life.  And I will welcome it.  With open arms. 

Because of the early morning, I did get to head home a little earlier than usual.  And got a little face time in at the pool!  It was a rest day (thank goodness, because I was dragging), so a lazy late afternoon was lovely.  There was sunscreen involved- no worries. 

Today I was very excited to receive a package in the mail from the lovely Leah at Why Deprieve?!I originally won the book.  But she sent me a few extra goodies from Canada for fun.    I’d be lying if I said I didn’t break into the candy almost immediately…  Yummm…. thanks Leah!  Now I have a new lunch-time read!Aaaahhhh Friday morning.  You got here quickly and I am happy about that!  You also started a little later than yesterday, which is greatly appreciated.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t enjoying the dressing up part of work this week.  I’m sure it would get old fast, but for now it’s kinda fun.  Today is just helping out with some registration stuff, but I’m still hoping to score free lunch.  Cross your fingers…

I’ve still got the ghetto phone.  It takes me five minutes to send a quick text.  Awesome.  I’m calling the repair store today, though.  This is out of control.

Does anyone feel like the spring/summer months are flying by?  I can’t believe July is next week already…

Sorry for a short and uninteresting post- gotta go!  Have a good weekend and stay cool!  (In more ways than one…)

Holla’…

Issues With Functioning

Yeah, this post is early. Crazy early.  But sometimes, that’s how I roll…

Thanks for the advice on how to deal with the combo of busy days and training.  I wouldn’t be as upset about dropping a workout if it weren’t so close to the actual race- most likely I’ll be sneaking out for an early morning run and be back just in time to make pancakes for everyone!  (Hopefully!)

Yesterday was just ridiculous.  On so many levels.  Work was nonstop intense.  Traffic was horrific.  I got home- thinking I had escaped the worst of it.  I was in my happy place.  And going on a run.  To my happier place (not physically, but mentally- I got stuck in the workout room again).

La la la… I’m so relieved to be home and walking to my workout room… la la la.  Drop my phone.  Damn.  Oh crap. See what’s missing?  One freaking piece of silver plastic… One freaking piece of silver plastic that keeps the stupid roller-ball-thingie (my technical term for it) in place.  No plastic piece?  It falls out.  That simple.  Basically, the crackberry can’t function without that one.stupid.significant.piece.

What did I do?  I stared at the street for about 10 minutes.  In the semi-rain.  And lightening.  Yep.  Then I said screw it, not happening, I’m still going to get this stupid run in and ponder my options.  Then run was a little faster than it usually would be- probably from all the built anxiety and I knew I’d have to make a visit to AT&T.  4.5 miles in 8:30ish (I don’t wear my Nike+ at the gym and just have to do the math myself on the treadmill- and I suck at math).

So I get in my speedy run, shower, and am off to AT&T.  Apparently, this store is poppin’ at 6:30 at night.  I had to wait for 15 minutes to be told they wouldn’t help me and gave me a card of a cell phone repair store.  Thanks.  This would be so useful.  If it weren’t 25 minutes away and closes in 10 minutes. 

“But sir, you don’t understand, I have to have my phone for tomorrow morning- I have this event for work and-”

“We don’t do repairs in the store.”

“Ok I know, but maybe I  just thought you might possibly have an extra refurbished phone or something I could take the part from because I really-”

“We don’t do repairs in the store.”  Hands me the card.  Walks away.

I hate you, sir. 

Thanks for caring.

So now I have a ghetto fab phone until I can make it to this stupid repair store.  I’m extremely annoyed.  And upset.  But you gotta roll with the punches.  Because, let’s face it, I chose to spend time on the treadmill for 40 minutes.  I did do that.  But your behavior is NOT excused! 

Anyone else freak out about their cell phones like this?  It’s almost sad how important they have become…

What made me feel better?  Retail therapy at Trader Joe’s.  It was right there… and I needed a few things anyways.  Sure… I left with $30 more food than originally planned.  But it happens.  And it made me happy.  Well… sort of.  It didn’t help that I was more than distressed and there seemed to be a million TJ employees working.  And asking how I was doing on this “rain-filled and stormy night”.  I bit my tongue.  I doubt they wanted details.

Soooo… Winnefred helped me relax this evening.It was ok.  I haven’t had chardonnay in a while, but it’s definitely not my fav.

Anyways, here we are in the wee hours of the morning.  And I’m about to be driving into the sunrise.  Which clearly means I’m up waaaay to early, but I’m excited about attending the event and getting to go downtown for a bit.  I even cleaned up a bit for it:Sometimes I like to play pretend and try to convince myself I’m a real grown-up.    How do you dress for work?  This isn’t an everyday thing for me- I’m able to keep it very business casual most days.

Have a good Thursday everyone!

Overwhelmed

Hey kiddos… how was your Tuesday?  Mine was lame.  I know you wondered… 

First off, thanks for all the comments.  Not to freak anyone out about salt intake, I just like to keep it lower (being as how many foods have sodium in it already without me adding it in).  Because no one likes that gross “salt hangover” the next day.  I’ve had it one too many times…  And I do want to point out- I love gnocchi.  LOVE it.  It’s by far my favorite pasta.  But I just wasn’t a fan of that particular brand.  I still have high hopes for sweet potato gnocchi.  And will stuff my face research more to find a better kind.    I don’t mean to scare anyone away from trying gnocchi- because seriously, it rocks.

So anyhoo, why was Tuesday lame?

Welllll…. work was nuts.  Without getting too into it, we’ve got a big event coming up and it seems that trying to stay on top of it and organized is just mission impossible.  I think my lovely friend Mon read my mind because I got an email from her that afternoon that basically said, “it’s Tuesday.  Just reminding you to take a breath.”  I needed that.

I also needed to dip into that chocolate collection from Prague that she left for me last week.  Seriously needed that, too.

What else did I need?  A lunch hour with no talking.  Just reading.  And my super sassy salad, of course…Yeah, I’m desperately trying to use up all the cauliflower before it goes bad.  I swear it’s like I do it on purpose when I’m grocery shopping.  I get over-excited with all the fresh produce.  And here I am scrambling to get it all eaten and not waste… But I digress.

What’s a pretty regular addition to your salads?  (And you can’t say “lettuce”- that’s cheating)  I think broccoli or squash are the two that show up the most in mine… not sure if that’s because I think they’re awesome in salads or because I just really really like them on their own?  Hmmm… deep thoughts for the day…

The book, Cocktails for Three, is still going well.  I’ll admit, it was a little slow for me to get into.  But now I’m a few chapters from the end.  And am seriously curious about what’s going to happen.  Thanks for the recommendation, Jill! 

I crept in traffic the whole way home.  I blame this partially on the rain and partially on the construction.  Stupid orange cones… all I want to do is plow over them and drive through the construction.  My uncle calls it “orange city”.  I call it “orange shitty”.  Because I’m clearly more vulgar than he is.

Finally I got to the gym for a good session.  Ahhhh… is it weird I find relaxation in the gym?  I’m sure the majority of you guys would say no.  I’m sure the rest of the people I know would say yes.  That’s ok.  Us healthy living bloggers are kinda crazy- don’t you agree?    Elliptical for 32 minutes.  32- again with my random numbers.  I sort of find it fun now.  I also did 16 on the stairmill.  No running was included today.  Because I did spend a little more time on the other cardio machines and also because there was another girl using the good treadmill.  I wasn’t crying about it, though.  It gave me a reason to focus more on arm weights (free weights and machines) and spent much more time on my abs.  It’s all about the core work, right?

Dinner was a veggie wrap.  With veggies on the side.  It was veggie-tabulous.  I would have taken a pic, but I was on the phone catching up with one of my fav girls, and sort of missed the chance.  So I’ll show you breakfast instead:Oats in a Jar.  Seriously one of the best things I’ve picked up from the blogs.  Sure it tastes good, but I just really like eating it like I’m 12.  Because sometimes I think while my body is aging one way, my mind is going in reverse.  I’ll admit it.  But I’m not concerned.  I have a lot of fun this way.    Anyways, this concoction had oatmeal, almond butter, Special K, and coconut.  This seems to be my “go-to” combo out of all my oatmeal creations.  And just so you know, the coconut is key.

My usual rest days are on Thursdays, but I’m switching it up a little bit this week.  After the work day was over, Mon and I agreed a wine night would need to come sooner than later.  Sooner as in tonight.  You gotta do what you gotta do…

Welcome to the hump day, my friends.  I assume my day will be similar to yesterday.  Good because the day flies.  Bad because I’m stressed because the day flies.  But ahhhhh…. that’s life. 

Oh my head!

Today was a long one.  Not really because of anything in particular at work, but because I got a migraine.  Let’s just have a show of hands when it comes to who gets them from time to time… Anyone?

Ugh.  Usually I get a little bit of warning.  With just an overall feeling- hard to explain.  And that’s when it hits.  The tunnel vision.  Oh god that could be the worst part… I’m sitting there all innocent and productive. Just sitting there working away at the computer.  Then things start to get a little fuzzy.  So I try to concentrate harder.  Which  just makes it worse.  And soon I have to look away.  And put my hands to my temples and massage. Even break out the Advil (which I only use as a last resort but I did not want to see how bad this thing could get).

Then comes the dulling pain right behind the eyes.  Yuck.  I think my boss even noticed because my mood took an instant nosedive.  Not that I get super bitchy or anything- but I just get really really quiet and go off into my own world for a while.  On the way home it started to lift.  And all that was left was a light queasy feeling that stayed with me until a little after I got home.

This, my friends, is the order of steps I go through.  They don’t happen often- maybe just once every couple of months.  But they’re brutal.  If you get them, how do you deal with them?  Is there some crazy remedy I need to try??

Once I fully recovered, it was like it never happened!  And I got to break out my Target purchase- the cheapest yoga mat I could find!The little ones were a little nervous about the mat.  Originally, they were checking it out, most likely because they thought it might be a new toy.  But then I rolled it out and they didn’t step on it once… just around it.And there’s my foot.  Not like that would entice her to get any closer… my feet are gross!  Pedicure in the near future…  I bought the mat because Jaime and Scott’s place is all hardwood.  And if I’m going to Shred while I’m staying there, I need to accessorize!  I did Level 2.  Wish I could have done  Yoga meltdown- but alas, no Exercise tv.  So I did situps and some plank moves I swiped from The Shred Level 3.  Add two mini dog walks and that’s good enough for me!

I think today I’m going on a run.  Yes, a run.  Slow and easy.  I’ve been doing a little jogging in place and jumping around to see if that “twinge” has gone away.  And I think it has!  So yes, a run is necessary. I have training to do…

Street Lights

Yesterday was an “eh” day.  I know I’ve mentioned before that the office environment has been stressful.  It’s just a downer.  Also, like mentioned yesterday, Jaime is going to be out next week and running off to the island of St. Thomas to get married. So we’re preparing for what needs to be done after her departure as well.  She’s actually going to be gone two weeks.  And she has two dogs.  That need to be taken care of.  By who you ask? 

By me!  Yes, that is correct.  I am dog sitting for two weeks.  But not at my house.  I did watch them one night before- and they were not a fan of my apartment.  So what am I doing?  I’m living in Wrigleyville starting Monday!  How cool is that? 

I’m actually excited to see how I’ll be doing with two little dogs (get ready to get acquainted with Hazel and Princess in upcoming posts).  I sometimes wonder if I’d like to have a pet- and I think this will be a good test of that. 

So that’s my big news for the day.  Being as how it’s Friday, I thought you needed some big news.  And that’s about all I’ve got.  Tough…  ha ha

My workout for last night?  Mon and I decided to break out the bikes.  I know I’ve been keeping it low impact, but after much consideration, I decided to just try it.  It was the first time Mon had broken her bike out for the year, and the first time I had rode a bike in quite some time (we don’t need to talk about years), so we kept it to a lazy ride through the neighborhoods.  I had a lot of fun.  It really worked the legs- but in a much different way.  I’m hoping it won’t hurt me too much to continue to do.  And I really want to hit some good trails. 

We rode until it the sun was setting.  And laughed- mom always said to be back home by the time the street lights came on…

Of course my butt hurts today.  My bike is nothing special- just a cheap thing I’ve had since high school.  So it also has a “nothing special” seat.  That left a soreness in a really special area.  Owwwwww…. But I figure I might as well use it to see how much I’d like to take up biking on a more regular basis.  At the same time, I’d like it much more if I had a better bike.  Ahhh…. see my issue?

Alright, I’m out of here.  A day of crazy awaits me… (don’t worry- some is good crazy)

And tomorrow is the big furniture delivery I’ve been waiting for!!!  Of course it sucks I’ll be leaving my place for a couple weeks to dog sit, but it’ll be like I have a whole new place waiting for me when I get back.    I’m still a little anxious about it- the size of the sofa is out of control.  And hopefully that won’t be an issue when trying to get it IN my third floor apartment with narrow staircases.  I suggested they rig it up through the balcony (in total seriousness).  But I’m leaving it to the professionals… they’re supposed to know their stuff.

Happy Friday everyone! 

Was it worth it?

Um… there’s a reason this post is so late.  I’m nursing a bit of a headache…  Sorry.

Let’s start from the beginning.

I woke up to some serious rain yesterday.  And left early as to avoid any issues of getting to work on time. Fail.  For some reason unknown to me, I sat in traffic that took twice as long as normal to get to work.  Needless to say, I didn’t make it on time.  The work environment hasn’t been the most enjoyable and happy one recently, so my mood only worsened.  I won’t get into details, but it’s not exactly pleasant.  And of course, since it’s Tuesday, it didn’t surprise me that I had to stay late to work on a few things because of some IT issues. 

And take a few deep breathes on the way home…

Needless to say, as soon as Mon showed up, I pulled out the wine glasses and filled them up.  And then went on to create this:I couldn’t believe how easy it was to make… and how healthy it was (compared to what I figured it would be).  It was TJ’s whole wheat pizza dough, fat free pizza sauce, spinach, mushrooms, and TJ’s fat free feta.  Magnificent…  While we were waiting for it to finish in the oven, we had more of this:By the time the pizza was done, I was already two glasses into my night.  So I kinda didn’t take pics of the finished product.  I’m sorry.  Please imagine the above pic… just cooked. 

It was awesome.  Wine and pizza should be a new staple in my diet.  When I was checking out at Trader Joe’s with all the pizza goodness, the woman started raving about the dough (with good reason) and gave me a bunch of new ideas to try.  Sweet!  And Mon and I had a good time chit chatting and giggling like regular girls do.  My mood lifted by the end of the night for sure.  So at least our planned fun night did some damage control.  I’ll call it a success.

Because of my affection for wine and hatred of Tuesdays, I used a corner of my kitchen this morning that doesn’t usually see much action in the middle of the week.Oh my head…  I used my new Celestial tea mug for my coffee.  Yep, I really live on the edge by switching it up like that.Don’t give me that look, Vince.  You would have enjoyed one too many glasses of wine after a long day, too.  Hush!  Let me enjoy my oatmeal with way too much cereal and white chocolate chips in peace!

Yoga again tonight.  Run planned for tomorrow.  I’m feeling pretty good about the possibilities of doing the race on Sunday.  Things are looking up!   

I’m gonna go get more coffee… sorry I’m so boring today.  But that bottle of wine last night was totally worth it.  Yep.  TOTALLY worth it.  Just sayin’…

Love my early days…

The rest of the week consists of going in and leaving work early.  I am SO glad it’s like this.  Yesterday was gorgeous.  I had my running gear smashed into my work bag and was determined to get straight to the trail as soon as I left work.  And I did.  And it was crowded.  But that worked to my advantage.  I started with some squats.  Sort of.  Really, it was me pulling the hover move because I really had to pee before I started and the restrooms were still closed for the season.  So all that was left was a lone porta potty that had pee all over the seat.  Not ideal.  But like I said, the hover move warmed up some of the quad muscles. 

Anyways, I decided to stick with just one loop around the track.  I ended up running 2.8 miles with an 8:11 average pace.  Not bad!  I probably have a guy to thank for that.  I was doing my thing when he passed me.  I watched him slowly creep ahead and then said, “screw it, I know I could keep his pace.”  So I did. For about a mile.  Then I said, “screw it, I could totally pass him.”  So I did.  And then I said, “screw it, I could totally kick his ass.”  So I did.    Thanks for making me pick up my feet a little more, Mr. Random Running Dude.

And now I have a bone to pick.  I was the one to run out during lunch to run errands and pick up the cake for my boss’s birthday.  So I decided to grab a salad at the building next door (they have a cafeteria, too- which I consider better than the one in our building).Love their salad bar options.  LOVE them.  I was all about carrots, squash, garbanzo beans and some sunflower seeds.  My problem?  My problem that also occurs at my building’s cafeteria?  The salad dressing.  The options blow.  They blow hard.  It’s all creamy dressings.  And it’s not like it’s “low fat”.  It’s the serious stuff.  Unless you want olive oil.  And I don’t like plain olive oil on salad.  Sometimes I remember to bring in my own dressing.  But I don’t think that should be necessary if I’m already paying to eat their salad.  Don’t get me wrong- I don’t have anything against creamy dressing.  I love me some ranch.  And caesar.  And I’ll use them from time to time(which I did today).  But sometimes, I’d just like to have a simple vinaigrette.  Or lower fat option of any kind.  It might be a wise option to throw in there.  Because there’s still those people out there that load up on all this veggie goodness and then drown it in ranch.  And I mean DROWN it.  But think because it’s “salad”, it has to be healthy- no matter what.  I know a lot of people like this.  And it just bugs me.  Sometimes I just want to say, “dude, you would have been better off with the burger”.

It’s the little things that irk me sometimes.  Like I said, I’m totally ok with having it in moderation.  I just want another option.  Gah.  Stepping off my soap box now.  Because I’m pretty sure I fit a few little “irklings” in there to vent about when I only met to discuss one.

Oh the places where my mind goes…

I finished my Michael Pollan book.  The last section of “food rules” (more like guidelines to follow if you choose) was my favorite.  Some of the things he had to say were an interesting thing to think about.  Such as “avoid foods that make health claims” because of how processed this food could be.  I was also a fan of “don’t get your fuel from the same place your car does”.  That’s pretty self-explanatory.  I think I’ve said it before, but I really enjoyed his writing style more than anything.  Totally recommend the book- it can open your eyes to some new things.

Next on the list?  Pure entertainment.  I have a desire to read Chelsea Handler’s new book.  I was talking about it at work and one girl said she had the second book and let me borrow it.  So I’ll be reading Are You There, Vodka?  It’s Me, Chelsea.  I love her humor, so I figured I’d give it a shot.

And yeah, I still had a piece of cake.  After we all crowded into the break room- Office Space style.  It had green icing on it.  My tongue turned green.  Bright green.  Which was concerning.  Happy St. Patrick’s Day…And now the holiday is over and we’re already a day away from the weekend!  Getting up today was a little easier than yesterday.  Part of that was due to the fact I went to bed a little earlier (a little after 10:00).  Just call me grandma.

Coffee habit is still in place.  Don’t worry, I’m working on it… tomorrow.Even Vince is concerned about my recent increase in caffeine intake.  Oh dear…

Don’t worry, Vince.  I won two of those Love mugs in my gift basket from Jaime’s shower.  We can have matching cups of coffee tomorrow if you’d like…

Have a good one- we’re almost to the weekend!

Another Level

Ahhh… this is how I start my dreaded Tuesdays.  Coooooffffffeeeeeee……  And yeah, that’s some ick nondairy creamer.  I’m not really a fan.  Sometimes I bring in my own good stuff to mix in (LOVE the International Delight skinny vanilla latte).  Sometimes I go without.  And sometimes I just have to use this.  But it got me through the morning…

How do you kids like your coffee?  I’ve seen lots of posts, but I wouldn’t mind some new ideas on how to mix it up a bit!  Especially if it can be done in the comfort of the break room….

And check out my Cards gear I have at my desk!  A guy in our St. Louis office sent it to me when they found out there was a Cardinals fan in the Chicago office.  I love it.  But wouldn’t be surprised if it suddenly disappears before Spring Training even ends…   Who’s excited for baseball season???  I am! I am! Although it’s rough for a girl in enemy territory!  Just kidding- it’s not that bad.  And I still love going to Wrigley for a Cubs game.  I’m just a fan of the sport in general…

Anyhoo… the day didn’t pass by too slowly.  So that’s a plus.  And I got home and threw on Level 3 of The Shred.  I had considered another night of complete rest.  But I had too much energy for that.  So Level 3 it was! 

And it was rough.  I had to do beginner moves on several occasions.  Simply because I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to even half attempt what the advanced move was.  And have you ever done jumping jacks with dumbbells?  Holy cow… I thought I was going to throw a weight across the room!  Dangerous…

All in all, it started out the same was as Level 2 did- I wasn’t a fan.  But I warmed up to Level 2.  And I’m sure I’ll do the same with Level 3.  Bring it, Jillian!!!

Tonight I’m planning to do a few miles around the neighborhood.  Sooooo looking forward to it!  Two days off in a row leave me feeling antsy.  And I’m feeling ok.  So hopefully, this will be good for me.

Gotta go- according to the news, the commute today is straight up MISERABLE!  Happy Wednesday!  It’s gross and rainy here (which will hopefully clear up a little by the time I get off of work).  But I’ll take gross and rainy at 50 degrees over just freakin’ cold any day… Peace out, winter!