Spring Break '13

Thankfully I'm not too far behind since spring break wasn't that long ago for me, but I wanted to give a recap of the random things I did over break.

I've never been one of those people to actually go anywhere for spring break. I usually spend it at home by myself watching movies and sleeping. This year Michael and I planned a trip up north to Santa Rosa to visit his old neighborhood and go hiking.

But first we had a Sharks game

The next day we headed up north

...and tried out these delicious chips

These things are like crack

...we saw Google's self-driving car

...and the Golden Gate in fog (what a surprise)

Once we got up to Windsor we stopped at Johnny Garlic's for lunch

 Rosemary foccacia with onions

 Flash-fried spinach...so bad but so good

My veggie burger w/ garlic potato chips

Michael's pesto pasta w/ Caeser salad

After lunch we went to Powell's Candy Store for candy (duh) and gelato

White chocolate & raspberry gelato, my first one ever!

Our haul from Powell's

Enjoying the sunshine

Once we ate our gelato and mapped out where we were going, we headed out to a winery for wine tasting

It was so good and so much fun!

We headed to our hotel to check-in before heading out to dinner. I don't usually post pictures of my hotel room, but this room was just gorgeous

 The bathtub even had jets, I just wanted to live there

And we even had a little balcony overlooking the courtyard.

It was by far the most gorgeous room I've ever stayed in. If you're ever in Santa Rosa, stay at Hotel La Rose

The next day we had planned on going for this awesome sounding hike, but Michael hurt his foot so hiking was out of the question. Instead we decided to head into San Francisco to go to the zoo.

Plus it was just gorgeous!

The animals were so cute, but a lot of them weren't out. We were there in the middle of the week so that's probably why. It was nice to just relax and enjoy some free time, unfortunately the clouds started rolling in and it dropped a good 10 degrees quickly. We both headed back to the car and made our way home along the gorgeous Highway 1

After we made it home we turned around the head right back out to one of the best hockey games I've ever been too. There were some good fights and lots of tension which was pretty entertaining.

In the end I had a pretty awesome spring break and by far one of the best ones yet.

Fit Fridays #14

I am alive, I promise!! School has been crazy hectic and it's next to impossible to squeeze in sitting down for a blog post between sleeping and homework.
I couldn't even get this post out on time, so let's pretend it's Friday.

 I really got some good workouts in this week which I'm still feeling.

Monday:

Michael and I actually made it to the 6:30 AM yoga class at our gym, and it was just our luck that our teacher didn't wake up for class so we had a no-show and just headed home.

I did run back later for Cardio Kickboxing which I had a little bit of a hard time with. My heart rate was getting so high that I was feeling lightheaded and dizzy so I promptly stopped whatever I was doing until it went away and then proceeded to do the rest of the exercises with less intensity.

Because I had worked my arms so much in class I focused on legs mostly in class...which I forgot to record. Whoops!!

Tuesday:

Today was my first day with my actual Gyrokinesis teacher at my school. Call me a yoga snob or whatever but I don't feel Gyrokinesis is yoga. I'm not enjoying it that much and especially don't enjoy that there isn't any music.

Wednesday:

I made it to a 5:30 am workout at my gym!! It's like climbing Mount Everest. I did Muffin Topless' Leg Demolition workout. She's not kidding when she says leg demolition, I can barely walk still. My legs are so incredibly sore and while I whine and complain (poor Michael has to hear it) I feel amazing!

Our yoga instructor showed up for class today and thankfully we didn't do 30 bagillion sets of Warrior poses. I would have probably fallen over.

And since my legs were beyond exhausted at this point I focused all on my upper body in class today...and forgot to write out what I did.

Thursday:
Second day of Gyrokinesis and I'm still not a fan. It was incredibly boring and just straight up does not feel like yoga at all. I consider it more like chair dancing than yoga...plus it doesn't help that my teacher is a bitch an unpleasant person.

Friday:
I had another Muffin Topless workout planned, but I can still barely walk so I decided to rest rather than tax my body more than it already is.

Phew! I did a lot this week and I plan on getting even more done this upcoming week!
Make sure you get out there and move over the weekend!
I'll do my best to catch up on my long list of blog posts ASAP!

Have you tried Gyrokinesis? What were your thoughts?
How have you gotten moving?

Fit Fridays #13

Happy Friday everyone!
Oh hey, Friday and it's #13 of Fit Friday! Maybe that explains why I've had a funky week.
Anywho, let's talk about fitness!

Sunday:

1 hour Zumba

Michael has been having some problems coughing while running so we took it easy and walked 1.25 miles along the cliffs.

 It was gorgeous so it wasn't a pain to just walk.

Monday:

I finally made it to a 6:30 AM yoga class at my gym!
It's been so long and I really loved it.

1 hour of cardio kickboxing. Unlike last week this was so much easier and I wasn't dying 5 minutes in halfway through.

Strength training in class

Tuesday:
Morning yoga class at school

I got some bad news in the afternoon so I was going to go for a run to try clear my head, unfortunately that didn't work out so well. I used to be able to run almost 3 miles with no problem, but today I could barely get over a mile before I was hurting and breathing like a maniac. It was really discouraging and I was trying to keep running, but I just kept giving up and I ended my 3.23 mile run/walk disappointed and almost crying.

Wednesday:
I wanted to go to the morning yoga class at my gym, but I could not get my eyes to stay open longer than a few seconds to check my phone when Michael would text me. I was just plain exhausted.

Strength training in class

 I didn't do as much since my body was really hurting from my run Tuesday and upper body work on Monday.

Thursday:
Morning yoga class at school which really helped out with how sore my body has been.

Unfortunately I had an anatomy lab exam so I didn't get anything else in in favor of studying.

Have a good weekend and make sure to get moving!

 What have you done this week to get moving?
Has anyone else had a disastrous run and just given up?

WIAW: I Made It!

Hey there What I Ate Wednesday, long time no see!

It's been forever since I've done a WIAW post since I started school

I've been swamped with school work and then last week my stomach decided it wouldn't eat anything but bread and rice and we all know that is a boring thing to read about.

So, somehow I squeezed in taking pictures of my food so here we go!

Thank you Jenn for this awesome link-up!

 Breakfast:

Old-fashioned oats with brown sugar, cinnamon, and almond milk

  Post-workout Snack:

Protein shake w/ almond milk, PB2 & chocolate protein powder

  Lunch:

Strawberries & toasted pita sandwich with spinach, Laughing Cow cheese wedge and red pepper pasta sauce.

  Snacks:

A handful of KIND Vanilla Blueberry granola & pita chips

 

Dinner:

Taco flavored quinoa with black beans, sour cream, cheese, lots of hot sauce (Michael got me hooked), w/ potatoes on the side.

This was amazing, I'll have the recipe up soon!

And because I am me...

 Dessert:

Lucky Charms marshmallow square from St. Patty's Day

I thought I had more green in my diet....oops! But hey, at least I added spinach to my toasted sandwich!

Now, excuse me while I pass out facedown on my bed from exhaustion.

Have a good week!!

Fit Fridays #12

I'm alive! I promise!
Now on to Fit Fridays!

Sunday:

1 hour of Zumba. If there's anything that can get my butt out of the house to the gym after god knows how long too long of a break, it's Zumba. I have so much fun just dancing and laughing with everyone.

Monday:

I went to a cardio kickboxing class for this first time at my gym!
I've always loved kickboxing and used to do it a lot at home when I was in high school.
This class kicked my ass. We had sections with weights and I couldn't lift my arms to do any of it. I was just so exhausted, but I had a great time! Of course now I'm sore from it and can barely walk, must stretch and replenish afterwards! Lesson learned.

Strength training at school
All upper body was w/ 10# dumbell

2x12 overhead press

2x12 arm curls

2x12 incline chest press

2x12 standing cable rows w/ 50#

2x12 single leg deadlifts w/ 10# dumbell

2x12 squats w/ 8 kg kettlebell

(For some odd reason all our kettlebells are in kilograms...but everything else is pounds. Makes no sense)

2-45 second planks

2-30 second side planks

2x12 "bird-dogs"

2x45 second glute bridges

2x12 crunches

2x12 leg raises (which my teacher terms leg lowers)

Tuesday:
Morning yoga class at school.
We practiced headstands today which was exciting. Unfortunately because my sinuses haven't quite gotten over the plague I had, I couldn't hold the prep pose very long without feeling like my face was going to explode.

Later after my anatomy class Michael and I took his dog, Jasmine, out for a walk along the beach.

 She was so happy!

It was really pretty out, but I was really cold from the breeze and my stomach wasn't feeling well so we had to cut the walk short at a mile.

Wednesday:
I had my fitness class at school, but my stomach has been cramping like crazy lately that I left after the midterm to rest.
No fitness today :(

Thursday:
Morning yoga sesh at school
and that's about it. I had anatomy lecture and lab which doesn't get me out until about 5:30 so I didn't have time for anything besides homework.

Friday:
I'm hoping I might be able to fit a run/walk somewhere in between anatomy and nutrition homework and cleaning the house.

I've been down with the flu/plague for the last few weeks so working out was out of the question until I was better. Unfortunately I got some kind of stomach thing on Monday so my workouts slowly dwindled throughout the week. Next week I plan on coming back strong and working out as much as I can.
Have a great (and fit) weekend!

What workouts have you done this week?

One Proud Girlfriend

Let me just preface this by saying I am so so incredibly proud of my boyfriend Michael.

I don't have a weight loss story, but I wanted to shout from the rooftops...brag praise Michael for his amazing story.
When I met Michael back in high school he was overweight and had been up until we started dating.

October 2012
When we first started dating Michael weighed about 260.
I was working out a lot and really inspired Michael to do the same *brushes shoulder* ha!
He really started to watch what he was eating and how much he was eating.
And soon the pounds started to come off

November 2012

December 2012

 January 2013

 March 2013

Currently Michael is down to 210 and plans to get down to 180. He went from a XXL to a Large, almost a medium!

I can't even begin to describe how proud I am of him. It takes a lot of dedication and determination to go to the gym at 5:30 every morning and workout and he does it. He's come up to me and just shows off how much he's done and I get a huge smile on my face because I'm just so proud of him. He's always saying how much I inspire him, but he inspires me too. When I feel like I can't run anymore or don't want to get up to workout, I tell myself that Michael is and you can't be lazy either. He pushes me to be better, whether he believes it or not. He's such an incredible man and I couldn't be prouder to be his girlfriend. *cue "awwwww"*

San Fran Color Run

I'll probably kick myself later for spending this time writing on the blog rather than doing anatomy homework, but a girl has to blog!!

This past weekend Michael and I went to San Francisco for our first Color Run. We went up the night before to get our packets and to enjoy San Francisco since it isn't often we get up there.

We went down to Fisherman's Wharf after navigating the roads where some bus was determined to kill us.

I got to see an alligator shaped loaf of bread in a bakery.

We went to dinner at a restaurant on Pier 39 which looked out on the Golden Gate Bridge, Bay Bridge, and Alcatraz. I got to see it all, it was beautiful.

After dinner we walked ourselves down to...

how could I not go?

 Chocolate strawberry

 hot fudge sundae, it's traditional

and hot chocolate.

My throat was killing me at this point so we headed back to our hotel room where I prayed I would feel better for the next day.

Unfortunately I woke up feeling worse than I did the night before. Poor Michael had to hunt down somewhere to get us medicine cause the poor man was sick himself. I'm talking major headache, can't swallow without grimacing, body aches, etc. All I wanted to do was sleep, but we had made the trip so we were going to at least walk the Color Run.

The closest I've been to Candlestick Park and I wasn't even there to see the Niners play.

 Pre-run with our nice white shirts

We started out behind this team, they were pretty entertaining.

We both had a hard time walking when there was a whole lane of people running next to us, but neither one of us could breathe well and didn't want to overdo it.

We had a blast!! I had grabbed a handful of blue chalk and tossed it on Michael's head when we were going through the blue section, unfortunately I got him in the mouth too....whoops.

We plan on doing the next one in May and will hopefully have not caught a horrible bug.

We had planned on playing around San Fran after the run, but I was so miserable we just headed home which thankfully we did. After I showered and got into my pajamas I took my temperature and was at 101.8! I'm still fighting off the flu and it's definitely not been easy when 3/5 of your classes are fitness classes.

Hopefully I'll be better so I can get exercising more!

If you're not sure about what run you want to do for your first one, do the Color Run! It is so much fun! But remember to bring baby wipes to clean the chalk off and some towels for the seat of your car!

Have you ever done The Color Run?