Ummm Happy Late Birthday to ME!

So excited to bust this bad boy out!

Anyway….

Tonight is Trick-or-Treating, I’m so stoked!  There aren’t a whole lot of kids in our neighborhood, but hopefully we’ll get a few.

Since we thought our house might be a tad busy this evening I whipped up a quick white chicken chili.

Super easy and very filling!

Start by chopping up your chicken and cook until no long pink in the bottom of your pot.

Add your beans and vegetables.

Put an extra cup of water to thin just a hair and add your spices.

garlic, onion, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper

Now dress it up  with some cheese and sour cream and ENJOY!

(For those of you wondering, the dairy, beans, and corn are not considered Paleo friendly, but if you don’t follow Paleo, this would be a great healthy meal.)

Jamie is giving candy to our first Trick-or-Treaters!

So Cute!

Night Y’all, I need to get to bed, I have an early date with the gym!

Crossfit Day 3!

No Crossfit today.

Well not at the gym anyway.  Mike is substitute teaching for another trainer this afternoon so he wanted us to take an “active rest” day.

And he gave us homework.

Homework????

What kind of satanic workout organization did I get myself into?

Kidding.

It wasn’t that bad.

Well I mean, it hurt a lot.  But it wasn’t that bad

Our homework was to watch Episode 1 from Mobility WOD (workout of the day), and complete the 10 minute squat test.

Ouch.

The goal was not necessarily to be able to do the whole 10 minutes today, but more for us to look at the areas where we are restricted, and to think about what mechanisms would contribute to that restriction.

This is my breakdown;

I did 6 straight minutes, then had to stand up and walk around.

Then I completed another 2 minutes before taking another break to stretch.

Finally I completed the last 2 minutes to finish up the 10 total minutes.

I found that I couldn’t keep my heels on the floor during the squat unless I held on to something.

My ankles were extremely tight during the entire 10 minutes and I found that I had a hard time keeping my toes straight a head.

Towards the end of my time my knees felt really stiff and I had a hard time getting out of the squat.

I have a LOT to work on.

After I finished up the 10 minutes of squat I grabbed my lacrosse ball and foam roller and spent another 20 minutes working out some knots in my calves and shoulders.

All and all it was a pretty intresting test.  Now I’m really curious to see how quickly I can improve

Party at the Moontower!

That’s the last hint I’ll give you before you see our Halloween costumes.

Here it goes….

Wooderson and Senior Girls '77

Dazed and Confused

One of my favorite movies of all time!

(Don’t worry that’s a prop cigarette)

Carrie and Greg

Mad Men

Gumby and Pokey

Joey and Laura

Jamie and Greg

Chicken and Rabbit

Kimber and Nate

Kimber just got home from deployment.

Jules and April

Now add me to the mix

Jules and her man Kyle

April and her man Jason

Cops love Gumby and Pokey

The Holman’s, Ross and Amy.

Amy is pregnant with their 4th boy!

Body Rockers

The Mad Hatter

The Simen’s Body Rocking!

The King of Pop and the Doctor who killed him.

Graham and Amy

Jamie, Billy, Mike, and Kyle

Forrest Gump and Lt. Dan (my favorite)

Jamie’s old Commanding Officer, Moose and his wife Dana

Nicole and I, my Crossfit buddy.

There were tons more great costumes there but these were the pictures I had.

Good times!

Happy Halloween!!!!

Missouri takes the WIN!

Check out the MIZZOU jersey around the house yesterday.

I always cheer on my team even though I can’t watch the games on TV.

I’m attempting a Paleo Zucchini Bread, no grains no dairy.

It smells REALLY good!

I’ll let you know how it goes!

I’m finishing up Jamie’s Halloween costume.

Let’s just say I’m not that great of a seamstress, but when it comes down to it, I can get the job done.

It may not be pretty though.

Y’all I am so sorry that I have been MIA.

I’ve been feeling under the weather, and have been spending the majority of my days holed up in my house.  I’ll spare you the details but I seem to have caught whatever bug Jamie brought back from the boat with him.

So since I can’t sleep because I’ve been coughing and can’t breathe through my nose I figured I would get up and write about how my second day at Crossfit was.

I had my second day of fundamentals with Mike (the coach) and Nicole on Friday morning @ 0415…. that meant getting up at 0350!

When I write it down I think, WOW I’m weird!  But actually doing it, isn’t really all that bad.

To start of the morning we learned a few more Crossfit skills including;  a proper deadlift, a box jumps (on a 12 inch box), and ring rows.

Side Note: I wanted to post this video so that you can see what a Crossfit Squat is… I’m not a stranger to the weight room, but this squat is different than anything I’ve ever done.

After Mike was done teaching us the skills we needed to learn for the day, Nicole and I were given a workout to do to finish the day.

We did a 12 minute workout and we were both TORCHED!  It was crazy.  The workout was 3 deadlifts @ 95lbs, 6 burpees, 9 ring rows, and 12 box jumps.  We did as many repetitions of this set in 12 minutes as we could.  Nicole and I finished 7 full rounds.

Exhausted.

Seriously.

So I guess the real questions is what do I think… well to be brutally honest, I really really like it.  I don’t love it yet, but the more I do the more I like.   The biggest plus in my mind is the fact that my hip and knee feel great!  It’s pretty hard for me to argue with that.

I also have a new breakfast tip.

Add some spinach and tomatoes to your microwave scrambled eggs.  It will make 1 egg into a full meal.  It’s a great way to make your eggs go a little farther, and to change it up a little bit.

I topped my scramble with a piece of bacon.  It was really good!

Look who’s new toy is finally finished.  This is Jamie’s new hunting rifle, it’s a Sako TRG 42 chambered in .338 Lapua, with a Swarovski Optiks scope.

In layman’s terms… it’ll kill anything and he can see from here to Indiana.

He’s pretty excited about it.

Can’t you tell?

Second side note:

Is there anything better than Carne Asada Tacos?

I don’t think so.  These particular ones come from R0berto’s Taco Shop in Poway.  My absolute favorite authentic Mex place in San Diego!

Alright y’all, I think it may be time for a nap.

See y’all later for a Halloween Post.

Congratulations to the St. Louis Cardinals on their 11th World Series win!  11 in 11 baby!

Honey Crisp Apple with Justin’s Almond Butter.  It’s always handy to be able to wear a unifom that have a built in pocket for a knife

Just what I needed to get me through the rest of this day.

And if you need a little something else….

I hope you all have a good laugh, and I hope that you have this friend in your life.

It’s almost Friday Y’all!

But first lets talk about the extraordinary pork loin and roasted cauliflower that Jamie and I had for dinner last night.

Hungry Yet?

We love pork at our house.  Especially the loin… it has such great flavor and in my opinion pork holds heat really well, and by that I mean you can put a nice spice on it

I used some leftover rub I’d made for a smoked pork shoulder that we made early this year.  I slapped the rub on and let the loin set in the fridge all day marinating.

Doesn’t that look tasty! 

I don’t remember everything I put in the rub, but I do know that the basics are smoked paprika, cayenne, oregano, chilli powder, and garlic powder.  I’ll see if I can’t dig up the actual recipe.

Also, be cautious with the smoked paprika, it’s not the same as straight paprika.  It has a much more intense, smokey flavor.

To go along with our porkloin I roasted some cauliflower.  I’ll be honest with you, cauliflower is not one of my favorites, but I really think I knocked it out of the park with this one.

Toss in olive oil, salt, fresh cracked pepper, garlic powder, and some italian seasoning.

Roast at 400 for 20 minutes, then top just a hint of parmesan and gruyere.  Roast for another 3-5 minutes, just until the cheese starts to brown.  Even those of you who don’t love cauliflower will love this!

We also had a salad to go along with our dinner, trying to get in some more green leafy veggies! Gotta keep that good digestion.

Mmmmm Goat Cheese!

Ok, now that I have sufficiently caused you to drool all over your keyboard, lets move on to the important stuff.

How was my first time at Crossfit???

Well, first off let’s start with, 4am is early, but in a good way. 

Today my friend Nicole and I started what they call a “Fundamentals” course.  We started to learn the proper way to do the Crossfit exercises. 

What a WAKE-UP call.  Nicole and I both are fairly knowledgeable in the weight room, and we couldn’t even do a correct squat by Crossfit standards.  The majority of the morning was spent learning proper form for the squat.  Once we had mastered the air squat, then we moved on to bar squats.  The reason the start with the squat is if you can master the proper form for the squat it will transfer into the form for all the other excercises.

The big take away from the morning was the “neutral” position.   Making sure that you are working out in the most efficient and healthiest form possible.

At the end of our session today we did a little workout for time.  21, 15, 9 air squats and jump presses.  Going with another person is the best thing that ever happened to me.  Nicole and I are going to push each other HARD!  We were racing to the finish!

Whew!  And we are going back tomorrow.  0415 baby!

When I got home I had the perfect amount of time to get everything done.  I cooked a healthy breakfast and showered with no rush at all.

What microwave eggs look like before you plate them.

2 microwave scrambled eggs and 1 piece of bacon.

Along with a mug of hot tea… it was chilly out this morning.

Great start to the day.  I think I might actually like this getting up super early thing.  I do know that I enjoyed the gym today.  And honestly that hasn’t happened in a really long time.

Oh yeah…

And I bought a sewing machine off of Craigslist last night.

Look out Halloween costumes, here we come!

I cannot get enough salmon.  I’m pretty sure I could eat it every day!

Today for dinner I made a grilled salmon with acorn squash and sweet potato fries.  Yummy!

To make the grilled salmon I whipped up a quick marinade composed  of olive oil, soy sauce, lemon juice, minced garlic, and dijon mustard.

Make sure you salt and pepper your salmon before marinating.  Always use fresh cracked pepper, it really makes a difference in the flavor.

Marinate the salmon for about 10 minutes before grilling. I used a silicone brush to make sure the flesh is evenly coated.

Grill skin side down for 6-7 minutes painting on a little more marinade to add flavor.

Then finish of the grilling flesh side down for about 4 more minutes.

*TIP*  When you are cooking salmon always leave the skin on.  It helps hold the fish together for cooking and it slides right off when the fish is done cooking.

 I say this because I always used to cut the skin off until a friend explained to my why it was better to leave it on.  Thank goodness she did!  So much easier!

Add a half of an acorn squash and you’re ready to go!

The squash is really simple, cut it in half, seed,  and bake at 350 cut side down for 30 minutes.  Then flip, add salt, pepper, and a little butter.  Bake for 30 more minutes and you’ll be ready to enjoy

I also added some seasoned sweet potato fries that I picked up on sale from the commissary.

Add all of your parts together and you have a delicious and healthy meal.

After that filling supper I’m going to watch an episode of Dexter with Jamie and head off to bed.

Gotta get plenty of rest before my run in the morning.

Night Y’all

Do you ever feel like you need a change of pace?

Everyday I wish you make a change and give me more treats!

Are you workouts starting to bore you, have they become more of a chore than an actual good thing?

Cause that’s how I feel right now,  I’m in a pretty good place, but as the days get shorter I feel like I have less and less time to workout.  More than that I feel like I don’t want to get up in the morning to workout.

I hate running the dark, I mean I absolutely dispise it!  I want to join a gym, but I don’t want to join and gym and still feel like I do now.

I grew up playing sports where you walked into practice and coach gave yuo a workout.  Same with weightlifting in high school.  This trend even continued into college and ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) when I showed up to a scheduled PT 3 times a week.

So the way I see it I have 3 options; keep doing what I’m doing (bad option), join a cheap gym like 24 hour fitness and figure out the workouts on my own (don’t love this idea either), or last but not least join a Crossfit gym (YIKES).

I’ve been toying with the idea of Crossfit for a long time, quite a few people in my squadron workout at various sites and have had great sucess with the program, especially when they’ve paired it with a Paleo diet.

The benefits to Crossfit are that they give you a WOD (Workout of the Day) and there is an intructor there for your “class”.  They also offer a 430am class which will allow me to knock out a killer workout and still have time to shower and eat before work.

The pitfall…. it’s REALLY expensive when you compare it to other gyms.  It’s not as expensive as other personal training programs, but it is much more expensive than a regular gym.  You also have to take a Fudamentals class before you start regular workouts… that 8 workouts alone can cost as much at $350.  It is one on one, but still!!

Things to think about….

Workout

Today I woke up a little late so I grabbed a workout from my stack of sticky notes with workouts written on them and chugged away at an upperbody workout, followed by 15 minutes of harcore abs.  1 min plank followed by max set of sit ups for 1 min., I was beyond exhausted by the time that 15 minutes was complete.

Breakfast

This morning a bacon, egg, and cheese was in order…. with just a tiny bit of sundried tomato schmear for flavor!

Have a great morning y’all!

Question of the Day:  Have you ever considered making a huge change to your workout plan?  Does Crossfit intrest you?

I really have to start doing Yoga more often!

But first my workout.

If I work out at home, I alway try to workout barefoot.   Try it some time, it really helps with your balance.

This morning I did this Kettlebell Workout from Women’s Health.

The way they wanted you to accomplish the workout was by doing each exercise for 2 minutes before switching to the next without stopping.  I have a hard time keeping track of time with a workout so instead I did 20 reps of each exercise and repeated the sequence 3 times.

Pass Around the Body, 20 each way

Bent Rows, 20 each side

Dead Lift, 20

Figure 8, 20 each way

Half Get Ups, 20 each side

KB Swings, 20

Squats, 20

Windmills, 20 each side

30 minutes and DONE!  I love getting in a total body workout so quickly.

After that I proceeded to do this yoga workout…

I “borrowed” it out of an old Women’s Health Magazine when I was at the dentist last week

This was a great stretch after my workout, and my abs were screaming by the time I got done!

The only one I can’t do very well is crow pose, so I’ll have to add that to my list of things to work on, like handstands.

Breakfast

After that workout, I jumped in the shower then headed to the kitchen for a quick, but filling breakfast.

Microwave scrambled eggs and an english muffin.

I hear you, you’re thinking to yourself “microwave eggs”, but I’m telling you, they are awesome! 

2 eggs beaten with a little cheese, and splash of water and some salt and pepper.

Microwave for 2 minutes with a stir in the middle and you will have a delicious breakfast!

This is how my mom made them when I was a kid, I remember the first time she made us eggs in a skillet, we thought she was CRAZY!  Plus I don’t like my eggs runny, at all!  This technique won’t over cook  them, but won’t leave a puddle in your plate either.

 Lunch

I have a crazy day of meetings today so I’m going to show you my lunch in the makings.  Brocoli and quinoa salad, with red and green peppers, red onions, mandarins oranges, dried cranberries, walnuts, and a pomegranate dressing.

Yummy!

I love all those bright colors!  It’s almost a summer salad.

I gotta run, I have a few things to do before the next meeting.

Question of the Day:  Crossfit gyms, worth the money? 

Later Y’all