Weekend Round Up

First and foremost Happy Veterans Day to those who have served and are currently serving.  Here's two very special men in my life who served in the Air Force.  My dad and my husband.

Saturday morning we started our morning off with a run while Tyler rode his bike.  I know I say this a lot but I especially did not want to get up out of my warm bed to go outside and run. I was so tempted to just skip it...................SO tempted.  Jason had to run an errand and said we could go when he got back but I knew if we waited I would not go.  I convinced him to go before, and I'm really happy I did.  

  

There is a particular hill on the route we take, the dreaded hill I call it.  I hate that hill, but I've yet to walk up it.  I'll run it at a very slow pace, but hey I'm doing it.  Doesn't look like much from the picture but that's only half of it!

Go Jason go!

After the run (which just like every other run I was ecstatic I got up got out and did) I enjoyed one of my favorite parts of my morning.  Coffee and catching up on Grey's Anatomy!  Our heater decided to break this past weekend, so you better believe I was completely snuggled on the couch with a large blanket watching this.  The rest of the day was spent running errands and reading a little of the book club book, Memories of an Imaginary Friend. I am really loving this book!  I'd recommend it to anyone.

That night I met up with some friends for dinner and a drink.  The dinner was your typical bar food, kicker was we waited close to two hours for it to arrive.  Two hours for a measly salad.  Besides that it was nice to catch up and see everyone! 

Sunday.................oh Sunday.  Why oh why do I feel the need to constantly snack on Sunday.  Started the day off great.  Went to church, came home and had a nice lunch.  Then the picking began.  WHY?!  I was on plan all weekend and then had to dig deep into my weeklies with all of the snacking I did.  I need to come up with a new game plan on Sunday because for some reason it always gets the best of me.  I was in the "I don't care mood" which in reality I do.  A new goal is to not let Sunday ruin a perfectly good weekend. Well if you have today off I hope you enjoy it!  I can't wait to talk to my sister to see how her 10K went!

  

Win!

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE! 

I was down 1.4 at Weight Watchers last night.  Whooo-hoo!  What a great feeling knowing if I work the program I see results!  Now to remember this feeling and keep it up!  

Below is a post my sister shared that I'm going to pass along!  Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Every Veterans Day my dad organizes and hosts a 10k race at our church. Half of the proceeds go to "Operation Jump Start" - the other half goes to The Grace Lutheran School Scholarship fund. This is the 10th annual race!! It's this coming Monday, November 11th - opening ceremonies begin at 8am - race at 9am - at Grace Lutheran Church in Falls Church, VA.  No need to preregister you can sign up day of at the race, no price difference.  See you there 

Inspiration

If there is one thing that irritates me to the fullest it's idiotic drivers!  And don't even get me started on those people who think they don't have to wait in line like everyone else but instead speed past you and cut you off at the last second.  Oh no, not in my world!  Every single morning the same thing happens.  I am patiently waiting in traffic and to my right cars are speeding by (in a merge lane by the way) only to cut someone off at the last minute.  I guess they just happen to think they are too good to wait patiently like everyone else.  Well not this morning!  Sometimes I just can't take it, I mean who do they think they are?!  I have to get to work just like you do, but I wait......and wait......and crawl.......so guess what, you're going to do the same!  One thing I'll do is move my car partially over into the other lane to stop them from passing meanwhile holding my place in the regular lane. Get in line suckers and wait in traffic like the rest of us! Today I must have stopped close to 15 cars from speeding by.  Mwahahahahahaha! Successful morning for me AND it didn't take me an hour and forty five minutes to get to work!   

I'd like to share a conversation my friend Lena and I had yesterday.  Really meant a lot to me!

Lena:  "You were my inspiration for today's run after reading your blog."

me:  "Really?!" "That's nice to say, thank you!!" "Get out and get it done."  "We have a turkey trot coming up!"

Lena:  "Yup after I read it I got my ass in gear."

me:  "Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!"

Lena:  "And you wrote that you can now do 3 miles without stopping so I'm trying for that too."

me:  "Awesome, you can totally get there, I swear the couch to 5k is what did it for me." "It's all in time, little by little."

Lena:  "Yup!"  "Today was def my fastest and prob best run."

WHAT?! ME? AN INSPIRATION FOR RUNNING?!  I cannot explain the feeling I got when she said that to me.  I never thought in a million years I'd inspire someone to run, heck most days I'm still looking for inspiration to run!  So thank you Lena, and way to go! Proud of you for getting out there and doing it!  Here we come Turkey Trot!

I did my run yesterday but sadly didn't do the whole three miles.  I was pretty bummed with myself and disappointed but was reminded that I got out there and did it, I did something.  The old Erin wouldn't have even contemplated running during lunch.  So sometimes you just have to cut yourself a little slack.  Something is better than nothing!  I also had a delicious dinner.  Let me share:

Trader Joe's pre-cooked turkey meatballs (12 total)

1 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce

1 can of pineapple with the juice

1/4 cup of brown sugar

Put the turkey meatballs in the crock pot.  Mix the rest of the ingredients and pour over meatballs. Set on low for 6 hours.  Done.  How simple is that?  And they are stinking good!  You can also do this with chicken.  I had a side of brown rice and broccoli and cheese to go with them.  The boys put them on a sub for a meatball sub which also looked really good!

Tonight is the night.  Weigh in night at Weight Watchers.  Let's hope the hard work I've put in this week from tracking everything pays off!

Took this from a friend's facebook page because well, I really just like it!

KEEP GOING, you never know who you're inspiring!

Fish Tacos

It took me an hour and forty five minutes to get to work today! That's just ridiculous!

Let me share one of my favorite meals!  Fish tacos!  They are so simple to make and so delicious.  Here's what I use.

Add caption

 (that is cabbage in that little container)

Fish nuggets, shredded cabbage, extra thin corn tortillas and Cilantro Salad dressing. Everything can be purchased at Trader Joe's (minus the extra thin tortillas, I get those at Giant but T.J's does have regular tortillas I just like the extra thin because they are less points).  I pretty much always have a box of the fish nuggets in my freezer. It's an easy go to meal.  Cook your nuggets as directed, mix up some cilantro salad dressing with the slaw, and heat up your tortillas on the stove top with a little sea salt.  Have you ever had a corn tortilla straight from the package without it being warmed up?  No good.  When your nuggets are done mash them up a little in a bowl, load onto your tortillas and top with the slaw mix.  That's it.  I find five fish nuggets and three tortillas is plenty!  I also like to have a little side of black beans with them.

Today is another run day at the gym.  I find I enjoy running like Tyler enjoys cleaning his room.  Whenever I ask him to straighten up his room I get the "ugh, ok" answer but as soon as he's done he can't wait to show me how organized it looks and what a great job he did.  I have to be honest, when I run I think "yup, still not enjoying this" but as soon as I'm done I feel extremely proud and can't wait to tell anyone who will listen that I ran!  Now no one is making me run, it's by choice and I've come so far why stop now?  I remember when running 8 straight minutes was a killer, and now I can run 3 miles without stopping.  To me that is quite the accomplishment! And who's to say I won't someday enjoy it?  And if I don't, eh I'll get over it.  The feeling I get afterward outweighs the feelings I have during the run. It's all about pushing yourself right?!  

MY.HEART.MELTS.

It really does.  Look at that face all snuggled in his PJ's. That is Parker, my friend Amanda's son and wow is he a beautiful little boy! Do you see how comfortable he looks?!

Another successful day of tracking everything and I held my ground and did not get back together with Tyler's Halloween bag filled with candy!  Dinner last night was something I could whip up quickly because I got home later than normal, but I'm not complaining I mean look at who I got to hold for a good portion of the night! I had leftover buffalo chicken on a salad topped with homemade guacamole and crushed baked tortilla chips.  I ate this while watching Vanderpump Rules.  Hi my name is Erin and I'm a reality junkie.  I missed RHOBH so I'll have to catch that on demand!  Now what I really couldn't wait for was this:

 
a smoothie!  I had been craving one since oh, 3:00 p.m. yesterday.  Really simple to make as well.  One packet of W.W. smoothie mix, a frozen banana, almond milk, frozen strawberries and ice.  Put it all in the blender and mix.  3 points, that's all!  I have to give credit where credit is due when it comes to this smoothie. Remember when I posted earlier that I love to sit in Hila's kitchen and watch her cook?  This would be one of her and Bobby's creations, although theirs is used with peanut flour and chocolate protein powder and unfortunately I had neither of those so I had to improvise.  I need to remember to order some peanut flour and get some chocolate protein powder!  If you want the full recipe head on over to: http://bobbydelong.blogspot.com/2013/08/chocolate-smoothie.html.  There you will find it.  It's delicious!

Tonight is going to be a relaxing night.  I'm planning on making fish tacos and watching The Biggest Loser. I'll post the recipe ingredients for the fish tacos tomorrow, you can get everything at Trader Joe's and they are so simple and oh so good!  Speaking of T.J.'s how did I just discover this store this recently?  Where has it been my whole life? I can get into some serious trouble there!

Breaking Up is Hard to Do

I had to do it this morning.  It was hard, but it had to be done.  I had to break up with Tyler's Halloween candy bag after eating 11 pieces this weekend.  And how do I know how many pieces I ate?  Because I tracked it..........boooooooya!  Negative= letting the candy over rule me this weekend.  Positive= tracking it. I completely went into my weeklies, but hey that's what they are there for!  I enjoyed it too, but I've had my share so now it's time to move on.  I am happy to say I tracked every little thing this weekend and feel great about it.  I'm also going to go down to the gym today during lunch and go for a run. Something I'd never say 3 months ago!

What a great weekend it was though!  Saturday morning Jason and I did as planned.  We went out for a three mile run!  

Here we are after our run.  I couldn't get over how beautiful the trees look!  Speaking of I am LOVING this weather.  It's cold, and I hope it's here to stay!  If you know me, you know Fall is my favorite season.  I wish I would have worn a scarf today, darn it!

Jason's parents were in town visiting so after everyone was showered and ready we headed to Top Golf. Check out my shoes in the picture!  I know they are not "fall approved" but I had to wear them once.  I got them at H&M for $3.50!  What a steal!  Tyler really loves Top Golf and may have a bit of competitiveness to him.  Wonder where he gets that from?!

After Top Golf we headed to family dinner for Jason's birthday.  I know I had mentioned before what I was going to get , had my night all planned out.  Problem!  What I wanted wasn't on the menu.  Bummer! So I had to quickly decide and decided on Asian Short Ribs which were really good.  Jason opened his gifts, and look at what he got.  Two new running shirts, along with some Ohio State gear and some new work shirts.

  Oh yes, he shared his dessert!

It was a great meal with the whole family, minus Hilary who was at a wedding.  Sunday was filled with relaxing, reading and watching football. I finally started to read more of our bookclub book and it's really good!  Memoris of an Imaginary Friend.  Once again Bobby, great pick!  And no Bobby isn't IN bookclub but  he's always recommending great books for us to read.  I had a craving for some buffalo wings but boy can those get pointy, so instead I made some buffalo chicken stuffed potatoes.  YUM.  Thank you skinnytaste!  I also (and this makes me VERY excited) found a great deal at Giant.  SIX avocados for $1! They were labeled Ripe, but that was fine by me because I used them right away to make guacamole! 

It was a great weekend overall!  Had a great visit with the in-laws, got to run with Jason and tracked everything I ate!  I'd say pretty successful!  Someone even wore herself out with all of the excitement!

Mind over Matter

I did it.  I went through the entire day and night without having one piece of candy!  Instead I opted for a cupcake I made for Jason's birthday, ww friendly of course and a yonanas with mini chocolate chips.  And let me tell you, that yonanas lasted a whole lot longer than a mini twix bar would!  Which brings me to the point that half the battle of weight loss is mind over matter.  How bad do you want it?  Is it worth it?  I could have easily had that twix, counted it and moved on but instead I chose to have a healthier dessert while still getting the chocolate fix.  Mind over matter, it can be done.  I quit smoking----COLD TURKEY.  I trained and did every single run leading up to my 5K.  I've come to notice and even been told if I put my mind to something I accomplish it.  So mind, let me tell you something right now.  Get with the program, you are going to get this weight off...............you hear me!  Put your mind to it and do it.  Just do it.  TRACK this weekend.  Gosh, why do weekends always have to be such an issue for me.  It's just another day!  Here's the goal, to be able to post on Monday that I tracked every little last thing I ate.  Challenge accepted!

Here is my cutie all set for Trick or Treating

And here is is after, not much candy I have to say but he's really more interested in dressing up.  Nothing like when I was younger. I'd basically be out there until I couldn't carry the bag anymore because it was so heavy!

In-laws are in town this weekend and we're going out for Jason's birthday dinner Saturday night along with my parents.  We're going to Matchbox.  Yum, Matchbox!  I've already looked over the menu and think I'm going to get a steak salad.  Can't wait!  I also have pulled beef in the crock pot right now for dinner which I've already tracked.  One step ahead of the game.  Did I mention Jason and I have already decided we're going to wake up Saturday morning and go for a run together?  This will be a first for us, running together.  I hope it's the first of many!  Happy Friday!!