umpa lumpa

I don’t know what it is, but things just never seem to slow down for me.  This is partially my fault I realize, trying to cram too many things into a day! I blame my work schedule for some of it…but I often feel my life involves working out, working, eating and sleeping. (I know life could be much worse).  Today was much the same… and so I will share it all, except the sleeping!

Working Girl Workout

I only had about 40 minutes to work out this morning, but I made the most of it. Ian woke up earlier than normal to get a root canal (fun wake up call huh?), so I got up a little earlier as well. When this happens I think I over-estimate my time and end up running behind to the gym! Anyway, I got a good sweat regardless.

Treadmill Interval Workout – Totaled just over 3 Miles.

Min. 1- 5: 6.5 run pace, 1 incline

Min 5 – 15: 6.5 and 8.0 alternating each minute, 1 incline

15 – 20: 4.0 walk, 15.0 incline (the highest the machine allows)

20-30: 6.5 and 8.o run, 1 incline

I followed the run with some Leg Lunges and sit-ups on the ball.

At this point i’m usually really pushing it with my time – I give myself about a half hour to get ready for work so I had to haul my butt back to the apartment!

Favorite New Lunch/Snack

I picked up some Lara Bars the other day and forgot how much I love them!

At one point in college I tried the Vegan diet and that is when I started to eat these.  They come is all sorts of yummy flavors, my favorite is Apple Pie – but I picked up this Carrot Cake for the first time and it’s also a winner! They are great because the list of ingredients usually is under 10 things and you know what they are!

No strange ingredients that you don’t understand!

I also want to share one of my favorite salads lately. I’ve been eating this for lunches and dinners sometimes…it’s got lots of crunch which I love!

It has mesclun salad mix (or just spinach somedays), chopped cucumber, tomato, sunflower seeds, a little brown rice and some feta.  You can add whatever meat protein you want – I believe we added chicken the night I took this photo.

Phobias

ok, maybe phobia isn’t the right word. BUT, Ian and I were talking the other day and SOMEHOW the wizard of oz came up…which led to talk of the little Munchkin kids. Which then got me thinking of Umpa Lumpas. (You get the connection).  Well, I really don’t like the Umpa Lumpas.

It’s actually quite hard for me to even post this picture on here. I really can’t look a them and I will never understand their entertainment value. For anyone that knows me, they know that I am not a fan.

Well, this got me thinking about all the other “figures” I don’t like. Or that just sort of rub me the wrong way. See if you start to notice a trend here….

The Blue Man Group

Mimes

 

Street Robots...or any Painted Person pretending to be fake

Last night, it clicked!! I do not like painted people!!! I blame the Umpa Lumpas on that.

Is there anything that YOU don’t like?? Please tell me I am not alone in my painted fear.  Any other odd “phobias” or things that you just will never understand.

 

Good Girl, Bad Girl

I’m beginning to realize that my habit of writing posts close to midnight each night might be confusing when I say “Happy Wednesday!” when in fact it is Thursday for most people already. SO, Happy Thursday! Or Happy Day of the Week closer to the weekend 🙂

Let me kick things off with a few words on Lunch today.

Lunch

Chopped Veggie Quinoa Salad

This salad has been my go-to for the past week or so, and I see it popping up much more in my future!  I usually avoid salads in the middle of the day because they tend to upset my stomach, but this one has been just right. I try to use a good portion sized container that helps me with my portion size for lunch.  This one is pretty small – I will have to figure out exactly the size. (don’t mind the work keyboard in back)

Into the Mix:

Quinoa

Chopped Tomato

unsalted sunflower seeds

ripped up lettuce

Veggie Turkey patty chopped up

Olive oil and Balsamic Vinegar for dressing

I usually add cucumber too, but I ran out of that yesterday 😦 A little feta cheese is also a nice addition sometimes.

And Dinner

Stuffed Pita

Half a garlic pita with hummus, slice of Muenster cheese, 2 turkey slices, some lettuce and tomato.

Asparagus

And a side of Asparagus – Pan Fried.

Workout

Today’s workout was 20 min. of cardio split between the elliptical and treadmill machines.  I then did my leg strength training routine, which includes something I would like to call the “Good Girl, Bad Girl.” – dubbed by BF (best friend boyfriend) Denise 🙂 She called it that in college and it’s stuck every since!

It is the Hip Abductor Machine!

Can you tell which is which?

Good Girl – works your inner thighs

Bad Girl – works your outer thighs

🙂

The Good Girl, Bad Girl Machine is one of the most awkward things to do at the gym – but it works!

haha – I get a kick out of this every time.

Alright, it’s officially Thursday for me now too, off to bed …. or 30 Rock episodes with Ian since he just got home! (at midnight – wahhh!)

Flat, is where it’s at.

Somedays, I just think I have so much more time than I really do.  This blogging thing has really been a test to my time management! I have to say that I take as many photos as I can of all the foods I eat, and I try to remember all my workouts…but this blogging business is NO JOKE! I really give credit to all the bloggers out there that are able to document more than one meal/workout/thought a day. I am doing my best to get in the habit of blogging at the same time each day sort of to train myself to get into the habit of it.

Anyway –  Here is sort of a random post that probably should have been better organized into a few posts – but hopefully you can follow along!

The Perfect Snack…and sometimes meal

Plain Nonfat Greek Yogurt with fresh fruit and almonds 

yogurt bowl

This is probably my favorite thing to eat – it always leaves me just full enough.  The greek yogurt I use is the nonfat plain yogurt…one serving has about 100 calories and 18 grams of protein!! Hallelujah! During the work week I also top with granola because I don’t always have fresh fruit around.

Veggie filled Dinner

Spinach Fettucine with organic garlic pasta sauce 

Spinach pasta

I recently bought a pack of Spinach Fettucine from the grocery store hoping it would be a quick and easy dinner on a work night.  And that it was!! It was my first time trying it tonight and I was pleasantly surprised.  To add some veggies into the meal I added chopped zucchini and spinach into the pasta sauce.  I find that by adding more chopped veggies the pasta sauce goes a lot further…which would be great for a big family I suppose, but works just as well to save some money for me and Ian 🙂 This meal was topped with some chopped chicken and parmesan cheese.

Flat Ab Workouts!

I came across this article from SELF Magazine today with some great new ab workouts! I’m always one to give new ab workouts a try and was so happy to see that these workouts involved versions of THE PLANK! This is one of my favorite moves and I feel the burn EVERY time without fail.  One thing I always am reminded of when doing the plank is just to remember – flat is where it’s at!! In other words, your body must be as close to a board as possible!

Photo courtesy of Self.com

Here are some of the ab workouts I have been obsessed with lately and I promise YOU WILL FEEL IT:

 

Hopefully I can get a little better at this blog schedule thing 🙂

Question of the night: What are some of your favorite ab workouts? I feel like I sort of developed a routine in college and never changed it up until recently…Do you ever try out some of the things you read in magazines or see online?

 

 

Trying Something New

Oh Monday night… my days are all off because I worked yesterday and so I feel like today is Tuesday.  Changes to my schedule really seem to mess with me!  Besides working on a Sunday, the week has kicked off to a pretty good start! Here is how my day has looked so far:

Morning – worked out.  15 minutes elliptical. 30 minutes running.

WORK WORK WORK WORK

Dinner – ate leftovers with Ian and watched 30 Rock. ( i’m way behind and only on season 1).

After dinner  – Did Laundry and made my very first jar of Overnight Oats!!

This week I am trying my hand at something new – and that is making overnight oats! I read about these every day in the blog world and they seem to be a HIT. So, since I had all the ingredients ready and handy I thought I would share in my first experience making Overnight Oats in a Jar. 

And here we go…follow along!

STEP 1: Empty jar of Peanut Butter (by empty I mean you can’t make a pb sandwich with what’s left but could probably reach in with your fingers and scrap the sides)

STEP 2: Fill jar with 1/3 cup oats

STEP 3: Add 1/3 Cup. Milk of choice – I picked Almond Milk. 

STEP 4: Add a few tablespoons Greek yogurt (or more milk if you want instead)

STEP 5: Add any additional mix ins you might like. I added Cinnamon and Flaxseeds! 

  

STEP 6: MIX IT UP! And stick it in the fridge overnight! 

And there you have it! My first attempt at overnight oats in a jar. I will DEFINITELY be keeping an update of how this turns out in the morning.  I think the idea is that you get a protein packed jar of oatmeal and instead of eating it warm (which I think you can still do) you can eat it as a different take on cold cereal in the AM!

I could actually see this being a good dessert option as well! Maybe throw a few chocolate chips in or something 🙂

My goal from here on out is to try something new cooking related each week and write about it! This is not really cooking but I consider anything that involves mixing and measuring a step in the right direction.

Question:  What’s one thing you’ve always wanted to attempt in the kitchen but never have? Or one thing you’ve just wanted to try but haven’t gotten around to yet? 

I’m off to enjoy the rest of my night… Shark Week anyone?? Night!!

One Sweaty Saturday

Saturday, I love you.  Even if you are super hot.

Well, there is a heat advisory in New York right now…so I kept my workout indoors yet again.  Although, I have to say I haven’t really found too many days I really enjoy working out outside here…i’m a baby with weather I guess.

My workout shoes...I need more photos!!

The one thing I love about my weekend workouts is that I don’t have the same time constraint weighing down on me as I do during the work week.  So today, I really felt like I was able to get a good full body workout in!

Today’s workout looked like this:

Cardio: 30 minutes elliptical to start

Assisted pullups and tricep dips (2 sets of 12 each)

chest press (25 pounds, 3 sets of 15)

leg press ( 50 pounds, 3 sets of 20)

leg extensions ( 30 pounds, 3 sets of 15)

tricep machine (25 pounds, 3 sets of 15)

Cardio again: 20 minute run on treadmill (1.0 incline, 6.5 – 7.0 speed)

I ended my workout with some sit-ups on a mat. I try to do about 100 mixed kinds of sit ups and then a plank which I hold for 1 min.

By this point, I called it a day!! I was probably repelling people with my sweat haha. (actually, nobody seemed to really be at the gym today, phew!)

Off to enjoy my Saturday now! I see food in my future.

New York TV and Movie Tour

Happy Sunday 🙂 Today started off pretty productive! Ian and I woke up early (for us) around 8 45am.  We were hoping to get to the gym earlier to get a workout in before Ian’s basketball game later in the afternoon.  (Trust me when I say he was not worried about being worn out for these games).

Today’s workout included:

2o minutes ellipical to start off

weight circuit of the follwing:

assisted pull ups & tricep dips

chest fly machine

seated row

Then I ended out my cardio with a 2 mile run on the treadmill.

Next up I did my favorite tone it up bikini body circuit and some abs.

After the workout Ian and I were craving something cold — so smoothies it was!

I love my smoothies in a mug if possible because I can eat them with a spoon! It makes it feel like more of a “meal” to me.

Into the smoothies went approximately the following:

SUNDAY SMOOTHIE:

1 C strawberries

1 banana

1/2 C blueberries

2 heaping tablespoons flax seed (ground up in blender)

1 heaping scoop vegan protein powder

1/4 C pomegranate juice

1/4 C greek yogurt

Splash of unsweetened vanilla Almond Milk

YUMMM!!! This was perfect for today and kept us both pretty satisfied for awhile.  We also brought some pb&j for the road though to eat before/after Ian’s game.

Now, I wanted to give a quick re-cap of our Movie tour yesterday!

It was awesome! The tour latest about 3.5 hours and had about 5 stops along the way where we were able to get out and take some pictures.  While most people on the tour were out-of-towners, Ian and I were def. not the only “new yorkers” on the tour and we learned a lot of tidbits we never would have known if we didn’t have a New York tourist day. 🙂

First stop – Washington Square Park. Known from movies such as When Harry Met Sally, any outdoor filming scenes from Sesame Street, Barefoot in the Park.  I can’t remember the rest, but obv. it is a pretty popular area!

(Not the best photo but what can you do)

2nd Stop – Ghostbusters Fire House. Self-explanatory I think 😉 And right next to this firehouse was a street they call “Millionaires Mile” — I guess they basically gut out a lot of the buildings there and make huge spacious lofts inside that sell for millions – attracting all sorts of celeb types. You would honestly have no idea though from looking at the outside — lots of it looks kind of worn down.

Ian being a tourist standing alone

 

Millionaire's Mile /street

3rd Stop – This might have been SOHO which I actually didn’t picture because we just were dropped off to shop for 25 minutes…that was dangerous.

4th Stop – Cosby house!! While the show said they lived in Brooklyn, the house was actually in the city! We learned that on the show the Cosby’s always would take a right turn when they walked in the house…but in real life they would just run into that white house next door.  They even filmed the house next door just kind of assuming nobody would catch on (or care?) I guess. This street actually had lots of famous door steps! Including an Audrey Hepburn movie I can’t remember the name of. (so much for that)

TOTALLY Theo's handwriting

5th Stop – The Friends Apartment Building!!! If you notice on the bottom of the building it is NOT green like Central Perk is supposed to be, which is because Central Perk exists in Hollywood land.  Anyway, it was cool to see the exterior none the less!

I'll be there for youuuu

Along the way the tour guide also handed out some goodies for Trivia games! Of course, Movie Buff Ian knew lots of answers and after awhile had to stop answering because we were in cookie overload. These are black and white cookies like in Seinfeld — obtainable at pretty much any bodega or grocery store, but still special.

Black and White Cookie

The tour included LOTS of other places and movie facts, far too much to document completely! It all ended at this bar…

Inspiration for the bar “McClarens” in How I Met Your Mother.  Pretty cool!  Ian and I ended our day with 2 of these:

margaritas!

Margaritas were calling our names!! It was just too darn hot to NOT order drinks.  And after that we called it a day! haha We walked to the book store and I picked up a new book which I will have to share on here…I’m sad to say The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is still on the back burner for me.

Ok, off to spend the rest of the night curled up with a book and Ian 🙂

Night!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Funday

I’m still torn on my feelings about Sundays.  I love waking up and having this one last day of the weekend, but I also hate it because Monday is right around the corner.  I just need to keep myself from thinking about that and enjoy the day in the present.

Thankfully – Today’s plans are something to be excited about!

But first, I wanted to give a quick re-cap of yesterday and post the treadmill workout intervals I was talking about. I’m still so slow with my computer so it took me awhile to figure out excel, even though I know this is practically a job requirement nowadays.  So my interval workout yesterday looked like this:

My total distance ended up being a little over 4 miles.  Not bad! I followed this up with some assisted pull-ups and tricep dips. Then – tried out this great circuit from the girls at Tone it Up!

I started out doing this workout with 8 pound weights and found that it was too challenging for the shoulder moves, so I switched to 5 for that part.  I strongly suggest checking out Tone it Up!! They really play off the whole California girl beach vibe, esp. during the summer, but don’t be fooled by appearances, these girls know what they are talking about and have some seriously great workouts.  I find myself doing one of their workouts at least once a week AT HOME – which I’ve never really been into before until I saw them.  I also picked up tons of ideas for the gym.

Now…onto plans for today!

We will be celebrating Ian’s soon-to-be birthday! His birthday falls on a weekday so a group of friends are getting together for brunch this morning/afternoon on the lower east side.  We will be trying out a place called Yuca Bar.  The weather outside has been beautiful all weekend too which is perfect! I have learned to never take a sunny day for granted in this city!

Lovin’ summer in the city!

Hope you enjoy your Sundays as well 🙂