Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is a very special day! 61 years ago today, my mother was born. (sorry for giving away your age Mom!)




My mother is the best mother a girl could ask for. I have so many fond memories of my childhood, and I have my Mom to thank for them. The holidays were so much fun in our home-Mom always decorated the house for every single holiday. I can still remember Saturday mornings-waking up to Mom's favorite music blaring on the stereo as she dusted & vacuumed. It was always Kenny Rogers! I still know the words to all of his songs. He was also my first concert-Mom & Dad surprised me when I was 10 (I think?) by bringing me to his concert! I was so excited! I learned how to bake with Mom. We used to whip up lots of goodies-whoopie pies were a favorite! I bake with my kids now and think back to those days! I remember Mom helping me earn my girl scout cooking badge by making a meal for our family. I made lasagna and a chocolate cake!

Thank you, Mom, for so many wonderful memories, the best childhood a girl could ask for and for being YOU! I Love You.

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Obstacles vs. Opportunities

We still do not have electricity. BUT...this morning I made the decision that I would be at the gym before work one way or another! I faced many obstacles but was able to turn them into opportunities.


Obstacle #1: No electricity (meaning no shower, no lights, no coffee!)
Opportunity #1: Get dressed in gym clothes, pack work clothes, pack showering items to take a shower at work, have coffee at work
I did 50 pull-ups:


And 50 push-ups:



And a 45 second plank thrown in for good measure:


Then, I showered at work and had a cup of coffee in my office!

Obstacle #2: One Vehicle for both of us (I had to get to the gym, kids had to get to daycare, husband had to get to meeting 2 hours away)
Opportunity #2: Husband rocked it! He drove me to work, took the kids to daycare, and then went to his meeting.

For my husband:



Obstacle #3: No breakfast/lunch packed due to no power and food will most likely need to be thrown due to no electricity for the past 48 hours.
Opportunity #3: Have a slice of vegetable breakfast pizza (sans crust!) for breakfast. The best choice? No, but it worked.

Obstacle #4: People at work were ordering food for lunch! Great, right? Well, not when this is what they were ordering:



I knew I did NOT want fried food. I wanted to feel great after lunch-not tired, bloated & puffy.
Opportunity #4: I went to the cafe and ordered a sliced turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread with "all the veggies you have"-no mayo, no cheese. Go me! And I feel great now!

So, I was able to meet my goal of getting to the gym to workout this morning despite several obstacles by turning them into opportunities! I even scheduled a workout with my trainer for tomorrow morning at 6:30 and am going to shake my booty at Zumba today after work! Now, let's hope the power comes back on!

Hurricane Irene

Hey there! How was your weekend?! We spent the weekend preparing for Hurricane Irene.



Living in New England, we rarely experience hurricanes. We do, however, experience some very harsh winters so we weren't too up in arms about it. I made sure all the laundry was done on Saturday, filled some large totes with water in each of the bathrooms, had several candles & lighters out in the rooms, etc. in case of power outages. We lost power once in the afternoon for an hour or so, then it came back on for approximately an hour. Then, it went out again. And, as of this posting, we are still without power. I took the girls to daycare this morning so I could go to work (power in both places-YAY!). There were lots of trees & branches down everywhere. Today is a beautiful day, though. I hope the power is back on when I get home!

Date Night at Home!

The girls were with Sage tonight, so Anand & I had a nice, quiet date night at home. We started with Dirty Martinis...(yeah, I need to get some martini glasses!):




With some appetizers (olives, rosemary asiago, & cubes of rosemary foccacia):





Anand made a shrimp, scallop, & calamari whole wheat angel hair pasta dish with garlic and fresh tomatoes. Delish!





The weather is absolutely perfect tonight-not a drop of humidity in the air...perfect sleeping weather!

Have a great evening...

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New Book!

I found this book at the dollar store today-$1! I picked it up because it looked like a fun read. I just found the exact same book on Amazon for $15.02! Exciting!




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Chicken Caprese Casserole

I saw this recipe on this blog and had to try it! Who doesn't love caprese?! It was absolutely delicious!

Chicken Caprese Casserole
(adapted from "a Life to Bragg About" blog)

Ingredients:

2-3 Chicken Breasts, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1/4 cup Cream Cheese (I used neufchâtel)
1Tbsp. Kosher Salt
1Tbsp. Freshly Ground Pepper
Juice from 1 squeezed lemon
4 Cloves Garlic, minced
1/2 Red Onion, diced
2 Tbsp. Balsamic Vinegar
1 large Tomato, chopped (I used a fresh, juicy heirloom)
1/2 cup freshly chopped Basil
Fresh Mozzarella
Shredded Mozzarella
Panko Breadcrumbs
1Tbsp. Olive Oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients except panko, fresh mozzarella, & shredded mozzarella. Place in baking dish. Top with pieces of fresh mozzarella, then add shredded mozzarella & finally with panko. Bake for 40 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. I broiled on 500 degrees at the end for a few minutes to brown up the panko.







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Cardiomyopathy NO MORE!

After I gave birth to the girls in December 2006, I started filling up with fluid and my blood pressure went up really high. I progressively got worse, and was eventually diagnosed with cardiomyopathy. My heart was enlarged and was not working efficiently. My ejection fraction was decreasing and my blood pressure kept rising. I was placed on medication, which helped lower my blood pressure. I was able to go off the medication, but ended up back on it a couple of years later (and was able to go off it again a year ago).

The strangest thing about this whole scenario was that I had a very uneventful pregnancy. I carried the girls 40 weeks (pretty much unheard of for a twin pregnancy) and had to be induced. I ended up with an emergency c-section due to placental abruption. The girls weighed 7 lbs, 8 oz. and 6 lbs, 2oz. They were BIG for twins!

So, after being diagnosed, the cardiologist thought that my heart would return to normal after a couple of months. It did not. So, I would go for an appointment every 3 months for a while, then every 6 months, and finally every 12 months where I would have an echocardiogram (ultrasound of the heart) and meet with the cardiologist for results & discussion. He also told me that I absolutely should avoid future pregnancies because my heart most likely would not be able to handle it and I would be in danger.

My annual appointment was Friday. I went in a bit nervous, like always, wondering how my heart was doing...would my ejection fraction have decreased further (last year it had dropped 5%)? I had my echocardiogram and went into the room to wait for my cardiologist to arrive. They took my blood pressure, which was "perfect", and my pulse was the lowest it has EVER been (73)! Then, the doctor came in, looked at me and said "everything looks perfect"! My echocardiogram was NORMAL for the first time in 4.5 years!!!! He told me that everything looked so good that he would not need to see me again unless I start having symptoms or if I end up needing some massive medications or something unusual.

I walked out of that office so happy! I BEAT Cardiomyopathy and will do everything I can to keep my heart healthy!




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PROUD!

One of the requirements of ME First (the wellness program that I am in) is to keep a "fitness log" and submit it monthly to your fitness specialist. These logs look like a calendar and are a spreadsheet with formulas. For any given date, you enter what type of exercise you did (cardio/strength/flexibility), number of minutes, heart rate, and perceived exertion based on a scale of 6 (no exertion) to 20 (maximal exertion).  Due to my, um, lack of motivation over the past few months this is what mine have looked like lately:

May-0

June-0

July-200 (remember-this was the month I had my "lightbulb moment" at my fitness assessment)

This morning I opened my August spreadsheet up and was SO happy to discover that as of today-the 17th day of August-I have worked out for 418 minutes! Keep in mind that there are still FOURTEEN days left in the month! 

HUGE Urban Decay Sale!

If you love Urban Decay make-up, hurry on over to www.urban decay.com ASAP! I just picked up 7 of their loose pigments for $1 each! They are regularly $20 each! I think they will be fun to play around with for nights out or even holiday looks!





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BBQ Hummus!

When I saw This recipe I knew I had to try it! it's SO good! I picked up some "Everything Bagel Crisps" to go with it-winning combination for sure!

BBQ Hummus (from www.healthytippingpoint.com)

1 Can Cannellini Beans, drained & rinsed
1 Tablespoon Tahini
3 Tablespoons BBQ Sauce

Combine all ingredients in food processor. YUM!


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Gleeks Unite!

This weekend was productive & relaxing which is always nice. On Saturday, I cleaned & organized the girls' playroom. That was an adventure! Then, we decided to surprise our little "gleeks" and take them to see this:



Ok, I think I was probably more excited to see it than they were! If you love Glee, you will love this! I had a really hard time sitting in my seat-I wanted to jump up and sing & dance!

On Sunday, I cleaned & organized the basement. That has been an ongoing project for some time now. I was able to downsize from 2 lateral file cabinets to one 2 drawer vertical file cabinet! YAY! I went through all of our winter outerwear (I don't even want to think about that!) and organized that as well.

I kept on track with eating well this weekend as well. This morning I was at the gym at 6:30 for my workout with Jameson!

Fabulous Salad Recipe!

Last night, I picked up some rainbow trout (oh...how I LOVE seafood!) and decided to whip up a salad recipe I had been wanting to try to go along with it. The salad is a "summer tomato, corn, crab & avocado salad and it is fabulous! I found the recipe here. I halved the recipe since I didn't want to have a lot leftover and it worked perfectly.

Summer Tomatoes, Corn, Crab & Avocado Salad (adapted from www.skinnytaste.com)

6 oz. lump crabmeat
1 summer tomato, chopped
1 haas avocado, chopped
1.5 cups roasted corn kernels
1/3 cup red onion, chopped
1 lime, juiced
1 tsp. olive oil
2 T cilantro, chopped
salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
In a medium bowl, combine onion, lime juice, salt & pepper. Let marinate at least 5 minutes to mellow the onion. After marinating, add remaining ingredients and adjust lime, salt & pepper as desired. Enjoy!

A Week I'm Proud of!

This week, I put in a lot of effort to make sure I did the things that I wanted to do to feel good about myself.

I worked out 3 times.
I ate a healthy lunch every single day.
I ate a healthy dinner every single night.
I slept well.
I had fun.

It was a good week! I feel great and have a feeling that next week will be even better! :)

Time for the weekend!

Note to self...

image found here

Another Light Bulb Moment!

I just had another light bulb moment after reading this article on one of the trainer's pages from my gym:


http://thefitcast.com/this-is-why-your-diet-keeps-failing

My interpretation:

So, you're faced with choices at every meal/snack. Example: for lunch you could have a chicken breast with a green salad or you can have your favorite junk food. Fried, yummy goodness. You choose the junk food and you get sort of instant gratification-it tastes great. You have no immediate negative effects from it (weight gain). However, you will gain weight and various other negative effects eventually. However if you choose the chicken breast & salad, you will gain positive effects (preserved health, energy, etc.).

On the flip side, when you work out you do not see an immediate positive effect (related to weight loss). You could work out all day long and you won't see any immediate positive results (weight loss). If you don't work out you will see the same result immediately as not working out-nothing. However, in the long run you will see positive results. 

So, the moral of this story is that I have been choosing the wrong foods for immediate gratification and not working out because "it will take forever anyway so why bother".  

The great thing about this is that my trainer & I talked about this very concept last week at my fitness assessment. When I told him that I couldn't grasp why I am not doing what I know that I need to do to reach my goals he asked me if it was because of instant gratification.

A-HA!

I GOT IN!

I have been in a wellness program, ME First, for almost 2 years now. ME First is a fabulous program and has helped me to learn about myself. I lost 28 lbs with the help of this program. I have gained the weight back, but I have learned so much about myself in this program. I have learned that I truly want to have a healthy lifestyle. I have learned that having a healthy lifestyle is a journey-not a destination. I have learned that I like to try new things and for the first time in my life I have learned to enjoy working out (although I certainly fall off the wagon from time to time!). I have also learned that I need more in order to achieve the goals I have regarding weight loss.

A couple of months ago during a facilitation meeting, we were told about a new Pilot program through ME First. This would be for offered to the participants from 2008 & 2009 (my group). The Pilot program was designed for people who are currently in Phase I of the program and have:

Had significant success earlier in their participation and are currently in a prolonged plateau
OR
Had significant success early in their participation and have relapsed (ME!)
OR
Have struggled to achieve significant success with one or more of their goals
AND:
Are ready to super charge their commitment to creating the healthy lifestyle they desire by:
Attending facilitations in newly configured groups of no more than 15 participants who will:
Attend their facilitations twice a month for two hours each, and Have contact with their Wellness Coach in all non-facilitation weeks, and Commit to stretch themselves beyond their current comfort zone by actively participatin in the Pilot facilitations vs. simply being present and Re-commit to taking the time they need to focus their attention more concretely on achieving the changes they want for themselves.

With that said, there were only so many spots available, so once you filled out an application your name would be placed in a lottery. I filled out my application that very day.

I found out today that I GOT ACCEPTED into the program! It's called ME 4 Life and I am SO excited! My first meeting is September 7 and I cannot wait!

This is going to be hard work, but it's going to be so worth it and I am so ready!